This chapter is all about using verbs. We’ll learn how to use verbs to make our own sentences and conversations, as well as how to refer to other people.
Conversation
김철수: 영희 씨, 안녕하세요.
김영희: 안녕하세요. 저는 학교에 갑니다.
김철수: 저는 집에 갑니다.
김영희: 저는 공부합니다.
김철수: 저는 놉니다.
Let’s read over the conversation together.
김철수: 영희 씨, 안녕하세요.
"Hello Yung-hee."
Using 씨
In Korean, 씨 takes the place of "Mr.," "Mrs.," or "Miss." 씨 is placed after a person’s name. If you don’t know a person’s first name, it is fine to simply place 씨 after their last name.
김 씨
"Mr./Mrs./Miss Kim"
박 씨
"Mr./Mrs./Miss Park"
But a more common, recommended usage of 씨 is with first names.
영희 씨
"Yung-hee"
철수 씨
"Chul-soo"
Although it is a bit formal and impersonal, it is also acceptable to refer to someone by their full name with 씨 attached.
김영희 씨
"Mr./Mrs./Miss Kim Yung-hee"
In Korean, calling someone by only their first name (without 씨) is only acceptable in casual situations with close friends; it would be impolite at other times. This is different from other English speaking countries, where calling someone by their first name is considered friendly.
Also notice in the conversation how the person’s name comes before the greeting. In English we would say "Hello Yung-hee," but in Korean it’s proper to place the name of the person you are talking to at the beginning of the sentence.
철수 씨, 안녕하세요.
"Hello Chul-soo."
Also remember that 씨 is used when referring to other people – you should not add 씨 when saying your own name.
김영희: 안녕하세요. 저는 학교에 갑니다.
"Hello. I go to school."
The 니다 Verb Form
Verb Stem + ㅂ니다/습니다
It’s time we started looking at how verbs work. Let’s take a moment and go over how to conjugate – change the form of – a verb in present tense.
An example of a present tense sentence in English would be "I watch a movie." Present tense means the sentence is happening in the present. This is different from past tense ("I watched a movie yesterday.") which we will cover later, or future tense ("I will watch a movie tomorrow.")
In the last chapter we learned a few of our first verbs such as 하다 ("to do"), 먹다 ("to eat"), and 받다 ("to get," "to receive"). To make it easier to learn verbs, we’ll teach them first in this book in their standard un-conjugated form. But we can’t simply use them in a sentence without conjugating them first. Verbs will conjugate differently depending on how they’re being used.
To conjugate a verb to the present tense, take the verb stem (review how from the last chapter) and attach ㅂ니다 if it ends in a vowel, or attach 습니다 if it ends in a consonant. Here are a few examples:
가다 → 가 + ㅂ니다
→ 갑니다
하다 → 하 + ㅂ니다
→ 합니다
먹다 → 먹 + 습니다
→ 먹습니다
받다 → 받 + 습니다
→ 받습니다
오다 → 오 + ㅂ니다
→ 옵니다
죽다 → 죽 + 습니다
→ 죽습니다
놀다 → 놀 + ?
Verb stems that end in ㄹ are an exception. For verbs in the present tense with this form, remove the ㄹ after you get the verb stem.
놀다 → 놀 – ㄹ → 노 + ㅂ니다
→ 놉니다
벌다 → 벌 – ㄹ → 버 + ㅂ니다
→ 법니다
Here are some more examples.
저는 갑니다.
"I go."
저는 옵니다.
"I come."
저는 치즈를 먹습니다.
"I eat cheese."
저는 게임을 합니다.
"I play games."
The Particle 에
에 is a particle that can have a few different meanings depending on how it’s used. It can mean "to," such as in the above dialogue, "I go to school" (going to somewhere). It can also mean "at" (located at somewhere), or "in" (located in somewhere). However, for this chapter we will focus on its meaning of "to" a location.
저는 병원에 갑니다.
"I go to the hospital."
저는 영화관에 갑니다.
"I go to the movie theater."
Let’s go back to the conversation.
김철수: 저는 집에 갑니다.
"I go home."
More on 에
The above sentence, "I go home," might sound a bit strange – almost robotic, or like a caveman – when read in English. However in Korean, speaking in the present tense is perfectly normal, and does not sound strange.
But to make a more natural translation, feel free to translate the present tense to the ing form in English.
저는 집에 갑니다.
"I’m going (to) home."
저는 학교에 갑니다.
"I’m going to school."
김영희: 저는 공부합니다.
"I study."
Here we have a new verb, 공부(를) 하다. This verb is a combination of 공부, which means "study" and is a noun, with the verb 하다 ("to do"). Together it literally means "to do study." In this book and through your own studying you will learn many verbs in Korean which are a combination of a noun and the verb 하다.
김철수: 저는 놉니다.
"I play."
The Verb 놀다
놀다 can translate as either "to play" or "to hang out." This is because although it means "to play," it is the standard word you would use when meeting up with a friend to do something. In English, "to play" is a word reserved for certain things such as games or for children meeting together. However in Korean, it’s normal to keep using the verb 놀다 into adulthood.
In the above example as well, to make a more natural sounding translation, feel free to translate this sentence as "I’m playing."
Practice
Translate to Korean:
1. "I go to the hospital."
2. "I come to the hospital."
3. "I want to go to school."
4. "I want to hang out."
Translate to English:
5. 저는 게임을 합니다.
6. 저는 박물관에 갑니다.
7. 저는 바닷가에 갑니다.
8. 저는 치즈도 먹고 싶습니다.
New Vocabulary
가다 - "to go"
오다 - "to come"
놀다 - "to play," "to hang out"
살다 - "to live"
공부(를) 하다 - "to study"
좋아하다 - "to like"
싫어하다 - "to dislike" (person/thing)
미워하다 - "to hate" (person)
사랑(을) 하다 - "to love"
환전(을) 하다 - "to exchange money"
원하다 - "to want"
공부 - "study"
학교 - "school"
집 - "home," "house"
병원 - "hospital"
치과 - "dentist"
수영장 - "swimming pool"
도서관 - "library"
사무실 - "office"
카페 - "café"
은행 - "bank"
슈퍼(마켓) - "supermarket"
영화관 - "movie theater"
박물관 - "museum"
바다 - "ocean"
바닷가 - "beach"
해변 - "seaside," "seashore"
주소 - "an address"
집 주소 - "home address"
고향 - "hometown"
도시 - "city"
지역 - "an area," "a region"
길 - "a street," "a road," "a way"
부분 - "part," "portion"
역할 - "(acting) role"
연극 - "performance," "play"
방송 - "a broadcast"
프로그램 - "a program"
치즈 - "cheese"
에 - "to," "at," "in" (particle)
씨 - "Mr," "Ms./Mrs."