This chapter builds upon the last, and we’ll learn how to make more natural sentences using a few new grammatical forms. Specifically, we’ll learn how to ask questions about certain individual people or things, instead of only general questions about another person.
Conversation
A: 언제 밥을 먹으러 나갑니까?
B: 오늘 밤에 나갑니다. 어디에 가고 싶습니까?
A: 서울에 가고 싶습니다. 누가 갑니까?
B: 저와 김영희 씨와 김철수 선생님이 갑니다.
A: 김철수 선생님이 누구입니까?
B: 서울 대학교 교수입니다.
A: 아, 알겠습니다. 그러면 어떻게 갑니까?
B: 우리는 걸어갑니다.
Let’s go right to the conversation.
A: 언제 밥을 먹으러 나갑니까?
"When will you leave to eat?"
Verb Stem + (으)러
When you want to say "to go to do something" or "to come to do something," such as "to go to eat" or "to come to watch a movie," use this form. Take the verb stem of the verb you are going to do, then add 으러 if it ends in a consonant, or add 러 if it ends in a vowel.
The verb following this form will always be a verb that shows movement, such as going or coming, among others.
먹으러 가다
"to go to eat"
먹으러 오다
"to come to eat"
일을 하러 가다
"to go to work"
일을 하러 오다
"to come to work"
영화를 보러 가다
"to go to see a movie"
영화를 보러 오다
"to come to see a movie"
자러 가다
"to go to sleep," "to go to bed"
자러 오다
"to come to sleep," "to come to bed"
Verb stems ending in ㄹ will add 러 to the end.
놀러 가다
"to go to play"
놀러 오다
"to come to play"
This chapter’s conversation uses the verb 나가다, which means "to leave" (literally, it means "to go out from where you are and go somewhere else"). The opposite of this word is 나오다, which means "to come out" (or literally, "to go out from where you are and come here").
영화를 보러 나가다
"to go out to see a movie" or "to leave to see a movie"
Advanced Notes:
Most commonly, you’ll see words such as "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how" used at the beginning of a sentence. But they can also come directly before a verb, just like an adverb.
Eating 밥
밥 means cooked rice, and when used together with 먹다 means "to eat cooked rice." However, because 밥 is so commonly used in Korea, this word has gained a more common meaning as simply "a meal."
Unless it is already clear, it’s important to specify what is being eaten by saying it before using the verb 먹다.
저는 먹습니다.
"I eat."
The above sentence, while grammatically correct, would only be acceptable if the person you are speaking to already knows what you are referring to eating. The following sentence would be clearer.
저는 밥을 먹고 싶습니다.
"I want to eat (a meal)."
Note that the Object Marker 을 in 밥을 먹다 is optional. However, I recommend using it at first until you feel more comfortable with how the Object Marker functions.
In fact, any time you see parentheses around a word or a syllable it means that it is optional and can be removed – or you can leave it as is.
This applies to every verb with 하다 and the Object Marker in parenthesis. For example, 공부(를) 하다 can be said as 공부를 하다 or 공부하다. Both are correct.
B: 오늘 밤에 나갑니다. 어디에 가고 싶습니까?
"I leave tonight. Where do you want to go?"
오늘 means "today," and 밤 means "night," so used together they mean "tonight." You can also use them separately.
오늘 나갑니다.
"I’m leaving today."
밤에 먹습니다.
"I’m eating at night."
오늘 밤에 숙제를 합니다.
"I’m doing homework tonight."
The word 어디 by itself means "where," but you’ll often see 에 added onto the end to add emphasis – "where to" or "where at." It should be noted though that this 에 is optional with 어디, just as it would be in English.
어디에 가고 싶습니까?
"Where do you want to go to?"
어디 가고 싶습니까?
"Where do you want to go?"
어디에 있습니까?
"Where is it at?"
어디 있습니까?
"Where is it?"
어디 can also be used with the verb 이다 (입니까) when asking where something is – instead of using 어디(에) 있다. This works in the same way as above.
집이 어디입니까?
"Where is the house?"
우리가 지금 어디입니까?
"Where are we now?"
A: 서울에 가고 싶습니다. 누가 갑니까?
"I want to go to Seoul. Who is going?"
More About Subject Markers
Before going over the above sentence, we need to talk a little bit more about Subject Markers. A Subject Marker is a particle in Korean which marks a subject – a subject is something in a sentence that does something. Let’s take a look at an example.
김 씨가 김치를 먹습니까?
"Does Mr. Kim eat kimchi?"
Here, the question is specifically asking about 김 씨. Because of that, 김 씨 is the subject of this sentence, and any subjects in a sentence need to be marked with a Subject Marker.
Although I’ll go over the Subject Marker in more detail in a later chapter, for this chapter you should know that when you are asking a question, mark the subject of that sentence (whoever or whatever it is that you are asking about specifically) with the Subject Marker.
김영희 씨가 갑니까?
"Will Mrs. Kim Yung-hee go?"
고양이가 개를 좋아합니까?
"Do cats like dogs?"
Remember that the Subject Marker is 이 when after a consonant, and 가 when after a vowel. They attach directly to the end of the word that they mark.
펜이
자동차가
Also note that the Subject Marker (이 or 가) is different from the Topic Marker (은 or 는), which we will cover in a later lesson.
Let’s finish the rest of the dialogue.
The word for "who" is 누구, but when 누구 is combined with a Subject Marker (누구 + 가), it changes to become 누가. Here "who" is being used as a subject in the sentence, since the speaker is specifically asking who will go.
B: 저와 김영희 씨와 김철수 선생님이 갑니다.
"Me and Mrs. Kim Yung-hee and Mr. Kim Chul-soo are going."
This sentence makes 3 people the subject of the action – 저, 김영희 씨, and 김철수 선생님 are the ones who are going.
A: 김철수 선생님이 누구입니까?
"Who is Mr. Kim Chul-soo?"
The Subject Marker is placed after 김철수 선생님, showing that he is the subject of this sentence. You’ll find that Subject Markers commonly appear in sentences with questions.
We did not use 누가 here because the subject is not "who" but "Mr. Kim Chul-soo" that the speaker is asking about. For comparison, here is the sentence with 누가 as the subject.
누가 김철수 선생님입니까?
"Who is Mr. Kim Chul-soo?"
In this sentence there is a stronger emphasis on "who," since "who" is the subject, while the original sentence emphasizes Mr. Kim Chul-soo. As the speaker, you can choose which words to emphasize in a sentence, changing the way it sounds. We will talk more about emphasis later.
B: 서울 대학교 교수입니다.
"He is a Seoul University professor."
Notice how the words combine together – 서울 대학교 교수 – "Seoul University professor." Nouns can combine together in the same order as they do in English.
A: 아, 알겠습니다. 그러면 어떻게 갑니까?
"Ah, I see. Well then how will you go?"
알겠습니다 is used to express "I see," or "Understood." It comes from the verb 알겠다 ("to know," "to understand"), which is another form of the verb 알다 ("to know").
그러면 means "well then," and can only be used at the beginning of a sentence.
B: 우리는 걸어갑니다.
"We are walking."
우리 means "we" or "us." 우리는 can be used in the same way as 저는.
Advanced Notes:
걸어가다 comes from a combination of the verbs 걷다 ("to walk") and 가다 ("to go"). Together, it means "to walk (in order to get somewhere)," or simply "to walk (somewhere)."
Its opposite is therefore 걸어오다, which is a combination of 걷다 ("to walk") and 오다 ("to come"), and means "to walk (in order to come here)," or simply "to walk (here)."
Culture Notes:
The largest city in South Korea is 서울 by far, with a population of over 10 million people (and a metropolitan population of 20 million). Within 서울 there are several top universities, the most famous and prestigious being 서울대 (서울 대학교), 고려대 (고려 대학교), and 연세대 (연세 대학교). Korean students will spend their entire academic lives competing with each other for a spot at one of these exclusive universities, for graduating from a top university in Korea helps to secure a bright financial future. Not going to college is seen by others as a failure, and the pressures of college acceptance are a constant source of stress and depression for students in Korea.
Other major cities in South Korea include 부산 in the South, 대구 in the East, and 대전 in the West. Of course there are other cities as well, but these are the biggest of the big.
Practice
Translate to English:
1. 저는 밥을 먹으러 갑니다.
2. 오늘 김 씨가 어디에 갑니까?
3. 우리는 학교에 걸어갑니다.
4. 저는 일을 하러 갑니다.
5. 화장실이 어디에 있습니까?
Translate to Korean:
6. "Who is Mr. Park?"
7. "Who do you love?"
8. "We want to go."
9. "When do you want to eat (a meal)?"
10. "Where is the house?"
New Phrases
알겠습니다. - "I see.," "Understood."
New Vocabulary
이/가 - Subject Marker
언제 - "when"
어디 - "where"
누구/누가 - "who"
왜 - "why"
어떻게 - "how"
잠 - "sleep"
(잠[을]) 자다 - "to sleep"
일어나다 - "to wake up," "to get up"
가방 - "bag"
우리 - "we," "us"
나라 - "country"
우리나라 - "Korea" (literally, "our country")
그러면 - "well then"
오늘 - "today"
내일 - "tomorrow"
어제 - "yesterday"
밤 - "night"
교수 - "professor"
박사 - "doctor" (someone holding a PhD)
의사 - "(medical) doctor"
가수 - "singer"
대학교 - "university"
고등학교 - "high school"
중학교 - "middle school"
초등학교 - "elementary school"
교실 - "classroom"
교육 - "education"
화장실 - "bathroom"
냉장고 - "refrigerator"
냉동실 - "freezer"
침대 - "bed"
침실 - "bedroom"
천장 - "ceiling"
지붕- "roof"
거실 - "living room"
방 - "room"
문 - "door"
열쇠 - "key"
다니다 - "to attend (school)," "to commute (to work)"
서울 - "Seoul"
나가다 - "to leave," "to go out"
나오다 - "to come out"
걷다 - "to walk"
걸어가다 - "to walk (somewhere)"
달리다 - "to run"
뛰다 - "to fly," "to jump," "to run"
밥(을) 먹다 - "to eat (a meal)"
밥 - "(cooked) rice," "a meal"
쌀 - "(uncooked) rice"
살 - "flesh," "fat"
빵 - "bread"
떡 - "rice cake"
버터 - "butter"
캔디 - "candy"
과자 - "snacks"
사탕 - "sweets"
설탕 - "sugar"
꿀 - "honey"
소금 - "salt"
후추 - "pepper"
식초 - "vinegar"
후식 - "dessert"
아침 (식사) - "breakfast" (literally, "morning meal")
점심 (식사) - "lunch" (literally, "afternoon meal")
저녁 (식사) - "dinner" (literally, "evening meal")
알겠다 - "to know," "to understand"