How’s Korea?
한국 어때요 [Hanguk eottaeyo?]
Interrogatives: How and Why, Reasons and Causes
Now that you’re back from the restroom, are you ready to learn how to ask more questions? Asking questions is good, right? As the saying goes, you’ll never know if you don’t ask. Well, I want you to know! So I’m going to show you how to ask questions using two more useful question words: “how” and “why.”
How?
Do you have any foreign friends? If so, I bet you’ve asked them what they think of your country. You’ll run into the same thing when you come to Korea and talk to your new Korean friends. They’ll always want to know:
한국 어때요 [Hanguk eottaeyo?] How’s Korea?
Here, the word 어떻다 is an adjective, so when you’re curious about someone’s feelings or opinion on a subject, you can say N-이 / 가 어때요? Remember, 어떻다 is a ᄒ irregular adjective, so when you conjugate it with the pattern 5 ending -아요 / -어요 / -여요, you drop the final ᄒ. That’s how you get 어때, right? Great. Let’s practice.
이 음식점 분위기가 어때요 [I eumshikjeom punwigiga eottaeyo?] How’s the restaurant’s atmosphere?
오늘 기분이 어때요 [Oneul kibuni eottaeyo?] How’re you feeling today?
Pretty easy, right? But wait, because there’s more we can do with the adjective 어떻다. For example, we can make an adverb out of it: 어떻게. As I’m sure you know, adverbs modify verbs or adjectives, so using this adverb, we can come up with a different way to say 한국 어때요 Check it out:
한국 (을) 어떻게 생각하세요 [Hanguk(eul) eotteoke saenggakaseyo?] What do you think of Korea?
Notice that the literal translation is “How do you think…,” but of course in English we would say “what” instead. Anyway, the adverb 어떻게 is modifying the verb “think” in this sentence, isn’t it? This just gives us a somewhat more long-winded way of saying “How’s Korea?”
The 어떻게 adverb can be really useful in other circumstances—especially if it’s your first time in Korea, because you’re likely to get lost a few times. Don’t lose your cool! Just remember 어떻게, and you can find help.
Say you’re trying to find your way to Insadong, Seoul’s famous traditional district that’s full of atmospheric teashops and handicraft stores. Oh no, you forgot your map at home! What do you do? Well, just flag down a friendly pedestrian and ask:
인사동 (까지) 어떻게 가요 [Insadong(kkaji) eotteoke kayo?] How can I get to Insadong?
The passerby will kindly inform you that you can get there on the subway:
지하철을 타세요. [Chihacheoreul taseyo.] Take the subway.
So make sure to take note of the handy 어 떻다 adverb. It just might save your day!
But we’re still not done exploring the usefulness of the adjective 어떻다, because there’s yet another form: 어떤 [eotteon]. 어떤 is a noun modifier—it modifies whatever noun is written directly after it. Now, its meaning is a little different from that of 어떻다 and 어떻게, but we’re going to learn it anyway because it’s a great word to know. Instead of “how,” 어떤 translates into “what (kind of),” or “which.”
Need some context? I think so. Let’s say you’re on a blind date in Korea, and your date wants to know your preferences for dinner. He might ask you:
어떤 음식을 좋아하세요 [Eotteon eumshigeul choahaseyo?] What kind of food do you like?
By the way, do you know much about Korean food? I’m sure you’ve heard of kimchi, at least from me, but you can’t use this as an answer to the question. Kimchi is a side dish, not a main dish. So what else? Do you know bulgogi? It’s Korean barbeque—sliced meat marinated in a special mixture of sauces and spices and grilled over charcoal. It’s terrific; I bet you’ll love it! So why don’t you tell your date this:
저는 불고기를 사랑해요. [Cheoneun pulgogireul saranghaeyo.] I love bulgogi.
Oops! He’s starting to laugh at you! Why? Well, I admit, I played a little trick on you. The Korean verb for “to love” is definitely 사랑하다, but typically it’s only used to talk about people you love, not food or other inanimate objects. In these cases, use 좋아하다 instead. So let’s revise your statement:
저는 불고기를 좋아해요. [Cheoneun pulgogireul choahaeyo.] I like bulgogi.
Hey, this is pretty good. You’ve made your date laugh, the tension has been eased, and everything’s looking up. So, come on, keep the mood going. Make some conversation. Um…how about the weather? The weather? Are you sure? Well, here goes:
오늘 날씨 어때요 [Oneul nalssi eottaeyo?] How’s the weather today?
Oh boy! What does he look like, the weatherman? I don’t know if any date has ever been successful following a conversation about the weather. Good luck!
Why?
Why? Why did you act so foolishly last night? Hey, I’m just kidding, I’m sure your date understood that your conversational skills were simply a result of your beginner Korean, not your personality. Is there anything they said that you didn’t understand? Maybe they asked you why you came to Korea. Or, better yet, they probably asked why you’re learning Korean.
In Korea, learning English is taken very seriously and viewed as a necessary, yet incredibly difficult, task. Koreans look at native English speakers like you and think you’re very lucky to have learned the language as a child. On the other hand, since Korean is not a major international language like English, they wonder why English speakers would choose to study it. So they might ask you:
한국어를 왜 배우세요 [Hangugeoreul wae paeuseyo?] Why do you learn Korean?
As you can see, the Korean word for “why” is 왜. Of course, in English “why” always appears at the beginning of the sentence, but in Korean 왜 should be placed in front of the sentence’s verb. Why? Because it’s an adverb in Korean, so it technically modifies the verb. However, if you really want to put 왜 at the beginning of the sentence (e.g., 왜 한국어를 배우세요), it doesn’t matter. Remember? In Korean, the word order is relatively free.
By the way, why are you learning Korean? For some people, they study the language for romantic reasons. So they might answer:
여자 친구가 한국 사람이어서 한국말을 배워요. [Yeoja chinguga hanguk saramieoseo
hangungmareul paeweoyo.] I’m learning Korean because my girlfriend is Korean.
Ah, the power of love! It’s as great a reason as any for learning a second language, don’t you think!
Reasons and causes
What about the conjugative ending -아서 / -어서/ -여서 in the sentence above? If you recall, in the last chapter we used it to mean “and then,” but here, it’s signifying the reason for a certain action. Both meanings are possible with this ending. (You’ll have to wait till chapter 22 for a more thorough explanation.)
Another way to say this sentence would be:
여자 친구 때문에 한구말을 배워요. [Yeoja chingu ttaemune hangungmareul paeweoyo.]
I’m learning Korean because of my girlfriend.
Similar to the ending -아서 / -어서 / -여서, the word 때문 is used to express the reason or cause for an action or state of being. It’s placed after the noun that’s being identified as the reason. See how that works?
Great! And do you want to learn one more way to say this? If so, then it’s time to introduce you to the wonderful trick for transforming verbs and adjectives into nouns. Koreans do this all the time. In English it’s like adding “-ing” onto a verb (e.g., changing “to learn” into “learning,” for use in the sentence “Learning is fun.”).
It’s simple. All you have to do as add the ending -기 onto the verb or adjective stem. I introduced this briefly back in chapter 6, do you remember? It’s a pattern 1 ending…the easiest!
So, for the special verb ending -이다, which means “to be,” what’s the noun form? Yes, 이기! We can then say:
여자 친구가 한국 사람이기 때문에 한구말을 배워요. [Yeoja chinguga hanguk saramigi ttaemune hangungmareul paeweoyo.] I’m learning Korean because of my girlfriend being Korean.
It’s rather clunky in English, I know, but in Korean it’s perfectly natural! So there you have three different ways of explaining the reason for something.
And now, what about you? What’s your reason for learning Korean?
Korean Style: Korean blind dates
Traditionally, marriages were arranged in Korea. Parents would set up a meeting for a son or daughter who’d reached a certain age, and if both agreed to it, they’d get married. (Sometimes they married even though they didn’t want to, of course, because they were raised to obey their parents.) Nowadays, parents can’t force their children to marry, but these kinds of meetings still take place.
What about more casual meetups? There are two types of these: 미팅 and 소새팅. 미팅 is a direct adoption of the English word “meeting,” but it has a more specific meaning. It refers to meetings between young men and women who are searching for a partner, and they occur especially in college.
And then there’s the 소개팅. This is close to the concept of a blind date in the West. The word is related to 미팅, as 소개 means “introduction,” and 팅 is taken straight from 미팅. So obviously, it means meeting someone through a third party’s introduction.
Will you have a chance to go on a 소개팅 or 미팅 in Korea? Who can say? It’s highly possible, if that’s what you’re looking for. But if you’re a guy, you have to remember two things. First, you need to pay. And second, you have to drop her off at her home (or at least offer to). Otherwise, don’t expect a second date!