Exclamation particles: -네- day 2

Continuing on the theme of "exclamation particles" (I just made that up, sounds good doesn't it?), today's post is about –네--nae- (on all verbs). Although it has a very similar meaning to –는군--neungun-it’s actually less restrictive, because you can say this when you realise or learn something new, even when you can’t see it firsthand.

• 이 차는 빠르네요!i cha-neun bba-reu-nae-yo / that car's fast! (perhaps your looking at a picture, rather than driving)
• 진짜 맛있네요!jin-jja mashi-nne-yo! / that's really delicious (someone has told you that it’s very good, and you agree)
• 비가 오네요!biga d-nae-yo! / it's raining (maybe you’re not looking outside)

But of course, this can be used when you experience something too, and it also has a more formal flavour to it.

Coming up tomorrow, my personal favourite, –잖아-jan-a

Exclamation particles -군-, -네- & -잖아- (Day 1)

One of the biggest differences between Korean and European languages is the use of particles or endings where a European language speaker would use intonation to give an added meaning to the word or phrase.

Just try saying this: “it’s raining”. That’s just a statement of fact. But what if you say “it’s raining” in a surprised tone of voice? Does the meaning change? Perhaps it means you’ve just looked outside and seen the rain. Or you’ve just woken up in your tent and your friend looks very wet. Try saying it in a disappointed tone of voice. What does it mean now? When you say this word using different intonation, you’re definitely not just imparting the fact that it is raining.

When we write, all intonation is lost, so as Europeans, we invented punctuation to help the reader understand. So when you see this: “it’s raining!” you understand surprise or happiness. When you see this “it’s raining?” you understand disappointment or disbelief (obviously not limited to these meanings, context helps you understand exactly what’s going on).

Koreans never needed punctuation because the words themselves change as well as the intonation. To better understand their function, see these endings as a spoken form of punctuation.

First let's look at the most common one:–는군--neungun- (on verbs) and –군--gun- (on descriptive verbs). In the past it’s always –았/-었군--at/-otgun, regardless of the type. You use this ending when you realise something you didn’t know already (surprise). The important thing to remember about this is that you only say it when you see it:

• 비가 오는군요!biga oneun-gun-yo / wow! it's raining! (you are looking out the window)
• 아직도 안왔군!ajikdo anwadgun-yo / damn, she still hasn't arrived(you look around the room, and see that she is not there yet)
• 사람이 많군요!saram-i man-gun-yo / There are lots of people here!(you've just arrived and there are more people than you expected)

Remember these endings are used in speaking or reported speaking, just like question marks and exclamation marks. It has no place in an essay or newspaper article.

Coming up tomorrow, -네--nae-

Baseball, Junk Food & why Koreans say "화이팅"

To all my (imaginary/non-existent) readers: I am sorry for not putting up any new posts recently. But to get into the habit of "bloggingI really hate this word, it sounds like what happens when you do too much poo in a toilet" I need to persevere. As Koreans would say "화이팅h-wa-eeting / what you say to encourage people or yourself!"So I thought I would do a cultural post...

Korean is full of English words, it's even more full of Chinese words, and there's a noteable absence of Japanese words, although many words in Japanese are similar to Korean because they have a common Chinese root. Furthermore, Korean has some words in common with Japanese because of their English roots too, but even more interestingly some English words have entered Korean through Japanese.

The standard Korean romanisation and pronunciation of "f" is "ㅍpronounced like the "p" in "people". "Fast food" becomes 페스트 푸드"pest pood" / hehehehe or "fry" becomes "프라이"p-er-r-a-ee / not as funny etc. etc. Sticking to the theme of unhealthy dietary habits "French fries" can be written "후렌치 후라이hoo-rench-ee hu-ra-ee"" Here the "f" is changed to a "ㅎpronounced like "h" in "happy"". And "화이팅h-wa-eeting / what you say to encourage people or yourself!" is exactly the same. Which, if you haven't guessed already, is actually a mangled "fighting".

The reason for this variation is pretty simple. When English words come to Korean from Japanese, they maintain their Japanese pronunciation. Just as Korean has no "f" sound, neither does Japanese, but Japanese renders "f" as an "h" sound. Every time you hear an "f" in an English word pronounced or written in this way in Korean, it means that the word has entered the language through Japanese.

The word "화이팅h-wa-eeting / what you say to encourage people or yourself!" in Korean is from baseball, and can be heard at any game. Although baseball is obviously an American export, popular in many of the USA's pseudo-colonies, baseball came to Korea much later than Japan. Because of the geographical closeness, cultural and political exchanges throughout history, baseball in Korea has been influenced, and even modelled on the Japanese version of the game. It is clear that "화이팅h-wa-eeting / what you say to encourage people or yourself!" orginated in Japanese.

The only place I've seen "후렌치 후라이hoo-rench-ee hu-ra-ee"" is on a sign in the cafeteria in the university. This not only dates the sign as this spelling is outdated, it shows that the Japanese brought French Fries to Korea before America, or at least before new transliteration rules. We can't just blame the Americans for exporting Junk food!

By looking simply at the pronounciation and transliteration of a word we can understand so much more than what it means. It can tell us about where the word came from or even a little about who is saying it.

The difference between 이제 and 지금

Now (지금jigeum) we are going to learn the difference between these two very similar words.

Before I continue, it's important to bear in mind that often these two words can be used interchangeably and only sometimes is just one of them approriate. Also a dictionary will not help you to understand these words, you need to look at them in context.

• 지금 쓰고 있어요jigeum sseugo isseo-yo: I'm writing now (alt. at this point in time)
• 지금 집 있어jigeum jip isseo: I'm at home now (alt. at the moment)
• 지금 목요일이에요jigeum mog-yo-irr-i-ye-yo: It's Thursday today (alt. now)

In these sentences, now means a specific point in time, and 지금jigeum can be translated alternatively as at the moment or at this point or presently or even this year, today, this month in order to show that we are in/at a period or time.

이제ij-ae on the other hand, shows that something has started (now) and it's effects will continue in to the future. That's a little bit complicated, so have a look below:

• 이제 수업 끝났어요ij-ae su-ob ggeud-nasseo-yo: I've finished my class now (alt. from now on, my class is finished)
• 이제 더 열심히 중국어 공부 해요ij-ae deo yeol-shim-hi jung-guk-eo kong-bu hae-yo: I've been studying Chinese more studiously these days (alt. I've decided to work harder on my Chinese now)
• 이제 술 안 맛일게!i-jae sul an-mashilke!: I won't drink any more alcohol! (alt. From now on I won't drink any more alcohol)

So here 이제ij-ae adds a dimension of something continuing from the present into the future, so a consistently good translation would be: from now

And there you have it. Now (이제ijae) you understand what they mean!

REPEAT!!!

Some days this is really how I feel they teach us, and this is how they the way we learn. The only way is to constantly, repetitively and ceaselessly chip away at the mind with example sentences. No context, no variety, no interest, and as long as you can write an example sentence, you "know" it.

This is a sketch I did while both my teachers failed extremely successfully at explaining a semantically complex ending. "Look the students don't understand! Lets give them 3 hours of explanation and then command them to make example sentences off the top of their heads. Then give more explanations and then make them create more example sentences. It doesn't work? Let's do the same thing tomorrow and again and again until they just say 'yes we understand' to make us stop."

Guess how many students actually tried making example sentences? 2 out of 14. So 2 out of 14 actually did something. The rest? Silence. And because there was no context it was just a mad guessing game anyway.

Some days I just want a refund

(-은/는) -대로 That's the way I like it!

(-은/는) -대로(-eun/neun) -daero is a really useful little conversation helper which basically means "the way it is/does". Way and road are synonyms by the way... Just to help you remember.
-대로 -daerocan attach to verbs using -은/는 -eun/neun and it can attach to nouns on it's own.
Have a look at the example sentences:

• 요리 책대로 김밥 만드렀어요yori chekde-ro gimbab mandeu-reosseo-yo - I made kimbap the way it is in the cookery book
• 컴퓨터를 설명서대로 맞췄어요komp-yuto-reul seolmyeongseo de-ro ma-cheosseo-yo - I set the computer up according to the instructions (more lit. I set the computer up the way it is in the instructions

It's tempting to translate this ending as "like" - "I cooked it like it is in the cookery book" / I set the computer up like it is in the instructions. But this is a mistake. It means in the same way as it says/does/is.

• 마이클 젝선 춤 추는 대로 췄어요Michael Jackson chum chuneun dae-ro chu-weosseo-yo - I danced the way Michael Jackson dances (NOT I danced like Michael Jackson)
• 선냉님 말하는 대로 한국 말 하고 싶어요seonsengnim malhakneun de-ro hanguk mal hago ship-eo-yo - I want to speak Korean the way the teacher does (NOT I want to speak Korean like the teacher)

Both the above examples show that you do not want to be like the teacher or Michael Jackson, you only want to do what they do in the same way. Just like you don't want to be like the cookery book, you want to cook the way it tells you to cook!

On the Road to -(으)로

-(으)로-(eu)ro is one of the closest things to a preposition that Korean has, but remember it isn't a preposition, it's an ending. It's basic meaning is to imply direction, something like to or towards. What helps me remember it is that it sounds a lot like "road". A road takes you to where you want to go, but it is not your destination.

When used with 하다hada / do, -(으)로-(eu)ro takes on a meaning like "go for" in English. It implies that you have made a thought out choice. For example when you're in a restaurant.

• 김치찌개로 할래요kimchijigg-e-ro halle-yo: Im going to go for the Kimchi-jigg-e
• 뼈없는 찜닭으로 할 거예요bb-yeo oem-neun jjimdalk-euro hal go-ye-yo: I'll go for the boneless jjimdalk

So just like "go for" it shows a decision or intent, while also using some words which imply movement.

But just to make it interesting we can use it with verb forms too. Just drop the -다-da, add -기-gi and -로-ro. And of course Don't forget 하다hada!

• 8시에 집에 가기로 했어요yeo-deol shi-e jip-e gagi-ro hesseo-yo: I'm going go home at 8(more lit. Im going for going home at 8)
• 술을 안마시기로 했어요sul-eul anmashi-gi-ro hesseo-yo: I've decided not to drink. (more lit. I'm going for not drinking)

So when there is a verb it means a plan or intent. It can even mean a promise, as in the second example. And in fact, instead of 하다hada you can use other verbs like 결정하다gyeol-jong hada / decide or 약속하다yaksok hada / promise or 결심하다gyeol-shim hada / to be determined to to give it that extra special meaning:

• 술을 안마시기로 결정했어요sul-eul anmashi-gi-ro gyeoljeong hesseo-yo: I have made a decision not to drink. (more lit. I've decided to go for not drinking)
• 이기기로 결심했어요i-gigi-ro gyeolshim hesseo-yo: I'm determined to win (more lit. I am determined to go for winning)

And who said Korean was difficult????

English이란 어려워요!!!!

For a language that has so many words which change depending on speaker and person being spoken to, it's odd that the verbs to borrow and to lend are the same: 빌리다billida. How then do they distinguish them? The answer's quite easy, they use the verb 주다juda / give:

• I'm lending a pen is:볼펜 빌려 줘요ballpen billyo j-weo-yo(lit. I'm borrowing and giving a pen)
• I'm borrowing a pen is: 볼펜 빌려요ballpen billyo-yo

In English, "give" is a very uninteresting verb, but In Korean it has a grammatical function too. It essentially gives the idea that the subject of the verb is doing someone else a favour.

• 볼펜 사 주세요ballpen sa juse-yo - buy a pen for me! (lit. buy and give a pen)
• 볼펜 사세요ballpen sase-yo - buy a pen!

This is one reason why Koreans often struggle with the difference between to/for. They learn that "to" and "for" are both -에/-에게-ae/-aegae. But for once it's English that has a specific meaning. The preposition "for" in itself implies a favour, whereas the ending -에/-에게-ae/-aegae" just means "not the subject or object".

Many learners of Korean (are encouraged to) complain that Korean is difficult, but for once there isn't a specific verb for a specific situation! English is the difficult language. In fact, are there any European languages that use a totally different item of vocabulary? I can't think of any at the moment.

English이란 어려워요!oer-yeo-weo-yo / is difficult