Thinking about Thinking day 3

Much like the first post about the verb 생각 하다/나다seng-gak hada/nada / think... etc. where we saw you can put any noun in front of 생각 하다/나다seng-gak hada/nada / think... to mean you are thinking about something. Here we are going to see how to say think about doing something.

It's actually much simpler than saying "I think that..." (thinking about thinking day 2) because the time is always about the future or present. You can't say I'm thinking about went to the shop! Also it can only be used with normal verbs, not descriptive verbs. You can't say I'm thinking about smelly!

As I said it's relatively straightforward. You take a verb, say 공부 하다gong-bu hada / study. You drop the -다-da add -는-neun and then the noun 것geot. 것geot actually means "thing". So what this means, roughly-literally, is "the studying thing" or "the thing which is studying".
Have a look at these examples:

• 중국에 가는 것 생각 해요jung-guk ga-neun geot seng-gak he-yo / Im thinking about going to China
• 점심에 김치찌게 먹는 것 생각 났어요jom-shim-ae Kimchi-jiggae mong-neun geot seng-gak nass-eo-yo / I thought about having Kimchi-jiggae for lunch
• 어머니 전화하는 것 생각 해요eo-meo-ni jeon-hwa-ha-neun geot seng-gak he-yo / I'm thinking about calling my Mum

One thing to think about is, how often do Koreans actually say this? Not very often is the answer. As you may have noticed other verbs also mean think, and there are countless ways of impying opinion through particles and endings. Either way though, these forms will be very helpful to an English native speaker!

Thinking about Thinking day 2

Last time we saw how we can think about “something”. But what if you want to make it more complicated? Well, it’s more complicated. There are least two ways to add a verb before “생각 하다/나다” Today we will look at the most straightforward one. Have a look at these examples:

• 1. 니가 어제 여자친구 만났다고 생각 했어요.ni-ga eo-jae yeoja-ching-gu mann-at-da-go seng-gak hesseo-yo / I thought you met your girlfriend yesterday
• 2. 많은 사람이 한국 음식은 맵다고 생각 해어요.man-eun sa-ram-i han-guk eum-shik-eun mep-da-go he-yo / Many people think that Korean food is spicy
• 3. 영국 여자보다 한국 여자는 많이 먹은다고 생각해요.yeong-guk yeo-ja-poda han-guk yeo-ja man-i meog-eun-da-go seng-gak heyo / I think Korean girls eat more than English girls
• 4. 이사람은 내 친구라고 생각했어요!i-saram-eun ne ching-gu-ra-go seng-gak hess-eo-yo / I thought that person was my friend

All these phrases follow the same pattern in that the verb is followed by –고, and then after that 생각 하다. But depending on the kind of verb you put a different particle before it:

If it’s a normal verb you drop the -다, add an –ㄴ- to, if there’s already a consonant (바침) add –는-, then -다- and then the -고.
하다 -> 하 -> 하+ㄴ->한+다 -> 한다+고 = 한다고
찾다 ->찾+는 ->찾는+다 ->찾는다+고 = 찾는다고(see example for 3 먹다)

If it’s a descriptive verb you just add 고 to the basic form.
예쁘다 + 고 = 예쁘다고 (see example 2 for 맵다)

And if it’s a noun then add –이라- before the -고. If there is a consonant (바침) at the end of the word, simply add –라- then add the –고.
차+라고 = 차라고 꿈+라고 = 꿈이라고 (see example 4)

And if it’s any verb in the past, then just follow the rules for descriptive verbs .
나다->났다 났다+고 = 났다고 (see example 1)

So what does this all mean? Well basically translated, the sentences just mean “I think that…” This form is used to give only your opinion on something. It is not to be confused with “I know that” in English which is created using a totally different construction in Korean.

As a final point this form is used in exactly the same way for reported speech.