-와/-과, -이랑/-랑, -하고: and, and, and and! (Grammar)

Today we are going to see how to put different nouns together, essentially the word "and". There are many ways in Korean to say this word and the difference is quite subtle. Today we will look at the three most common ones: -하고-hago, -와/-과-wa/-gwa, and -랑/-이랑-rang/-irang.

First of all lets look quickly at where to put these particles. You can attach -하고-hago to anything without changing it:

• rice and kimchi = 밥하고 김치bap-hago kimchi
• beer and soju = 맥주하고 소주mekju-hago soju

So -하고-hago is only different from "and" in the sense that instead of it being a separate word like "and" it attaches to the first noun.

-와/-과-wa/-gwa and -랑/-이랑-rang/-irang are slightly different because depending on the preceding word they change a little. If the first word ends in a consonant (바침ba-chim / the bottom character in a syllable, so basically a consonant)) then you use -과-gwa or -이랑-rang/-irang. If it doesn't you use -와-wa or -랑-rang

• rice and kimchi = 밥과 김치bab-gwa kimchi or 밥이랑 김치bab-i-rang kimchi
• beer and soju = 맥주와 소주mek-ju-wa soju or 맥주랑 소주mekju-rang soju

Notice how 밥bap / rice ends in "ㅂthe Korean equivalent of "b"", a consonant, and 맥주mekju / beer ends in "우the Korean equivalent of "oo" / "u"", a vowel.

So all these particles attach to the first noun, rather than being a separate word, but they still go in the same place as "and" in English. But how are they different?

Click here to find out!

Names and why Koreans don't use them

Ever watched a Korean film and noticed the subtitle is totally different to what's being said? Often that's because Koreans don't use names when they talk to their friends.

In Korea, your social status is more important than you as an individual, and your relationship with the person you're talking to is more important than the person themselves. Just as with verb endings, the most important factor in setting up a friendship-relationship, is age.

And this is the reason why Koreans always ask "how old are you?". They need to work out how to structure their relationship and what to call each other. Once you know who's older, the younger person never refers to the older one by name. The older one, on the other can if they want.
The names (or words you use to call each other) are family member names. So essentially everyone who you would call "friend" in English, you call brother or sister.

Names in Korea perform only an official function, so a name is generally only written, or when the only way to distinguish between people is to use a name. Take a class for example, everyone except the teacher is of the same status, so names are used by the teacher to tell students apart. Remember though, the teacher is high status. If you call someone older than you by name, then you're putting youself higher than them, much like a teacher talking to a pupil.

Coming from a society where everyone is "equal" calling people as "big brother" when they're not your big brother is definitely awkward, but it has to be done. I find this much harder than the 문법mun-beop / grammar my teachers always go on about.

Korean Basics: making a sentence

Maybe you can remember back to school days, or you’re an English teacher yourself? A sentence in English always needs at least 2 things, and normally more. But the two main things are:

• a subject – they, she, it, the cat, a bird, my evil twinetc. etc.
• a verb – eat(s) / swim(s) / run(s) / murdered etc. etc. (a doing word)

So “yes!” is not a sentence and “hungry” is not a sentence either, although you can kind of get what they mean. But what happens if you say “love”? Can you understand the meaning? Who do you love? Who loves you? Do you hate love? Is love great? can your evil twin love? It’s confusing, and it definitely is not a sentence.

In the last basics post I talked about verb endings and politeness. When we use them, it means that we are talking to someone. In English, it's the oppposite, our sentences show that someone is talking, that's why we always need a subject. Without a subject it's difficult to guess who is talking (see above).

Love in Korean is 사랑하다sarang-hada. This is the base form (remember) So when we put an ending on it means that there must be someone you're talking to because you are either showing, or not showing respect.
So imagine your mum is in front of you and you say 사랑해요sarang-hae-yo. In English this literally translates as "love" But of course, if your mum's in front of you, a better translation would be "I love you".

Korean, unlike English, does not need a subject, and often it does not need an object either (what comes after a verb, not before, like the "you" in "I love you"). You can work it out from the situation. So any verb with an ending on it, is in fact a sentence in Korean. So take any verb and put an ending on it! Congratulations! You're speaking Korean in full sentences

But of course sometimes you need to put these words in. Imagine there are three girls/boys in front of you. You want to tell one you love them. If you just say 사랑해요sarang-hae-yo they'll all think you love them!

Why Koreans translate so strangely

I met one of my friends after dinner once (in Korea), and he was visibly upset. He said “There was seaweed in my porridge!” you might think that this is a culinary travesty like jam in fried egg sandwiches, but this time it wasn’t. It was the result of mistranslation

What my friend had, had absolutely nothing to do with porridge. It was something closer to risotto called 죽juk. Rice cooked a long time, served with savoury flavourings like kimchi or octopus or seaweed. But all Koreans call 죽juk “porridge”. You actually see it written outside 죽juk restaurants

The same goes with 찌개jjigg-ae. Much to the disappointment of new arrivals when they look at a menu, they see this translated as stew. Suddenly potatoes and tender meat in a thick sauce come to mind. You couldn’t be further from the truth. This is soup, plain and simple, albeit delicious.

Of course there are cultural reasons as to why all Koreans categorise these foods like this (I have to admit, I once saw 찌개jjig-ae called soup), but that’s for another time. This is pure conjecture, but I believe that these terms were coined pre-50s.

Porridge is not exactly a commonly eaten food, and to be honest, I am the only person who has such happy feelings when I think about stew. These are both foods of the past, which have been replaced by fancy things like "cereals" and "tagine".
I think that these words entered Korean when, either, the Americans occupied the South in the 1950s, or it could have taken place even earlier with the first missionaries. The Korean language has adopted these words so much that when you say (even in English) “찌개jjig-ae is not stew” no one believes you!

Korean doesnt just create Korean, and it doesn't just create Konglish, it even creates English. These odd translations remain to this day cemented in the Korean language, and will continue to confuse foreigners long into the future.

국, 탕, 찌개, glorious soup!! - 탕 / tang

탕tang, not to to be confused with the Tang dynasty, is usually made with fish. It's most common incarnation is as 매운탕me-un-tang, a mixture of fish bones and heads from the 회hoe/(pronounced hw-eh) making process. It's sometimes free or costs just a little extra. It's name means spicy soup, so you have been warned. Also it can be a little awkward to eat because of all the fish bones. You've been warned a second time!
Like 국guk, 탕tang is quite watery, but it contains many different ingredients, including 무moo / a massive mild radish and different kinds of spring-onions.

국, 탕, 찌개, glorious soup!! - 국 / guk

국guk is probably the most common kind of soup. It generally has the highest ratio of water to ingredients. It's made from stock, which characterises this kind of soup. Generally it doesn't have many ingredients, either beef and some kind of cabbage - 소고기국(밥)so-go-gi-gukbap / beef soup and rice. Other varieties contain pretty much only noodles.

칼국수kal-guk-su is wheat noodles (a lot like homemade linguine) in broth. The taste is mild and it can contain clams, and other seafood depending on the variety. The noodles themselves are often homemade and make the soup soft and hearty.

잔치국수kal-guk-su is a must have. It's simple and filling and most importantly cheap. Even the most hardened Korean-food hating westerner can't dislike this. It's basically spaghetti like noodles in fish stock or broth (often you can't even tell that it's made from fish)You add your own flavouring, generally a few spring onions in soy sauce. At 2000won a hit, you cant go wrong. Also, in the summer it's served at room temperature, so the only sweating you'll be doing is from eating it too fast!

국, 탕, 찌개, glorious soup!! - 된장찌개 - dwenjang-jjig-e

찌개jji-ge, mis-translated by Koreans as stew (much to the dissapointment of the international community, and something which I will discuss in the next post), is similar to 탕 tangin terms of quantity of ingredients. What makes it different is that the flavour comes, not from meat, fish, or stock, but fermented produce, either 김치kimchi or 됀장dwen-jang. Both these ingredients can be quite strong, so what turns out is a surprisingly rich and hearty, yet still very liquidy soup.
된장찌개dwen-jang-jigg-e normally contains clams or shrimps. Just like 김치찌개kim-chi-jigg-ae it also can contain tofu, chillis, spring onions etc. Like 탕tang a good 찌개jji-ge should have many more ingredients than liquid. If it doesn't, the restaurant is skimping on costs.