korean grammar – Korean lessons

~(이)라고

You can use it when you want to use direct speech or indirect/reported speech.

이라고 goes for words ending in a consonant while 라고 goes for words ending in a vowel.
In indirect speech, (이)라고 is usually used with words related to speaking (말하다, 이야기하다, 대답하다), but also with 하다 (in this case it means “to say/tell/talk”).

Examples:

1.Direct speech

이거라고! / This is it!
자동차라고. / It’s a car.

2.Indirect/reported speech

이 사람이 학생이라고 말해요. / (He/She/They) say(s) this person is a student.
이 사람이 ‘학생’이라고 말했어요. / This person said ‘student’.

Vocabulary:

말하다 = to speak
이야기하다 = to have a conversation
대답하다 = to answer
하다 = to do
이거 = this, this thing
자동차 = car
사람 = person
학생 = student

~지요

지요 is added to words when a question is being asked. When somebody uses 지요 in their questions it means they already know the answer, but they just want to double-check it.

지요 often changes in 죠 in honorific speech.

Present tense: ~지요

Past tense: ~았지요, ~었지요, ~했지요

Future tense: ~겠지요

In the case of verbs, adjectives and nouns (nouns with no final consonant) ~지요 must be used. For nouns which end in a final consonant ~이지요 must be used.

Examples:

You know this dress, right? It was your dress. / 이 드레스 알죠? 당신의 드레스였어요.
It was delicious, right? / 맛있었죠?
You will forget, won’t you? / 잊어버리겠지?

Vocabulary:

이 = this
드레스 = dress
알다 = to know, to understand
당신 = you
이다 = to be
맛있다 = to be delicious
잊어버리다 = to forget

~아서/어서

They are used to conjoin related actions in order and they can be attached to verbs and adjectives.

If the last vowel is ㅗ or ㅏ you have to use ~아서. Otherwise you have to use ~어서. In the case of verbs ending with 하다 you have to add 해서.

Examples:

운전해서 집에 가요. / I drive home.
길을 건너서 똑바로 가세요. / Go straight across the street.
서점을 지나서 100미터쯤 가세요. / Go about 100 meters past the bookstore.

Vocabulary:

운전하다 = to drive
집 = house, home
가다 = to go
길 = street
건너다 = to cross (over)
똑바로 = straight
서점 = bookstore
지나다 = to pass by, to go by
미터 = meter
쯤 = or so, about

This lesson was taken from this app. You should try it out!

같다 is similar to 것 같다 (read about it here). There are, however, two differences between them and one of them is that 같다 is used with nouns while the other one is used with verbs. What you can use both of them for?You can use them both when you want to say that something looks or seems like something. The second difference between them is that 같다 can be also used when somebody wants to say, for example, that his/her bag is THE SAME as his/her friend’s.

Examples:

제 가방이 친구 가방 같아요. / My bag looks the same as my friend’s bag. / My bag is the same as my friend’s bag.

커피 같아요. / It looks like coffee. / It’s like coffee.

Vocabulary:

제 = my

가방 = bag

친구 = friend

커피 = coffee

~로/으로

This particle is added to nouns.

~로 is added to words ending in a vowel and also to those ending in ㄹ (for the ease of pronunciation).
~으로 is added to words ending in a consonant (except for ㄹ).

There are 7 ways you can use it:

By means of, by, with
To, toward
Language
A choice among many options
To indicate transformation or change
To express a cause or reason for a result
To express the order in which something happened

1. By means of, by, with

저는 펜으로 서명했어요. / I signed with a pen.

학생은 학교에 자전거로 갔어요. / The student went to the school by bike.

저는 그 의자를 손으로 만들었어요. / I made that chair by hand.

2. To, toward

오른쪽으로 오세요. / Come towards the right side.

3. Language

저는 중국어로 말했어요. / I said it (or spoke) in Chinese.

4. A choice among many options (example: ice cream flavors)

Waiter: 무슨 맛으로 드릴까요? / What flavor would you like?

Guest: 딸기 맛으로 주세요. / Give me strawberry flavor please.

5. Transformation or change

비가 눈으로 변했어요. / The rain changed into snow.
탐이 부장님으로 고용됐어요. / Tom was hired as the manager.
혜란이가 예쁜 여자로 자랐어요. / Hyeran grew up to be a pretty woman.

6. To express the cause or reason for a result

김연아가 올림픽으로 유명해 졌어요. / Kim Yuna became famous because of the Olympics.

7. To express the order in which something happened.

저는 첫 번째로 먹을 거예요. / I will eat first.

Source: https://www.helloinkorean.com/discover-the-7-usages-of-%EC%9C%BC%EB%A1%9C-in-korean/

~네요

네요 is used to express surprise, thought or impression regarding something. You have to add it after the verb stem or the past tense suffix.

Example sentences:

너 정말 예쁘네! / You are really pretty! (Note: 네 and 네요 are the same thing, but, by not adding 요 at the end, the speaker is less formal, as you may have already known)
이거 정말 맛있네요! / This is really tasty!

Vocabulary:

너 = you (informal)
정말 = really
예쁘다 = to be pretty
이거 = this, this thing
맛있다 = to be delicious

Consult this lesson from the Talk To Me In Korean website for more! I find this site really helpful and if you haven’t heard of it before you should definitely check it out. They also have a YouTube channel if you are interested in that!

몇

몇 can be used, for instance, when you don’t want to specify the exact number of something. In this case, 몇 can be translated as ‘some’:

I bought some flowers. / 나는 꽃 몇 다발을 샀어요.

몇 can also be translated as ‘how much/many’:

How many apples do you have? / 너는 사과가 몇 개 있어요?
How old are you? / 몇 살이에요?
What time is it now? / 지금 몇 시예요?

Vocabulary:

나 = I (informal)

꽃 = flower

다발 = counter for flowers or plants

사다 = to buy

사과 = apple

개 = counter for ‘things’

있다 = to exist, to have, to be

지금 = now

시간 = time

Please consult this list if you are interested in counters.

~지만

지만 can often be translated as ‘even though’ in English. It is added to the stem of verbs, adjectives and the copula 이다.

Examples:

나는 음식을 좋아하지만 먹을 수 없다. / Even though I like food, I can’t eat.

나는 그 옷을 좋아하지만 살 수 없다. / Even though I like the dress, I can’t buy it.

Vocabulary:

나 = me, I

음식 = food

좋아하다 = to like

먹다 = to eat

그 = that, those

옷 = clothes, dress

사다 = to buy

만약

만약 means ‘if’ and is used in front of a verb or a phrase. It is used together with (으)면 to make the meaning more clear. If a sentence is really short like the ones below, you don’t necessarily have to use 만약, only if it is really long because that way the person you are talking to will know from the start that there will be an ‘if’ in your sentence.

Examples:

오늘 가면… / If I go today…

만약 오늘 가면… / If I go today…

Vocabulary:

오늘 = today

가다 = to go

You can make a sentence in the past tense as usual and then add (으)면 and also 만약 if you want to. For the future tense it’s a bit different in the sense that it’s not ~(을)ㄹ 거예요 anymore, but ~(을)ㄹ 거면.

Examples:

그 영화를 봤으면… / If you’ve seen the movie…

그 영화를 볼 거면… / If you’re going to watch that movie…

Vocabulary:

그= that

영화 = movie

보다 = to see, watch

~러/으러

러/으러 is used especially when one is going to or coming from a place in order to do something, so you can translate it as ‘to’. 러 must be used with words ending in a vowel while the other one is used with words ending in a consonant.

Examples:

고양이가 자러 집에 가요. / The cat goes home to sleep.

먹으러 가자. / Let’s go (to) eat.

Vocabulary:

자다 = to sleep

집 = house, home

가다 = to go

고양이 = cat

먹다 = to eat

러/으러 se foloseste in special cand cineva merge inspre sau vine dintr-un anumit loc pentru a face ceva, deci il puteti traduce ca “pentru a”, “sa” sau “ca sa”. 러 trebuie folosit alaturi de cuvinte ce se termina intr-o vocala iar celalalt alaturi de cuvinte ce se termina intr-o consoana.