Learn how to use a phrase meaning "to be in the middle of doing something"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Mihyeon: 안녕하세요. 미현입니다. |
| Junsu: Hi everyone. I am Junsu. |
| Hyunwoo: And hi, I am Hyunwoo. I Am In The Middle Of Cooking. 미현씨, 요리 좋아하세요? |
| Mihyeon: 네. 좋아하는 편이에요. |
| Hyunwoo: What can you make? |
| Mihyeon: 음...된장찌개, 김치찌개 잘 만들어요. |
| Hyunwoo: Wow! You know 김치찌개 and 된장찌개 are the two most common dishes in the Korean diet but it’s really difficult to be really good at making them. Don’t you think Junsu? |
| Junsu: Yeah I am always curious about how my mom makes this stuff. It tastes really good but I can’t make them at all. |
| Mihyeon: 그 김치하고 된장의 맛이 가장 중요해요. |
| Hyunwoo: Aha there is the secret. |
| Junsu: The taste of the ingredients is what matters the most. |
| Hyunwoo: 그런데 미현씨는 if a friend calls you when you are in the middle of cooking, do you pick up the phone or ignore it? |
| Mihyeon: 음...저는 전화를 받아요. |
| Hyunwoo: And what about the cooking that you were doing? |
| Mihyeon: 지금 요리 중이니까 이따가 전화할게라고 이야기해요. |
| Hyunwoo: Aha I see and Junsu what do you do in the same kind of situation? |
| Junsu: Well it’s quite simple. I don’t cook. So no – no such experience for me. |
| Hyunwoo: Okay simple enough and what Mihyeon says to her friend when she was in the middle of cooking is what we are going to learn to say today but before we go into today’s lesson, let’s review. You know I love reviews right. So what kind of grammar pattern did we learn last time? |
| Junsu: We learned how to say an assumption or a supposition and the question version was 을까 and the answer was 을 거야. |
| Hyunwoo: 미현씨, 지난 시간에 배운 것을 사람들이 기억할까요? |
| Mihyeon: 기억할 거예요. |
| Hyunwoo: 확실해요? 정말 기억할까요? |
| Mihyeon: 저는 listener 여러분들을 믿습니다. |
| Hyunwoo: I believe in our listeners too. And if you are looking for ways to remember things better, I think it will be a very good idea to check out the grammar questions in our learning center. After you’ve listened to a lesson and you listen to the review track, you can go to the learning center and answer the grammar content and vocabulary questions which will help you remember the things that we studied together much, much better. |
| Junsu: And as we mentioned a while ago, we are going to learn how to say you are in the middle of doing something. And today’s conversation is a new set from the last one and Mihyeon, so who is this conversation between and what is it about? |
| Mihyeon: 음 지윤씨와 석민씨의 대화예요. 석민씨가 지윤씨한테 전화했을 때는 지윤씨가 수업 듣는 중이었어요. 그런데 잠시 후에 지윤씨가 석민씨한테 전화했을 때는 석민씨가 아르바이트 하는 중이었어요. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah bad timing right but these things seem to happen quite often. |
| Mihyeon: 정말 이런 일이 자주 있어요. |
| Junsu: So what kind of situation have you been in? |
| Mihyeon: 이상하게 샤워를 하러 가면 항상 전화가 와요. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah me too. I always get a phone call or two when I am in the shower. |
| Mihyeon: 그래서 저는 전화올 것 같으면 샤워할 때 전화기를 가지고 들어가요. |
| Junsu: And you talk while you are showering? |
| Mihyeon: 아 샤워할 때 전화가 오면 빨리 받아서 나 지금 샤워하는 중이야. 이따가 다시 전화할게. 이러고 다시 샤워 끝난 후에 다시 전화하죠. |
| Hyunwoo: 아 진짜로 기다리는 전화가 있을 때. Like something really important and just like me unexplained, in today’s dialogue, 지윤 and 석민 are not in such good timing with each other. So 한번 들어 볼까요? |
| Junsu: 네. 들어 보시죠. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (1)지윤: (속삭이며) 여보세요. |
| (2)석민: 야, 너 뭐 해? |
| (3)지윤: 나 수업 듣는 중이야! |
| (4)석민: 앗. 정말? |
| (5)지윤: 내가 나중에 전화할게. |
| (6)지윤: (잠시 후) 수업 끝났어! 왜 전화했어? |
| (7)석민: 아. 그냥. 그런데 나 지금 아르바이트 하는 중이야. 바빠. |
| (8)지윤: 그래 알았어. 나중에 전화할께. |
| (9)석민: 응. 나중에 이야기하자. |
| (1)지윤: (속삭이며) 여보세요. |
| (1)Jiyun: (whispering) Hello. |
| (2)석민: 야, 너 뭐 해? |
| (2)Seokmin: Hey, what are you doing? |
| (3)지윤: 나 수업 듣는 중이야! |
| (3)Jiyun: I'm in the middle of taking a class right now! |
| (4)석민: 앗. 정말? |
| (4)Seokmin: Oh, really? |
| (5)지윤: 내가 나중에 전화할게. |
| (5)Jiyun: I'll call you later. |
| (6)지윤: (잠시 후) 수업 끝났어! 왜 전화했어? |
| (6)Jiyun: (a while later) The class is over! Why did you call? |
| (7)석민: 아. 그냥. 그런데 나 지금 아르바이트 하는 중이야. 바빠. |
| (7)Seokmin: Oh, nothing special. I'm working now though. I'm busy. |
| (8)지윤: 그래 알았어. 나중에 전화할게. |
| (8)Jiyun: Okay then. I'll call you later. |
| (9)석민: 응. 나중에 이야기하자. |
| (9)Seokmin: Okay. Let's talk later. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Hyunwoo: 준수씨, 미현씨는 샤워할 때에도 전화가 오면 받는다고 했는데 what do you do when you get a phone call when you are very busy? |
| Junsu: Actually I am quite the opposite. I don’t answer. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah that’s very convenient but what if the same person keeps calling you again and again and then you finally pick up the phone and the person asks you, why didn’t you answer the phone? |
| Junsu: I just tell them I was in the middle of doing something important. |
| Hyunwoo: And how would you say that in Korean? |
| Junsu: 아 좀 중요한 일 하는 중이었어요. |
| Hyunwoo: 좀 중요한 일 하는 중이었어요. Okay so I have a question for everybody. You are listening to KoreanClass101.com’s wonderful lessons and you get a phone call from somebody and you want to continue listening to Mihyeon’s beautiful voice and Junsu’s intelligent voice. Then what do you say to the person who is calling. Try saying this in Korean and please write it in the comments section. Mihyeon and Junsu will be very, very pleased. And they will work harder to help you with your Korean. Okay so let’s get into today’s vocabulary words. 오늘 단어들 보실까요? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Hyunwoo: So what’s the first word? |
| Mihyeon: 전화하다 |
| Junsu: 전화하다 |
| Mihyeon: 전화하다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 전화하다 [natural native speed] |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah in Korean, we say 따르르르릉 instead of ring, ring, ring. |
| Junsu: And as you can see, this is a 하다 verb and 하다 can be connected with nouns and become a verb and another verb that means the same thing as 전화하다 is 전화를 걸다. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah that’s right. If you want to be more 구체적 more specific 더 구체적으로 말하고 싶으면, you can use the verb 걸다 instead of just 하다. 걸다 in Korean has a lot of meanings but 미현씨 what meaning comes to your mind first when you think of the verb 걸다? |
| Mihyeon: 옷을 걸다. |
| Hyunwoo: 맞아요. 옷을 걸다. It means to hang up your clothes. 그래서 when you think about it, it’s actually the opposite when it comes to the phone. So it doesn’t mean hang up the phone. It means to – you hang your phone on the line – on to the line and you go online. So you are on the phone. So it means to dial a phone number. So try to remember that image if it will help you remember the meaning of this verb but here 지윤 said 전화할게 which is perfectly fine too. 그러면 미현씨 전화하다의 몇 가지 예문을 들어 주시겠어요? |
| Mihyeon: 이따가 전화할게요. |
| Junsu: I will call you later. |
| Mihyeon: 전화 잘못 걸었습니다. |
| Junsu: You dialed the wrong number. |
| Mihyeon: 나한테 15분 후에 전화해 줘. |
| Junsu: Call me 15 minutes later. |
| Hyunwoo: It sounds like a line from a TV drama. You have this blind date that you don’t want to go to and first you go in and then you get this phone call telling you about an urgent accident and you can get out of there. |
| Junsu: It sounds like you have some experience. |
| Mihyeon: Umm.. |
| Hyunwoo: Of using that line. |
| Junsu: Well but I am sure it’s the other way around. |
| Hyunwoo: 예, 넘어가고요. 다음 나오는 단어도 하다 동사예요. 하다 verb. 미현씨, 다음 단어는 뭐죠? |
| Mihyeon: 이야기하다 |
| Junsu: 이야기하다 |
| Mihyeon: 이야기하다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 이야기하다 [natural native speed] |
| Junsu: And what does this word mean? |
| Mihyeon: 말하다하고 비슷해요. |
| Junsu: It means to talk. |
| Hyunwoo: And 이야기 what does it mean? |
| Junsu: 이야기 actually means a story but 이야기하다 tends to mean just to talk. |
| Hyunwoo: How do you say to tell a story? |
| Junsu: 이야기를 해 주다. |
| Hyunwoo: So that 해 주다 is you give doing something. As you know, 주다 means to give something to somebody and 해 주다 means to do something for someone. So 이야기를 해 주다 means to tell a story. So you talk for the sake of others to give information through the story. So 이야기를 해 주다 and 이야기하다 are a little bit different. |
| Mihyeon: 네. 그런데 이야기하다는 얘기하다라고도 많이 얘기해요. |
| Junsu: Yeah it seems so since you’ve used it as well. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah in the exact same sentence, she said 얘기하다라고 얘기해요. So it means to say or talk but 이야기 is three syllables and people tend to say it in two syllables as 얘기. |
| Mihyeon: 얘기 |
| Junsu: 얘기 |
| Hyunwoo: And be careful not to get confused with the pronunciation of the word for baby. |
| Mihyeon: 애기 |
| Junsu: 애기 |
| Hyunwoo: 애기. The dictionary form of this noun is |
| Mihyeon: 아기 |
| Hyunwoo: But in colloquial speech, it’s often |
| Mihyeon: 애기 |
| Hyunwoo: And 이야기 is |
| Mihyeon: 얘기 |
| Hyunwoo: 다시 한 번만요. |
| Mihyeon: 아기, 애기, 이야기, 얘기. |
| Hyunwoo: Okay 다음 단어 볼까요? Well this word is not so much a very big word or independent word, but it’s combined with other words to mean a lot of things but all these meanings have one common ground. What is it Junsu? |
| Junsu: Yeah the next word is 중 which is middle, center or medium. |
| Mihyeon: 예를 들어서 여러분 중학교 아시죠? |
| Junsu: Middle school. |
| Mihyeon: 네. 여기 중학교의 중이 바로 이 뜻이에요. |
| Junsu: Yeah so 중 means middle. So 중학교 is middle school. |
| Mihyeon: 네. 그리고 우리가 사이즈를 이야기할 때 대, 중, 소라고 이야기해요. |
| Junsu: Yeah like just like in English when you use large, medium and small for sizes. |
| Mihyeon: 준수씨는 티셔츠 무슨 사이즈 입어요? |
| Junsu: Well usually small or x-small. |
| Mihyeon: 오...저는 중간 사이즈 입어요. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah and that 중간 is also composed of 중 and 중 and 중 means middle, 간 means between. So 중간 is between. So it’s a medium size that you are wearing. Very good examples and this meaning is also applied to the grammar pattern that we are going to introduce in today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Hyunwoo: 우리가 방금 이야기한 것처럼 중 means middle, center, medium 그래서 something, something 는 중이다 means you are in the middle of doing something. Junsu how is this pattern constructed? |
| Junsu: You take the verb stem and add 는 중이다 and you should keep in mind that it doesn’t matter whether the verb stem ends in a consonant or a vowel. You can simply put 는 중이다 to the verb stem. |
| Hyunwoo: That’s right. How was it used in today’s dialogue? 미현씨, 빨리 대답해 주세요. 뭐 하는 중이에요? |
| Mihyeon: 아 지금 대화 찾는 중이에요. |
| Hyunwoo: 네, 알겠어요. So how was it used in today’s dialogue? |
| Mihyeon: 네, 찾았습니다. 지윤이가 ‘나 수업 듣는 중이야!’라고 이야기했어요. |
| Junsu: Jiyun said I am in the middle of taking a class. |
| Mihyeon: 그리고 잠시 후에석민이가 ‘나 지금 아르바이트 하는 중이야.’라고 말했어요. |
| Junsu: And Seokmin said, I am in the middle of doing my part time job. |
| Hyunwoo: Yes and what’s convenient about this grammar pattern is that you can actually drop the 는 part and use 중이다 only with nouns and it means the same thing. So Jiyun said, 나 수업 듣는 중이야 but she also could have said. |
| Mihyeon: 나 수업 중이야. |
| Hyunwoo: 나 지금 아르바이트 하는 중이야 but he could have said |
| Junsu: 나 지금 아르바이트 중이야. |
| Hyunwoo: Yes more economical. |
| Mihyeon: 네. 그런 것 같아요. |
| Junsu: Yeah and if it’s possible to replace the verb with the noun, people usually use just the noun. |
| Hyunwoo: With 중이다 right? |
| Junsu: Right. |
| Hyunwoo: So 미현씨, 우리는 지금 뭐 하는 중이죠? |
| Mihyeon: 녹음하는 중이에요. |
| Hyunwoo: 그리고 더 짧게 말하면? |
| Mihyeon: 녹음 중이에요. |
| Hyunwoo: The weather is really hot outside and it’s even hotter in the studio right now. So 지금 미현씨 그리고 준수씨는 땀을 흘리고 있는 중이에요. They are sweating. |
| Mihyeon: 네, 너무 더워요. |
Outro |
| Hyunwoo: So we will be back next week and see you, Junsu. |
| Junsu: See you everyone. |
| Mihyeon: 네. 안녕히 계세요. |
| Hyunwoo: Okay, bye. |
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