Korean gerunds

[joshuamcculloch7863]

Hello, This is my first time asking a question on the forums as i am a new student here on KoreanClass101. Through my Korean learning a problem that i always find myself stumbling over is the rules and situations that occur when changing a Verb into a Noun. Gerunds are my worst friend. Ive been told that English gerunds do NOT translate over into Korean, and the closest thing is what is called a nominalizer.

Ive seen...

~는
~기
~음
~것은

...I think these are the ones ive caught so far. What are their uses and how do i know when to use them?

Easy sample sentence where my problem occured.

"Reading is fun"
"Swimming is difficult"

[manyakumi]

Hello, Joshua. (is this your name?)
Nice to see you here.


It seems to be quite a long time since you wrote but has no answer yet, so I'd give it a try.
Please excuse my bad English.

Ive seen...

~는
~기
~음
~것은

...I think these are the ones ive caught so far. What are their uses and how do i know when to use them?

Actually,
Korean nominalizers are as below.

~기
~ㅁ/음
~는 것

However,
~는 makes a verb into a modifier.

걷다(verb; to walk) > 걷는(modifier; walking) > 걷는 사람 (modified noun; walking man/person who walks)

Easy sample sentence where my problem occured.

"Reading is fun"
"Swimming is difficult"

to Read : 읽다(verb) > Reading : 읽기/읽는 것

Reading is fun.
(책)읽기는 즐겁다.
(책)읽는 것은 즐겁다.

to Swim : 수영하다/헤엄치다(verb) > Swimming : 수영하기/수영하는 것/헤엄치기/헤엄치는 것

Swimming is difficult.
수영하기는 어렵다.
수영하는 것은 어렵다.


I think the two above are more close to the gerunds(~ing form) you said.
And ㅁ/음 is more like nominalizer.

죽다(verb; to die) > 죽음(noun; death)
살다(verb; to live) > 삶(noun; life)



It's hard to tell when to use one of them and we use them interchangeably in many cases actually.
A noun made with ~ㅁ/음 would be more abstract, so it might be kinda awkward to use when you describe real actions.
~는 것 is the most colloquial and used widely.


Hope this helps.




Sean.

[joshuamcculloch7863]

Sean thank you so much for the help. Your English is great, don't worry.

Hmm i guess i will ignore ㅁ/음 until i have a better grasp of the the others.

Thank you so much~

[manyakumi]

My pleasure, Joshua.

Don't be afraid of using ~ㅁ/음 anyways. lol
It is often used when we nominalize the adjectives.(형용사)

아름답다(adj; beautiful) > 아름다움(noun; beauty)

아름다움은 영원히 지속되는 것이 아니다.
Beauty isn't that lasts forever.



Sean

[timandyou]

만나서 매우 반갑습니다 Joshua! "very nice to meet you joshua!"
저는 팀입니다 "I am Tim from KC101.com".
그리고 언제나 그렇듯, 김 감독님 답글 감사드립니다...

Hello Joshua, your question about K-gerunds...
Here are my(Tim) thoughts / opinions about K-gerunds.

Those gerunds are used to make VERB into NOUN or NOUN PHRASE.
For examples... (Easy sample sentence where my problem occurred).

#1. Let's look into - "Reading is fun".
In this sentence, Subject is "Reading" which is a NOUN.
Verb is "is".
and complement is "fun" which is an adjective.
Therefore, all together, Reading (noun) + is (verb)+ fun (complement)

Okay, let's go back to the Subject - "reading",
"Reading", which is "VERB + ing", comes from "to read" - a VERB.
So... the element of READING is a NOUN in this sentence.

Okay, what about with "Swimming is difficult"?
What's the element of "Swimming"? As you know now, it is a NOUN!

In English, the element of "VERB + ing" is a NOUN.

Keep in mind that "VERB + ing"!
Korean gerund is the same!
"VERB + 기", "VERB + 는것", "VERB + ㅁ/음" = "VERB + ing" (hope you got it now)

For example - "Reading is fun",
읽다, a VERB "to read" becomes 읽기, a NOUN "reading" (읽 'verb stem' + 기 becomes 읽+기 = 읽기)
읽다, a VERB "to read" becomes 읽는 것, a NOUN "reading" (읽 'verb stem' + 는것 becomes 읽+는것 = 읽는 것)
읽다, a VERB "to read" becomes 읽음, a NOUN "reading" (읽 'verb stem' + 음 becomes 읽+음 = 읽음)
Therefore, "Reading is fun" translates as 읽기는 재밌다 or 읽는 것은 재밌다 or 읽음은 재밌다. (the best translation would be "읽기는 재밌다")

For example - "Swimming is difficult",
수영하다, a VERB "to swim" becomes 수영하기, a NOUN "swimming" (수영하 'verb stem' + 기 becomes 수영하+기 = 수영하기)
수영하다, a VERB "to swim" becomes 수영하는 것, a NOUN "swimming" (수영하 'verb stem' + 는것 becomes 수영하+는것 = 수영하는 것)
수영하다, a VERB "to swim" becomes 수영함, a NOUN "swimming" (수영하 'verb stem' + ㅁ becomes 수영하+ㅁ = 수영함)
Therefore, "Swimming is difficult" translates as 수영하기는 어렵다 or 수영하는 것은 어렵다 or 수영함은 어렵다. (the best translation would be "수영하기는 어렵다")

It's getting clear now... (I really hope so!!!)
Now... you need to know the 'CONJUGATION RULE', which applies into many Korean grammar points!!! (very important to know)

#1 - if the 'VERB STEM' ends with a 받침 (in other words, if it ends with a CONSONANT) then,
you attach 기 / 는것 / 음 right after VERB STEM, so it becomes 읽+기, 읽+는것, 읽+음.
#2 - if the 'VERB STEM' ends without a 받침 (in other words, if it ends with a VOWEL) then,
you attach 기 / 는것 / ㅁ right after VERB STEM, so it becomes 수영하+기, 수영하+는것, 수영하+ㅁ (=수영함)

I hope my explanation helps you understand Korean gerunds... (I really do!!!)
Thanks for your comment and interests in Korean learning.
cheers, (김 감독님~~ 감사해요~~)
Tim

[joshuamcculloch7863]

여러분, 너무 고마워요~ 이문법 힘들어요. 그러나 한국말 공부하는 것은 사랑햬요.(맞아요?)

[manyakumi]

여러분, 너무 고마워요~ 이문법 힘들어요. 그러나 한국말 공부하는 것은 사랑햬요.(맞아요?)

Excellent!!

[timandyou]

저도 두 분 사랑합니다!
감사드리고요~~
감독님, 조슈아님께 칭찬 감사드려요~~ ^^
best,
Tim