Korean Noun Modifier - KoreanClass101

Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome to Ask K-jin. My name is K-jin. 안녕하세요 K-진입니다. (annyeonghaseyo K-jin-imnida.)

In this series, I'll answer your Korean questions.

Today I picked questions related to Korean noun modifiers.

Here's the first question.

What are the differences among 많은 (maneun), 많다 (manta), and 많이 (mani)? Let's look at 많다 (manta) first.

많다 (manta) is an adjective, and it means many or much.

And we say this form as a dictionary form, or infinitive form, or root form.

So it's just a basic form of this adjective, 많다 (manta), 많다 (manta).

Then what is 많이 (mani)? 많이 (mani) is an adverb.

Yes, so you put this 많이 (mani) before a verb or an adjective.

For example, 많이 먹어 (mani meogeo), it means eat a lot, eat a lot.

So 많이 (mani) came before the verb 먹어 (meogeo), 먹어 (meogeo).

So 많이 (mani), a lot, 먹어 (meogeo), eat.

So it's used as an adverb, and 많이 (mani) is always an adverb.

And now then what is 많은 (maneun)? 많은 (maneun) is also an adjective, but 많은 (maneun) can come only before a noun.

For example, 많은 책 (maneun chaek), 많은 책 (maneun chaek), it means a lot of books, or many books.

많은 (maneun), a lot of, or many. 책 (chaek) means book.

By the way, did you notice something? I didn't use the plural form here, but I just used the singular form, 책 (chaek), 책 (chaek).

If you want, you can put 들 (deul), 들 (deul), and make it as a plural form, as in books, 책들 (chaekdeul), 책들 (chaekdeul).

But actually in Korean, we don't really care if it's a plural or singular.

So very often it's a plural form of a noun, but we just use a singular form, 많은 책 (maneun chaek), 많은 책 (maneun chaek).

Because as a Korean, it's not so important to know if it's a plural or singular.

The thing is, it's just a book.

So we often say 많은 책 (maneun chaek), 많은 책 (maneun chaek).

So as you can see here, you put 많은 (maneun) before a noun, before a noun.

So please remember, 많은 (maneun) can only come before a noun.

And this is what we call noun modifier, noun modifier.

What is this noun modifier? So as you can see here, 많다 (manta), 많다 (manta) is an adjective, but we don't use 많다 (manta) before a noun.

So if you want to say pretty ring, or good idea, expensive car, in English, you put adjective before noun directly, right? But in Korean, we don't put adjectives like 많다 (manta) directly before noun.

We always need to put 은 (eun) or 린 (rin), 은 (eun) or 린 (rin).

So how can you use 은 (eun) or 린 (rin)? Let me show you some rules.

짠 (jjan), here we go.

If an adjective stem ends in a vowel, then you use 린 (rin) and put noun after that.

If an adjective stem ends in a consonant, then you put 은 (eun) here, 은 (eun) and put noun at the end.

What does that mean? Let me show you examples.

Let's say good idea.

What is good in Korean? Do you know how to say to be good in Korean? That is 좋다 (jotda).

See, these adjectives ends with 다 (da) in Korean, right? When you check the dictionary, Korean verb and adjective always ends with 다 (da).

Now you want to put this good before a noun.

Then what happens is, 짠 (jjan), you remove 다 (da) and get the stem.

What is a stem? Stem is the verb or adjective without 다 (da) at the end.

So here 좋 (joh) is the stem.

Yes, it's an adjective stem because it's an adjective.

So we call adjective stem.

And look at this, it consists of 지읒 (ji-eut), 오 (o), 히읒 (hi-eut).

So this 좋 (joh), it ended with consonant.

So I'm putting 은 (eun), 은 (eun) after that.

Because if adjective ends in a consonant, then we use 은 (eun) here, 은 (eun).

And what is idea in Korean? Idea can be 생각 (saenggak) or we can use the English word 아이디어 (aidieo) directly.

But let's use Korean word here.

So good idea in Korean is 좋은 생각 (joh-eun saenggak), 좋은 생각 (joh-eun saenggak).

See, when I want to put an adjective before a noun, which is idea or 생각 (saenggak), 생각 (saenggak) in Korean,

then we cannot put 좋다 (jotda) directly, but we need to use noun modifier.

I use 은 (eun) here, 은 (eun).

Then let's say I have this adjective.

비싸다 (bissada), 비싸다 (bissada).

It means expensive, expensive.

Now I want to use this adjective before a noun.

What noun? How about 차 (cha)? Which means a car.

So I want to say expensive car, expensive car.

In English, you use the expensive directly, but in Korean, no, we need to use noun modifier.

Okay, so to use noun modifier, I need to get the stem.

What is the stem? Stem is always the verb or adjective without 다 (da) at the end.

So 비싸 (bissa), 비싸 (bissa), 비싸 (bissa).

It ended with vowel sound, right? It ended with vowel sound.

Since it ended with vowel sound, I'm putting 니은 (nieun) at the end.

니은 (nieun), like this, 비싸 (bissa).

Just combine this as in 비싼 (bissan).

비싼 차 (bissan cha) means expensive car, expensive car.

So this is how you use noun modifier with Korean adjectives.

Here's the second question.

What are the differences among 본 (bon), 보는 (boneun), and 볼 (bol)? Well, to make it clear, let me show you some examples.

Do you like Korean dramas? Drama in Korean is 드라마 (deurama).

So 내가 본 드라마 (naega bon deurama), 내가 보는 드라마 (naega boneun deurama), 내가 볼 드라마 (naega bol deurama).

So here are the examples.

And all these examples have today's target word, 본 (bon), 보는 (boneun), 볼 (bol).

All of these words 본 (bon), 보는 (boneun), 볼 (bol) are from 보다 (boda), 보다 (boda).

It's a verb meaning to watch, to see, to look.

보다 (boda), 보다 (boda).

So what is 본 (bon) here? They look all similar, but what are the differences? First, 본 (bon), 내가 본 드라마 (naega bon deurama) means drama, 드라마 (deurama).

That I watched.

So it means the drama that I watched.

Then what about this? It's drama that I watch.

So it means drama I am watching or I watch.

This is a present tense.

How about this? It means it's drama that I will watch, will watch.

So this is a future tense.

So all of them are from the verb to watch.

보다 (boda), 보다 (boda).

But we just change the form to indicate some tense.

본 (bon) is past tense, so the drama that I watched.

보는 (boneun), present tense, so drama that I am watching or I watch.

And drama I will watch, drama that I will watch.

This is a future tense.

So as you see here, 본 (bon), 보는 (boneun), 볼 (bol).

These are all the words that comes before noun.

So we call these noun modifiers.

In the previous question, we look at some adjectives.

Here we are looking at some verbs.

So let me show you the rules, how you can use them.

짠 (jjan), here we go.

So get the verb stem first.

Here you have verb stem here, verb stem.

And the point is if the verb stem ends in a vowel, then you need to put just this end sound after stem directly.

If it's a present tense, put 는 (neun).

If it's a future tense, put ㄹ (leul).

And noun comes after that.

This seems complicated, but if you look at some examples, it will be easy.

So let's use exactly the same examples.

So we have this word 보다 (boda).

As I mentioned, it means to watch, to see, to look.

보다 (boda), 보다 (boda).

Let's get the stem first, 보다 (boda).

What's the stem? Stem is the word, verb or adjective without 다 (da).

Okay, so I removed 다 (da).

보 (bo), 보 (bo), 보 (bo).

Aha, it ended with vowel here, vowel.

보 (bo), ㅗ (o), ㅗ (o), ㅗ (o).

It ended with ㅗ (o) sound, so it ended with vowel.

So I put ㄴ (neun) here if I want to say past tense.

So for example, 내가 본 드라마 (naega bon deurama), the drama that I watched.

Or 내가 본 영화 (naega bon yeonghwa) is also okay.

영화 (yeonghwa) means a movie or a film.

Now I want to say, you know, this is the drama that I'm watching these days.

This is drama I watch every morning.

So now we have 보다 (boda) again.

What's the stem? Now you know it, it's 보 (bo), 보 (bo), 보 (bo).

Okay, so it's a present tense.

짠 (jjan).

Then I need to put 는 (neun) after the stem.

Okay, after the verb stem, I put 는 (neun) as in 보는 (boneun), 보는 (boneun).

So 보는 (boneun) is here, 보는 드라마 (boneun deurama), 내가 보는 드라마 (naega boneun deurama).

So this is a drama that I watch every morning.

내가 내일 아침 보는 드라마야 (naega naeil achim boneun deuramaya).

Let's make a future tense now.

So 보다 (boda) again.

What's the stem here? It's 보 (bo), 보 (bo), 보 (bo).

Okay, so it ended with vowel sound, vowel sound.

So I'm putting ㄹ (l), ㄹ (l) after the stem as in 볼 (bol), 볼 (bol), 볼 (bol).

So this is a drama that I will watch.

This is a movie that I will watch.

내가 볼 영화야 (naega bol yeonghwaya).

So this is a movie that I will watch tomorrow is 이게 내가 내일 볼 드라마야 (ige naega naeil bol deuramaya).

이게 (ige), this is 내가 (naega), I, 내일 (naeil), tomorrow 볼 (bol), we'll watch movie, movie, 영화 (yeonghwa), 영화 (yeonghwa).

Okay, so this is how we use noun modifiers with verbs.

Here's the last question.

What are the differences among 먹은 (meogeun), 먹는 (meogneun), and 먹을 (meogeul)? I think now you can guess the differences, but let me show you some examples.

내가 먹은 피자 (naega meogeun pijja).

내가 먹을 피자 (naega meogeul pijja).

Oh, they look very similar, but they are different.

So 먹은 (meogeun), 내가 먹은 피자 (naega meogeun pijja).

So it's a pizza that I ate, past tense.

내가 먹는 피자 (naega meogneun pijja).

Means this is a pizza that I eat.

Maybe I eat regularly or that pizza that I'm eating.

내가 먹는 피자 (naega meogneun pijja).

And 내가 먹을 피자 (naega meogeul pijja), 먹을 (meogeul).

So it's a pizza that I will eat.

So now you see 은 (eun), 는 (neun), 을 (eul).

Yes, these verbs can come before noun, before noun, to give more meaning to the noun.

And these are all noun modifiers.

So here are the rules.

And let's practice with this verb, meaning to eat.

먹다 (meokda).

And what is the stem here? Stem is a verb or adjective without 다 (da) at the end.

So 먹 (meok) is a stem.

Let's see, 먹 (meok).

Yes, it ended with a consonant.

So we are using these rules.

So verb stem, 먹 (meok).

Plus, let's use the past tense.

I want to say the pizza that I ate or the kimchi that I ate.

So 먹은 (meogeun), 먹은 (meogeun).

So yes, it's the past tense.

So 먹은 피자 (meogeun pija).

내가 먹은 피자 (naega meogeun pija).

Means pizza that I ate.

Now, how can I use this 는 (neun) here? As you can guess, it's very simple.

So get the stem, 먹다 (meokda).

And stem is 먹 (meok).

And now I want to use the present tense.

So 먹는 (meokneun), 먹는 (meokneun).

So 내가 먹는 피자 (naega meokneun pija).

Means the pizza that I eat or I am eating.

And lastly, we have 먹다 (meokda).

Okay, now I want to use the future tense.

Future tense, use 을 (eul).

So verb stem is 먹 (meok).

And I put 을 (eul), 을 (eul), 먹을 (meogeul).

So 먹을 (meogeul), the pizza that I will eat.

I will eat is 내가 먹을 피자 (naega meogeul pija).

So 먹은 (meogeun), 먹는 (meokneun), 먹을 (meogeul).

They are all from the same verb, to eat.

But by putting different noun modifier, they have different tense.

And these one can only come before noun.

Like 먹은 피자 (meogeun pija), 먹는 피자 (meokneun pija), 먹을 피자 (meogeul pija).

They don't come after the noun.

In English, it's different, right? You put this kind of modifiers after, after the noun.

For example, the pizza that I ate.

The pizza that I eat, pizza that I will eat.

But in Korean, the order is opposite.

I know these noun modifiers are not easy.

So I put all the information together in one chart like this.

So just remember adjective.

If it's an adjective and you want to put adjective before a noun,

you need to use noun modifier, either 니은 (nieun) or 은 (eun).

Depending on the adjective stem.

If it ends with a vowel, then you use 니은 (nieun).

As in 비싼 (bissan), 비싼 (bissan).

If the adjective stem ends in a consonant, then you use 은 (eun).

Such as 좋은 (joeun), 좋은 (joeun).

It means good, good.

If it's a verb, it's a little bit complicated.

But you will be okay.

So please remember, if it's a past tense, we use 니은 (nieun) or 은 (eun).

니은 (nieun) or 은 (eun).

For example, 본 (bon), 본 (bon) is that I watched or that someone watched.

Or 은 (eun), 은 (eun) here, like 먹은 (meogeun), 먹은 (meogeun), 먹은 (meogeun).

If the stem ends in a consonant.

For present tense, it's relatively simple because it doesn't matter if it ends with a vowel or consonant.

You just get the stem, stem, verb stem, verb stem here and put 는 (neun), 는 (neun).

For example, 먹는 (meokneun), 먹는 (meokneun).

This is the pizza that I eat every week.

내가 매주 먹는 피자야 (Naega maeju meokneun pijaya).

So 내가 매주 먹는 피자야 (Naega maeju meokneun pijaya).

So it's simple.

Verb stem plus 는 (neun).

Lastly, we have this future tense.

Yes, future tense.

So you have to use either 니을 (nieul) or 을 (eul) depending on the stem.

Look at the stem.

If it ends with a vowel, then you use 니을 (nieul).

If it's a consonant, then you use 을 (eul).

So remember this.

Get the screenshot or make a note of it and practice a lot.

This is so useful and it's very, very important.

That's it for this lesson.

Today I answered three questions about Korean noun modifiers.

Thanks for watching.

I'm Kayjin, and I'll see you on KoreanClass101.com.

다음 시간에 봐요 (Daeum sigane bwayo).

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