Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome to Ask K-jin. My name is K-jin.
안녕하세요, K-jin입니다(annyeonghaseyo, K-jinimnida).
In this series, I'll answer your Korean questions. So if you have any questions, please let me know by clicking the link in the description or you can go to koreanclass101.com/ask-K-jin. So ask me any questions.
Today, I picked questions related to Korean grammar terms. Here's the first question. What is the stem? Stem is a part of verb or adjective that doesn't change when you conjugate with some grammar rules.
For example, in English, you have this verb, to dance, to dance. When you conjugate it with, -ing form is ‘dancing’. When you conjugate it with -ed, the past tense, then it becomes ‘danced’. Do you see this? d-a-n-c, d-a-n-c. So when you conjugate with other forms, there is some part that doesn't change. That is what we call stem in Korean.
For example, I have this word, 밝다(bakda), 밝다(bakda). It's an adjective meaning to be bright. And I want to conjugate 밝다(bakda) with other forms. For example, 밝아요(balgayo), it means it's bright. Or 밝은 방(balgeun bang), it's a bright room. Bright room is 밝은 방(balgeun bang).
Or you can also say 밝지 않아요(bakji anayo), 밝지 않아요(bakji anayo), it means it's not bright. It's not bright. It's a negative sentence. Do you see one word, one syllable that doesn't change? Yes, it's 밝(bak), 밝(bak), 밝(bak). This is the stem of this adjective, 밝(bak).
So Korean verb and adjective always ends with 다(da) in the dictionary form. So when you check some words in the dictionary, Korean adjective and verbs always ends with 다(da). So the adjective or verb without 다(da) is always a stem. So it's 밝다(bakda) here, right? 밝다(bakda), 밝다(bakda). And here, 밝(bak) is a stem. And as you can see here, 밝(bak), 밝(bak), 밝(bak), this part does not change. This is a stem.
I have another example with 사다(sada), 사다(sada). 사다(sada) means to buy. It's a dictionary form. For example, 사요(sayo), I buy a book. 책을 사요(chaegeul sayo), 사요(sayo). Or 사고 싶어요(sago shipeoyo), 책을 사고 싶어요(chaegeul sagoshipeoyo). I want to buy a book. So 사고 싶어요(sago shipeoyo) means I want to buy, I want to buy. Or 사지 마세요(saji maseyo). Don't buy. 사지 마세요(saji maseyo), don’t buy.
Do you see 사(sa), 사(sa), 사(sa) here? Yes, I use this word 사다(sada) and conjugate it with many grammar rules, right? But 사(sa) does not change. So this is a stem. Again, 사다(sada), it ended with 다(da). So verb without 다(da) is a stem, which is 사(sa) here, 사(sa). So this is a stem.
And as you can see here, why is stem so important? When you conjugate this Korean verb or adjective with some grammar rules, the word changes. But stem does not change. So it's very important to know. This is stem.
Here's the second question. What is the Korean sentence ending? Sentence ending is something that is added to the end of the Korean sentence. And that indicates speaker's attitude, nuance, or intention. So let me show you what it looks like.
For example, I have this one, 요(yo), 요(yo). I think you're familiar with it, if you've been learning Korean. For example, 안녕하세요(annyeonghaseyo). You heard this word, right? 요(yo), 요(yo) at the end of the sentence. So basically, we call this as polite sentence ending.
So for example, 날씨(nalssi). 날씨가 좋아요(nalssiga joayo). 날씨(nalssi) means weather. 가(ga) is a subject marking particle. 좋아요(joayo) means good. So it literally means ‘the weather is good, the weather is good’. 날씨가 좋아요(nalssiga joayo), 날씨가 좋아요(nalssiga joayo). I added 요(yo) at the end of the sentence, right? This is a sentence ending.
And by putting 요(yo) at the end, I make the sentence polite. This is a polite sentence. So I can use it to stranger on the street because I don't know the person. So I cannot be so casual. So I can be polite with this form. 날씨가 좋아요(nalssiga joayo).
Or I can use this sentence to my neighbors or my friends who are older than me. If someone is older I have to use polite language. Or my colleague. So this is polite enough. But this sounds still friendly. So 날씨가 좋아요(nalssiga joayo).
Here's another example. 습니다(seumnida), 습니다(seumnida). For example, 날씨가 좋습니다 (nalssiga joseumnida). 날씨가 좋습니다(nalssiga joseumnida). It means the weather is good. The weather is good. 날씨가 좋습니다(nalssiga joseumnida).
Then what is the difference? This 습니다(seumnida), this sentence ending makes 날씨가 좋습니다(nalssiga joseumnida), as a formal sentence. So probably I'll use this sentence in some presentation or some formal setting. 날씨가 좋습니다(nalssiga joseumnida). It sounds very formal.
Or we also have this sentence ending. 네(ne), 네(ne). Do you see this? So this is a sentence ending used to talk about something one just learned with a little bit of surprise. For example, 날씨가 좋네(nalssiga jonne). 날씨가 좋네(nalssiga jonne). It sounds very casual. And it just means the weather is good. But it has some nuance. I didn't know that before. But I just went out. Oh, the weather is good. I just learned the weather. I just learned about it. I just realized the weather is good. So I didn't know that before. Oh, the weather is good.
You can also conjugate it with 요(yo) too. By putting 요(yo), it sounds a little bit more polite. So 날씨가 좋네요(nalssiga jonneyo). It means the weather is good. But you can guess that this person didn't know that. Just learned the fact. And also by putting 요(yo), this person is trying to be polite. 날씨가 좋네요(nalssiga jonneyo).
Now we have this ending. 지(ji), 지(ji). For example, 날씨가 좋지(nalssiga jochi), 날씨가 좋지 (nalssiga jochi). This is a tag question. In English, it's more like, right? right? So the weather is good, right? The weather is good, isn't it? So this is a tag question. They want to confirm it with you. Right? 날씨가 좋지(nalssiga jochi). Here, you can also put 요(yo) here if you want to be polite. Like, 날씨가 좋지요(nalssiga jochiyo)? Or, 날씨가 좋죠(nalssiga jojyo)? If you want to shorten it. 날씨가 좋죠(nalssiga jojyo)?
Lastly, we also have this kind of sentence ending too. It's like, let's casual, prepositive sentence ending. For example, let's say, 가자(gaja), 가자(gaja), 가자(gaja). It means let's go, let's go. So it changes the meaning. So, 가다(gada), 가다(gada) is a verb meaning to go. But by replacing 다(da) with 자(ja), it becomes like let's. Let's go. 가자(gaja).
Like this, there are tons of sentence endings in Korean. And that changes your attitude or nuance, intention by using it. So this is, I would say, a difficult part of Korean grammar. But once you get used to it, you will be okay.
Here's the last question. What is a particle? Let's look at the definition of this word first. Particle is a part of speech that is attached behind the noun, pronoun, numeral, adverb, ending, etc. to indicate its grammar relationship to the clause or make it more specific in meaning. Does it make sense?
So let me show you some examples. Here we go. First word we have is 은(eun) or 는(neun), 은(eun) or 는(neun). This is called topic marking particle. In English, I would say this means like as for, as for. So you are saying, this is a topic that I'm going to tell you today. 한국 드라마는 재미있어요(hanguk deuramaneun jaemiisseoyo). 한국 드라마는 재미있어요(hanguk deuramaneun jaemiisseoyo). 한국 드라마(hanguk deurama), 한국(hanguk) means Korea, and 드라마(deurama) means drama. So Korean drama is 한국 드라마(hanguk deurama). 는(neun) is a topic marking particle meaning like as for. So as for Korean drama, 재미있어요 (jaemiisseoyo), 재미있어요(jaemiisseoyo). It means it's interesting or it's fun. So Korean dramas are fun and interesting. And I put 는(neun) here because I want to emphasize this. I want to, like you know that, oh I want to talk about 한국 드라마(hanguk deurama), Korean dramas. As for Korean dramas, you know, it's fun, aren't they? So 는(neun) here is like as for, as for. But if there is no subject in the sentence and there is just topic, then this topic often works and acts as a subject of the sentence. So you can translate this sentence as Korean dramas are fun. 한국 드라마는 재미있어요(hanguk deuramaneun jaemiisseoyo). So this is a particle. It's a part of word that shows a relationship and it gives a specific meaning. Hey, the noun before 는(neun) is the topic of the sentence. Or another example is this. 이(i), 가 (Iga). 이(i) or 가(ga). 이(i), 가(ga). This is called subject marking particle. And let me show you another one. 을(eul) or 를(reul), 을(eul) or 를(reul). These are object marking particles.
So let me show you how I write this. 엄마가 사과를 먹어요(eommaga sagwareul meogeoyo), 엄마가 사과를 먹어요(eommaga sagwareul meogeoyo). Now you see this subject marking particle 가(ga) and object marking particle 를(reul) here. 엄마가 사과를 먹어요(eommaga sagwareul meogeoyo). So by looking this 가(ga), I know 엄마(eomma) is the subject of the sentence. And by looking at 를(reul), I know 사과(sagwa) is the object of the sentence. So because of these particles, even if you mix the order of the sentence like this, 사과를 엄마가 먹어요(sagwareul eommaga meogeoyo). It means my mom eats an apple. 엄마(eomma), my mom. 가(ga), particle. 사과(sagwa), apple. 를(reul), object marking particle. 먹어요(meogeoyo), eat.
Same here, I just changed the word order, right? 사과를(sagwareul) I put at the beginning of the sentence. 엄마가(eommaga) I put it in the middle of the sentence. 먹어요(meogeoyo). But it means exactly the same. In English, if I change the word order, the meaning completely changes, right? My mom eats an apple or an apple eats my mom. Those are completely different. But in Korean, the word order isn't so important because we have particles. Particle shows the role of the noun clearly. So even if you mix the words, nouns, by looking at the particle like this, 가(ga), 를(reul), 가(ga), 를(reul), you know what it means. So that's why particles are important.
Here's another particle. 에(e), 에(e), 에(e). 에(e) has many, many, many, many meanings. But let me introduce you to just two meanings. First meaning is time marking particle. Like on Tuesday. On Tuesday is 화요일에(hwayoire), 화요일에(hwayoire), 화요일에(hwayoire). 화요일(hwayoil) is Tuesday. 에(e), 에(e) is time marking particle. In English, it kind of works like preposition because you say on Tuesday. In English, it kind of works like a preposition because you say on Tuesday, on Tuesday. In Korean, that is 화요일에(hwayoire). So here it means like on.
Or at 7pm, at 7pm. 일곱 시에(ilgop shie). 일곱 시에(ilgop shie). 에(e). In English, you use at for the time, right? But Korean is easier here because you just need to put 에(e), a time marking particle. 일곱 시(ilgop shi). 일곱 시(ilgop shi). It means seven o'clock.
Or 삼월에(samwore). 삼월에(samwore). It means in March, in March. 삼월(samwol) means March. 에(e) is kind of like 'in'. So English is harder here. Depending on the words, you often change the preposition, right? At, on, in. But in Korean, we mostly use 에(e), 에(e). 화요일에 (hwayoire). 일곱 시에(ilgop shie). 삼월에(samwore).
So like this. By putting 에(e), I know that something is happening at this time, in March, or at 7pm, or on Tuesday. It can also be a direction marking particle. For example, 학교에 가요 (hakgyoe gayo), 학교에 가요(hakgyoe gayo). So I go to school. Here 에(e) means like to, to. It shows the direction where I am going. So 학교(hakgyo) means school. 에(e) means to. So to school is 학교에(hakgyoe). 가요(gayo) means I go. I go to school.
The last particle that I want to quickly introduce you is 에서(eseo), 에서(eseo), 에서(eseo). It's a location marking particle. So when something is happening in some space or some location, we use this particle 에서(eseo). For example, 도서관에서 공부해요(doseogwaneseo gongbuhaeyo). 도서관 (doseogwan). It means library. 에서(eseo) means in, in. So in the library or at the library. 공부해요(gongbuhaeyo). It means I study. I study at the library. I study in the library. So 도서관에서 공부해요(doseogwaneseo gongbuhaeyo).
So these are the particles that you need to know. And these are very important ones. So I chose five most common ones. So check out our videos on KoreanClass101.com. We have many, many audio lessons and video lessons about these particles.
That's it for this lesson. Today, I answered three questions about topics related to Korean grammar terms. Thanks for watching. I'm Keijin, and I'll see you on KoreanClass101.com. 다음 시간에 봐요(daeum shigane bwayo)!

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