Learn how to say "I don't know"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Seol: 안녕하세요. 윤설입니다. |
| Keith: Keith here! I Don’t Know. Well, we’re back with another lesson and I think we got a really good one today. |
| Seol: 진짜? |
| Keith: 네. 진짜에요. |
| Seol: Okay, I’m so excited. |
| Keith: 진짜 means “really?” |
| Seol: Yes. Really? |
| Keith: Really. And… |
| Seol: Are you sure? |
| Keith: Well, I was being more polite than you were. |
| Seol: Yeah. Because I’m older than you, I had to say 진짜?without요. |
| Keith: Okay, that’s right. So because I’m younger, I have to say 요, the polite 진짜에요. |
| Seol: That is true. |
| Keith: Yeah. But you’ll definitely hear this a lot. And anyway, we’re getting pass the lesson. |
| Seol: Right. |
| Keith: We need to get to the lesson. Okay. So here, where has this conversation taken place? |
| Seol: They’re at the park. The boy’s mom is trying to find where her son is, right? |
| Keith: That’s right. She’s talking to the baby sitter. And here we’re using formal politeness level, but typically you would hear standard politeness level. For now, we’ll just going to keep with the formal politeness level and then we’ll ease you into the standard politeness level. So without further a-do, let’s get into it. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 엄마 진우는 어디에 있습니까? |
| 베이비시터 어? 저는 모릅니다. |
| 엄마 모릅니까??? 여기에 없습니까?! |
| 베이비시터 잘 모릅니다. |
| 진우 엄마!! 엄마!! |
| 베이비시터 아... 진우가 저기에 있습니다. |
| 엄마 네. 압니다. |
| Seol: 한 번 더 천천히. |
| 엄마 진우는 어디에 있습니까? |
| 베이비시터 어? 저는 모릅니다. |
| 엄마 모릅니까??? 여기에 없습니까?! |
| 베이비시터 잘 모릅니다. |
| 진우 엄마!! 엄마!! |
| 베이비시터 아... 진우가 저기에 있습니다. |
| 엄마 네. 압니다. |
| Seol: 영어로 한 번 더. |
| 엄마 진우는 어디에 있습니까? |
| Keith: Where is Jinu? |
| 베이비시터 어? 저는 모릅니다. |
| Keith: Uh, I’m not sure. |
| 엄마 모릅니까??? 여기에 없습니까?! |
| Keith: What? He's not here?! |
| 베이비시터 잘 모릅니다. |
| Keith: I'm not sure. |
| 진우 엄마!! 엄마!! |
| Keith: Mom, mom! |
| 베이비시터 아... 진우가 저기에 있습니다. |
| Keith: Oh, Jinu's over there! |
| 엄마 네. 압니다. |
| Keith: Yes, I know. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Keith: Wow, Seol, this baby sitter is not very good. |
| Seol: Yeah. He has no idea where the baby is. |
| Keith: Yeah. What do you think he’s doing? Just reading a newspaper or something? |
| Seol: Maybe…or watching a girl over there. |
| Keith: Okay. Just sitting at the park, checking out girls, not taking care of the baby. |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: But hopefully our listeners don’t have any baby sitters like this. But if you do, maybe you’ll get a conversation like this in Korean. So here let’s jump into the vocab so you know what you guys are talking about. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| First we have… |
| Seol: 어디 |
| Keith: Where. |
| Seol:어디 |
| Keith: Next is... |
| Seol: 모르다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: To not know. |
| Seol: 모르다 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 모르다 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: And after that, we have the opposite. |
| Seol: 알다 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: To know. |
| Seol: 알다 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 알다 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: After that we have… |
| Seol: 잘 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: The adverb “well”. |
| Seol: 잘 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 잘 [natural native speed]. |
| Keith: And lastly we have… |
| Seol: 엄마 |
| Keith: Mom. |
| Seol: 엄마 |
Lesson focus |
| Keith: Okay. This last word, 엄마, is kind of like a cute way of calling your mom, right? |
| Seol: Right. |
| Keith: There’s another formal way of calling your mom,어머니, but here 엄마 is just more on intimate terms. |
| Seol: That is true. Like even though I’m an adult, I still call my mom 엄마.. |
| Keith: Yeah, me too! Because you’re close. |
| Seol: Right. |
| Keith: So if you’re ever in, like, a formal setting, let’s say like everyone’s dressed up and important people, do you still 엄마? |
| Seol: No. Then I would say 어머먼 instead of 엄마. |
| Keith: Yeah. That’s just to be formal. And it’s kind of too formal sometimes, right? |
| Seol: 어머니? |
| Keith: Yeah. |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: Most people call their moms 엄마because they’re on intimate terms. |
| Seol: But when you call your mother-in-law, you would call어머니.. |
| Keith: Because… |
| Seol: A little bit, you know. |
| Keith: They’re not always so close. |
| Seol: Not a bit close. |
| Keith: Maybe the mother and the daughter-in-law don’t always get along too well. |
| Seol: Yes. Yes. |
| Keith: So어머니.. All right. So why don’t we just into the conversation? The first line we have is… |
| Seol: 진우는 어디에 있습니까? |
| Keith: The first part is…. |
| Seol: 진우 |
| Keith: The boy’s name. |
| Seol: Jinu. |
| Keith: The boy’s name. After that is… |
| Seol: 는 |
| Keith: The topic marking particle. After that? |
| Seol: 어디 |
| Keith: Where. |
| Seol: 에 |
| Keith: At… |
| Seol: 있습니까? |
| Keith: “Exist” or in this case, “is”. So literally it’s “Jinu where at is”, “where is Jinu?” Jinu brings back memories. This is my cousin’s name. |
| Seol: Really? |
| Keith: Yeah. |
| Seol: So you wrote the script? |
| Keith: Yeah, I did. Well, okay, next is 어? What is that? |
| Seol: Like you’re surprised, right? |
| Keith: Yeah, surprised, right? Like uh? What? Kind of like “huh?” |
| Seol: You didn’t even think that he’s not here. |
| Keith: Yeah. You know what I think it is? I think it’s “huh?” Like, “Huh? What happened? Surprise!” |
| Seol: Right, right. |
| Keith: So not a very good baby sitter. “Huh? What?” Okay. After that is 저는 모릅니다. The first part is… |
| Seol: 저 |
| Keith: “I” followed by… |
| Seol: 는 |
| Keith: The topic marking particle. And after that is… |
| Seol: 모릅니다. |
| Keith: “To not know.” This is in the formal politeness level. So here, it’s like “Uh…huh? I…I don’t know.” |
| Seol: What a good baby sitter. |
| Keith: Yeah, very good, right? Okay, next is.. |
| Seol: 모릅니까? |
| Keith: “To not know” but in the formal interrogative. So “don’t know?” Here, the subject is left out, but you can easily infer that the mother is talking about the baby sitter. “You don’t know?” Okay. After that is… |
| Seol: 여기에 없습니까? |
| Keith: Okay, the first part we have is… |
| Seol: 여기 |
| Keith: “Here.” After that… |
| Seol: 에 |
| Keith: Location particle which can be translated to “at”. And after that is… |
| Seol: 없습니까? |
| Keith: “To not exist.” But in this case, “not be”. So literally it’s “here at not be?” “He’s not here?” “What? You don’t know he’s not here?” Now this 엄마, she is mad. Okay. The baby sitter says 잘 모릅니다. The first word is.. |
| Seol: 잘 |
| Keith: This is the adverb “well”. After that is… |
| Seol: 모릅니다. |
| Keith: Once again, to not know in the formal politeness level. So here, it’s “Uh, I don’t know too well” or “I’m not too sure.” But this 잘, Koreans use this all the time, right? |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: I think it’s because they don’t want to say things too directly. |
| Seol: That is true It’s kind of in a modest way of explaining something or…yes, it’s really useful. You have to remember this word. |
| Keith: That’s right. So잘 모릅니다.. Also, this formal politeness level is not used very often. So Seol, can you give us the politeness level that everyone usually uses? |
| Seol: 잘 몰라요. |
| Keith: That’s right. 몰라요. This is the standard politeness level. So here, you’ll be hearing that all the time. If you’re in Korea, 잘 몰라요, you’ll hear it all the time.모릅니다, not so often, right? |
| Seol: Uh-hmm. |
| Keith: Yeah. But몰라요, you’ll hear it all the time. After that we have….Seol, can you do it for us? |
| Seol: 엄마! 엄마! |
| Keith: Excellent job. |
| Seol: Sorry. |
| Keith: No, that’s excellent. So that’s obviously just Jinu calling for his mom, right? |
| Seol: Yeah. |
| Keith: All right. And after that, the baby sitter says, 아, 진우가 저기에 있습니다.. The first part we have is…. |
| Seol: 아 |
| Keith: Yeah. This is kind of like a sound, right? |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: It’s a sound that Korean people make when they’re like “Oh!”. |
| Seol: Yeah, this is really common. When the idea just pops up from your mind, you say “Ah!”. |
| Keith: That’s right. So in this case, not an idea popped up but Jinu popped up. |
| Seol: Yeah. |
| Keith: He’s like “ah!” It’s just…. |
| Seol: Yeah. “Ah, I found him.” |
| Keith: Yeah, yeah. Okay, next we have… |
| Seol: 진우 |
| Keith: Once again, the boy’s name, Jinu. After that… |
| Seol: 가 |
| Keith: The subject marking particle. And after that is… |
| Seol: 저기 |
| Keith: “Over there” followed by… |
| Seol: 에 |
| Keith: The location particle “at”. And after that we have… |
| Seol: 있습니다. |
| Keith: “To exist.” Or in this case, “to be.” So literally we have “Oh, Jinu there at be” or “Jinu’s over there.” |
| Seol: So he finally found the boy! |
| Keith: Well, I think the baby sitter kind of thinks that he’s doing a good job. Like, “Ah, yeah, I knew it. He’s over there.” |
| Seol: Okay. |
| Keith: Well, I don’t think the mom is too happy though. I don’t think 엄마 is too happy. |
| Seol: She might be annoyed. |
| Keith: Well, let’s check out the next line. |
| Seol: Okay. |
| Keith: Next we have… |
| Seol: 네. |
| Keith: Yeah. |
| Seol: 압니다. |
| Keith: “To know” in the formal politeness level. Here, literally, it’s like “Yeah, to know.” But here it’s kind of like “Yeah, I know. I know.” The mom is really annoyed. |
| Seol: Yes, yes. |
| Keith: And you know how we can tell by this? |
| Seol: She speaks in formal politeness level, right? |
| Keith: Yeah, that’s right. The formal politeness level is not used very often. Seol, can you please give us the standard politeness level? |
| Seol: 알아요. |
| Keith:알아요. You’ll be hearing this all the time. So “Yes, I know. I know.” And can you give us the intimate level? |
| Seol: 알아. |
| Keith: “Yeah. I know. Yeah.” So to review really quickly, we just want to go over two words that you’ll be hearing very often – “to not know” and “to know”. I’ll be giving you the formal politeness level and Seol will be giving you the standard and the intimate politeness level. Once again, you’ll be hearing what Seol is saying much more often than what I am saying. So “to not know.”모릅니다; that’ the formal politeness level. The standard politeness level… |
| Seol:몰라요. |
| Keith: And the intimate politeness level. |
| Seol: 몰라. |
| Keith: “To know.” The formal politeness level, 압니다 -the standard politeness level… |
| Seol: 알아요. |
| Keith: And the intimate politeness level. |
| Seol: 알아. |
Outro |
| Keith: Okay. I think that’s going to do it for today. |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: I think they learned very useful words today. |
| Seol: 알아. |
| Keith: All right. So that’s going to do it for today. |
| Seol: 안녕! |
| Keith: 안녕! |
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Comments
Hide몰라요 (mollayo) and 알아요 (arayo) are in the standard politeness level and are the two more commonly heard versions of the words.
Hello Jessica / 제시카,
잘 알아요 can be used as well, but only if you want to emphasize that you know something.
Like in this kind of conversation:
A: 피터 씨를 알아요? Do you know who Peter is?
B: 네, 저는 피터 씨를 잘 알아요. Yes, I know Peter very well.
Enjoy your study and feel free to let us know if you have any inquiries!
Kind regards,
Hyeon Yeong Seo
Team KoreanClass101.com
안녕하세요?
In the notes, it is said that 잘 몰라요 is used - is 잘 알아요 used as well?
감사합니다,
제시카
안녕하세요 robert groulx,
You are very welcome. 😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish you good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
레벤테 (Levente)
Team KoreanClass101.com
thank you for the lesson
my favorite phrase is 모릅니다
robert
Hi Aia,
Thanks for posting. I'd fire the sitter too! Let's take a look at what you wrote:
그 베이비시터가 참 무책임해요 -->베이비시터가 참 무책임해요.
그는 일에 집중해야 해요 -->일에 집중하지 않았어요.
나는 그녀가 그를 해고할 겆이리고 생각해요 --->그녀가 그를 해고할 것이라고 생각해요.
Cheers,
Lyn
Team KoreanClass101.com
나는 그녀가 그를 해고할 겆이리고 생각해요
그 베이비시터가 참 무책임해요
그는 일에 집중해야 해요
June 29, 2019
I hear Korean co-workers frequently saying Araseoyo/ Araseo, I knew it/ I already knew.
How come Arayo, present tense I know, is not used as much in conversation? Seems to me most of the time, the use of the present tense seems to make more sense.
Hi Chea,
We include a limited number of words in the [Vocabulary] section, however, to check out more words/sentences, please use our Dictionary (includes audio):
https://www.koreanclass101.com/korean-dictionary/
You can also create your own Custom Lists. Please check out this link for more information:
https://www.koreanclass101.com/custom-lists/
We hope this helps! In case of any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team KoreanClass101.com
Hello, there are more vocabulary in the audio you have not add.
Hi Angel,
Welcome back! No worries, I think you will pick it up again in no time. Let us know if you have any questions!
Cheers,
Khanh.
Team KoreanClass101.com
I stopped studying for like a week and just came back..I feel like I need to review from lesson 1. 😭
Hi Michael,
You're very welcome!
We will also take your comment into consideration, in the meanwhile, you may want to print out the keyboard placement so that you can remember the placement of Korean consonants and vowels on the keyboard. :smile:
Cheers,
Lyn
Team KoreanClass101.com
Thanks for this good answer. The distinction is still subtle but listening to more Korean will help clarify. By the way, how about a short course on typing Hangul characters. I'm about to add a Korean keyboard to my Mac!
Hi Michael,
Thanks for posting.
The topic marking particles 은/는 are usually attached after nouns to let others know what you are talking about/will be talking about, and means 'as for~'.
저는 학생입니다. (As for me, I am a student(--it is I who is a student, I want to let you know this fact)).
Subject marking particles 이/가 are used to show what the subject of the sentence is.
마크가 그랬어요. (It was Mark who did that(action)).
Hope this was of help. Please let us know if you have any other inquiries.
Best,
Lyn
Team KoreanClass101.com
Thanks for the great lessons! Can you help me understand the difference between the topic marking particle and the subject marking particle. In this lesson, there doesn't seem to be a difference .... Kampsa hamnida!
Hi William,
So glad to hear that you feel like you are making progress! Do you feel ready to take it to the next level? :smile:
Best,
Lyn
Team KoreanClass101.com
저는 압니다!
(I know!)
Up to now, the beginner lessons seem a little easy for me. I feel I'm making little progress but still getting better.
Thank you!
Hi Aaron Shannon,
알아/요 "I know" (I actually know it. I already knew that in advance.)
알았어/요 is more likely to mean "Okay" (Okay, I will./I got it.)
And, as you said, when 알았어 is in the question form, it becomes "Do you understand/Do you get it?"
감사합니다.
클레어
Team KoreanClass101.com
Sometimes I hear "arasa" in a drama which seems to mean "do you understand?" What exactly does "arasa" mean? I assume this word is related to 알아요.
Thank you.