Learn how to give commands or make requests using the Korean affirmative imperative
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Seol: 안녕하세요. 윤설입니다. |
| Hyunwoo: 안녕하세요. 선현우입니다. |
| Keith: Keith here. Tacos – Tacos Rule. |
| Seol: You like tacos? |
| Keith: Yeah. Who doesn’t like tacos? |
| Hyunwoo: What is tacos? |
| Keith: 멕시코 요리 |
| Hyunwoo: Ah 멕시코 요리 |
| Seol: 음 타코 먹고 싶다. |
| Keith: One of my favorite dining establishments in America. |
| Seol: Is it Taco Bell? |
| Keith: Yeah how do you know? |
| Seol: Oh really? You like taco that much. |
| Keith: You can get a ten pack for like US$9. |
| Seol: Yeah I have been there and I liked it. It was okay. |
| Keith: It’s good. Actually this is kind of disgusting but it’s pretty good though. Disgusting food can be good. That’s why 아저씨 and 혜진’s mother went to El Grande Salsaria. |
| Seol: Yeah even though I know Salsaria remind us of something bad, but I feel like the name it sounds really good El Grande Salsaria. |
| Hyunwoo: I don’t like the name. |
| Keith: Well, Seol, you can eat there and try it out for yourself. |
| Seol: Okay, okay. |
| Keith: Do you think that a restaurant in Korea with the name Salsaria would do well or would Korean people not make the connection? |
| Hyunwoo: Some people will and some people won’t but once some people start talking about what it could mean, not really well. |
| Keith: And just in case some of our listeners don’t know what it can mean, what is that? |
| Hyunwoo: If you pronounce it really quickly and say by mistake 설사리아. |
| Keith: Diarrhea. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah so if you pronounce 살사 very quickly in Korea and it’s like 설사 almost. |
| Seol: Why do you hesitate to pronounce diarrhea? |
| Keith: It’s not the best topic to talk about. |
| Seol: Okay. |
| Keith: Okay so just for a quick recap, why don’t we go over what happened in our last two dialogues. |
| Hyunwoo: 혜진 met this 아저씨 on the street. 아저씨 asks after 혜진’s mom and 혜진 says, she is not feeling well and they kind of guessed it’s because of what she ate. So now they are in that restaurant where she ate that food. |
| Keith: El Grande Salsaria. So in today’s conversation, we have three characters. |
| Hyunwoo: 직원, 아저씨, 혜진 |
| Keith: 직원 is employee. Instead of waiter, clerk or manager, it’s just a general employee. So it’s between an employee, the man 아저씨 and 혜진 and what politeness levels are going on? |
| Seol: The politeness level is mixed here. 혜진 and 아저씨 they are using the intimate politeness level but between the employee and 혜진 or between the employee and 아저씨, they are speaking 존댓말. |
| Keith: Standard politeness level and because the employee, he has to be polite. He has to be polite to customers, he is using the honorific infix when he is talking about 혜진, when he is talking about 아저씨, when he is talking about her mother and with 존댓말, standard politeness level. All right so let’s take a look. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 직원: 어서 오십시오! |
| 직원: 안녕하세요... 여기 앉으세요. |
| 아저씨: 돈 주세요!! |
| 직원: 네?! |
| 혜진: 아저씨... 진정해... |
| 아저씨: 이 아가씨의 어머니가 아프셔요! 돈 주세요!!! |
| 직원: 어디 아프셔요? |
| 혜진: 배가 아프셔요... |
| 직원: 아... 네... 죄송해요... 여기.. 오세요... (작은 목소리로) 우리 살사를 드셨어요? |
| 혜진: 네... |
| 아저씨: 저도요!!! |
| 직원: 죄송합니다. 정말 죄송합니다. 그렇지만 돈은 안 돼요... 타코는 괜찮으세요? |
| 아저씨: 타코?!? 타코?!?? 네!!! 많이 주세요!! |
| jigwon: eoseo osipssio! |
| jigwon: annyeonghaseyo... yeogi anjeuseyo. |
| ajeossi: don juseyo!! |
| jigwon: ne?! |
| hyejin: ajeossi... jinjeonghae... |
| ajeossi: i agassieui eomeoniga apeusyeoyo! don juseyo!!! |
| jigwon: eodi apeusyeoyo? |
| hyejin: baega apeusyeoyo... |
| jigwon: a...ne... joesonghaeyo... yeogi.. oseyo... uri salsalreul deusyeosseoyo? |
| hyejin: ne... |
| ajeossi: jeodoyo!!! |
| jigwon: joesonghamnida. jeongmal joesonghamnida. geureojiman don-eun an dwaeyo... takoneun gwenchanheuseyo? |
| ajeossi: tako?!? tako?!?? ne!!! mani juseyo. |
| Hyunwoo: 이번에는 천천히 한 번 더. |
| 직원: 어서 오십시오! |
| 직원: 안녕하세요... 여기 앉으세요. |
| 아저씨: 돈 주세요!! |
| 직원: 네?! |
| 혜진: 아저씨... 진정해... |
| 아저씨: 이 아가씨의 어머니가 아프셔요! 돈 주세요!!! |
| 직원: 어디 아프셔요? |
| 혜진: 배가 아프셔요... |
| 직원: 아... 네... 죄송해요... 여기.. 오세요... (작은 목소리로) 우리 살사를 드셨어요? |
| 혜진: 네... |
| 아저씨: 저도요!!! |
| 직원: 죄송합니다. 정말 죄송합니다. 그렇지만 돈은 안 돼요... 타코는 괜찮으세요? |
| 아저씨: 타코?!? 타코?!?? 네!!! 많이 주세요!! |
| jigwon: eoseo osipssio! |
| jigwon: annyeonghaseyo... yeogi anjeuseyo. |
| ajeossi: don juseyo!! |
| jigwon: ne?! |
| hyejin: ajeossi... jinjeonghae... |
| ajeossi: i agassieui eomeoniga apeusyeoyo! don juseyo!!! |
| jigwon: eodi apeusyeoyo? |
| hyejin: baega apeusyeoyo... |
| jigwon: a...ne... joesonghaeyo... yeogi.. oseyo... uri salsalreul deusyeosseoyo? |
| hyejin: ne... |
| ajeossi: jeodoyo!!! |
| jigwon: joesonghamnida. jeongmal joesonghamnida. geureojiman don-eun an dwaeyo... takoneun gwenchanheuseyo? |
| ajeossi: tako?!? tako?!?? ne!!! mani juseyo. |
| Hyunwoo: 이번에는 영어로. |
| 직원: 어서 오십시오! |
| Staff: Welcome! |
| 직원: 안녕하세요... 여기 앉으세요. |
| Waiter: Hello. Please, sit here. |
| 아저씨: 돈 주세요!! |
| Man: Give me money!! |
| 직원: 네?! |
| Waiter: Excuse me? |
| 혜진: 아저씨... 진정해... |
| Hyejin: Calm down... |
| 아저씨: 이 아가씨의 어머니가 아프셔요! 돈 주세요!!! |
| Man: This girl's mother is sick! Give us money! |
| 직원: 어디 아프셔요? |
| Waiter: What's wrong with her? |
| 혜진: 배가 아프셔요... |
| Hyejin: Her stomach hurts... |
| 직원: 아... 네... 죄송해요... 여기.. 오세요... (작은 목소리로) 우리 살사를 드셨어요? |
| Waiter: Oh...all right...I'm sorry. Please...come here. (Whispering) Did she have our salsa? |
| 혜진: 네... |
| Hyejin: Yes... |
| 아저씨: 저도요!!! |
| Man: Me, too!!! |
| 직원: 죄송합니다. 정말 죄송합니다. 그렇지만 돈은 안 돼요... 타코는 괜찮으세요? |
| Waiter: We're sorry. We're very sorry. We can't give you any money...are you all right with tacos? |
| 아저씨: 타코?!? 타코?!?? 네!!! 많이 주세요!! |
| Man: Tacos?!? Tacos?!?! Please, give me a lot! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Keith: How was the conversation? |
| Hyunwoo: Would you be just happy with taco instead of money? |
| Keith: I would. |
| Seol: But in taco, there must be salsa source again? |
| Keith: That’s okay. If I could be paid in tacos, I would work so much over time. |
| Seol: Oh my God. |
| Keith: What it is not true? You wouldn’t work for Kimchi? |
| Seol: No. |
| Hyunwoo: I wouldn’t. It’s something that we need, but not something to live for. |
| Keith: Hey, that was how it was back in old days. You got paid in rice, you got paid in food. |
| Hyunwoo: 21세기에 살고 있죠. |
| Seol: Yeah, we’re living in the 21st century, not 17th century anymore. |
| Keith: Hey, call me old fashioned, but I want tacos. All right, so tacos, it’s on our vocabulary so why don’t we move to vocab? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Keith: What's the first word? |
| Hyunwoo: 어서 오십시오. |
| Keith: Welcome. A phrase used in business establishments. |
| Hyunwoo: 어서 오십시오 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 어서 오십시오 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next we have |
| Hyunwoo: 돈 |
| Keith: Money. |
| Hyunwoo: 돈 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 돈 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next is |
| Hyunwoo: 앉다 |
| Keith: To sit. |
| Hyunwoo: 앉다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 앉다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next we have |
| Hyunwoo: 주다 |
| Keith: To give |
| Hyunwoo: 주다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 주다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: After that |
| Hyunwoo: 진정하다 |
| Keith: To calm down. |
| Hyunwoo: 진정하다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 진정하다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: After that. |
| Hyunwoo: 아가씨 |
| Keith: Ms, title for young woman. |
| Hyunwoo: 아가씨 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 아가씨 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And after that |
| Hyunwoo: 죄송하다 |
| Keith: To be sorry. |
| Hyunwoo: 죄송하다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 죄송하다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: After that |
| Hyunwoo: 오다 |
| Keith: To come. |
| Hyunwoo: 오다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 오다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And next |
| Hyunwoo: 살사 |
| Keith: Salsa. |
| Hyunwoo: 살사 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 살사 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: After that |
| Hyunwoo: 드시다 |
| Keith: To eat, honorific. |
| Hyunwoo: 드시다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 드시다 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And after that we have |
| Hyunwoo: 정말 |
| Keith: Really |
| Hyunwoo: 정말 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 정말 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And next is |
| Hyunwoo: 안 돼 |
| Keith: Cannot, can’t do, must not be |
| Hyunwoo: 안 돼 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 안 돼 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And now we have |
| Hyunwoo: 타코 |
| Keith: Taco. |
| Hyunwoo: 타코 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 타코 [natural native speed] |
| Keith: And finally we have |
| Hyunwoo: 많이 |
| Keith: Many, a lot. |
| Hyunwoo: 많이 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 많이 [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Keith: Let’s take a look at some of the words in a little more detail. What’s that first word we had or phrase actually? |
| Seol: 어서 오십시오. |
| Keith: Now this is welcome in business establishments. |
| Hyunwoo: 식당에 가면 많이 들을 수 있죠. |
| Seol: 어서 오십시오. 손님, 여기로 모시겠습니다. |
| Hyunwoo: 어서 오십시오. |
| Seol: 어서 오십시오. |
| Keith: Have you ever worked at a restaurant or something like that? |
| Seol: Yeah. |
| Keith: And you used to do that all the time? |
| Seol: Yes. |
| Keith: So how many times a day do you say it? |
| Seol: I cannot count the number. |
| Keith: Yeah. You say it to every single customer. |
| Seol: Right, right. |
| Keith: So if you are ever in Korea or if you are living there now, you know how much you hear this phrase. |
| Hyunwoo: 어서 오십시오. |
| Keith: Actually yeah that’s a shortened version too. There is some other variations of it too. What’s the shortened lazy version? |
| Hyunwoo: 어세요. |
| Seol: No that’s not 어서 오세요. |
| Hyunwoo: Some people actually say that. 어세요. |
| Seol: Don’t listen to you. It’s 어서 오세요. 어서 오세요. |
| Hyunwoo: I guess we have 어서 오세요. |
| Keith: And the lazy version of that one |
| Seol: Is |
| Hyunwoo: 세요. |
| Keith: But you don’t think so. |
| Seol: No. |
| Keith: That’s because you are too polite. You’ve never used that. |
| Seol: No. |
| Keith: So remember our listeners, if you are traveling in Korea, pay attention to what you are told 어세요 or 어서 오세요. |
| Seol: It must be 어서 오세요. I am pretty sure. |
| Hyunwoo: I am sure it’s 세요. |
| Seol: Okay. |
| Keith: So we can actually break this down. 어서 means quickly and now we have a verb |
| Hyunwoo: 오세요 |
| Keith: That’s 오다 to come with the honorific infix. So let’s break it down really quickly. The verb is |
| Seol: 오다 |
| Keith: And the verb stem |
| Seol: 오 |
| Keith: Now we add the honorific infix |
| Seol: 오시 |
| Keith: And the conjugation in the standard politeness level is |
| Seol: 요, 오시어요 |
| Keith: And the honorific infix and the next syllable that comes right after that. They fuse into one, they contract |
| Seol: 오세요 |
| Keith: Actually you’re going to be hearing this 세요 actually a lot in the standard politeness level, the honorific infix 시 and the conjugation 어. They contract all the time and actually you are going to be hearing it a lot, the contracted version in our next verb. |
| Seol: 주다 |
| Keith: To give. Now where do we hear this a lot? |
| Seol: When we go shopping, we say 이거 주세요, 저거 주세요. |
| Keith: Please give me this, please give me that. Now why are we using the honorific infix? |
| Hyunwoo: Because you want to be polite to the person who is selling the goods and it’s a very convenient word to know because if you don’t know the name of the specific good that you want to buy, you can just point at it and say 이거 주세요 even in the restaurant like you look at the menu and 이거 주세요. |
| Keith: Actually this is very good for survival Korean 이거 주세요 Instead of 이거 줘요 which is not very polite at all. This honorific infix plays a big role especially with this verb 주세요 So how did 주다 come out in today’s conversation with the honorific infix? |
| Seol: 돈 주세요. |
| Keith: Give me money. |
| Hyunwoo: 많이 주세요. |
| Keith: Give me a lot. All right let’s – let’s move on to our next word. |
| Seol: 아가씨 |
| Keith: That’s you. |
| Seol: Yeah this is me 아가씨. |
| Keith: Now what do you mean that is you? |
| Seol: This is a title for young woman. So I am a young woman. So I should be called 아가씨. |
| Keith: Now young is a very general term. |
| Seol: Yeah so I guess it’s for the women who are not married. So it can be me and also it can be a woman who is about 35 or about 40 but when she looks young, then we can call her 아가씨. |
| Keith: Right. Instead of calling someone by their name, you say 아가씨. You can’t really use this to someone who is older than you but you can use it if you are older than this 아가씨, this miss. So how did Agashi, the title for young woman come out in today’s conversation. |
| Seol: 이 아가씨의 어머니가 아프셔요. |
| Keith: Let’s break it down really quickly. |
| Seol: 이 |
| Keith: Demonstrative modifier, this. |
| Seol: 아가씨 |
| Keith: Miss, title for young woman. |
| Seol: 의 |
| Keith: Possessive particle. |
| Seol: 어머니 |
| Keith: Mother. |
| Seol: 가 |
| Keith: Subject marking particle. |
| Seol: 아프셔요 |
| Keith: Hurt, sick honorific. Okay let’s move on. |
| Seol: 드시다 |
| Keith: To eat, honorific. Now what’s the verb to eat? |
| Seol: 먹다 |
| Keith: Now can we use the honorific infix over here 먹으시다? |
| Hyunwoo: You can but it sounds a bit awkward 먹으시다. |
| Seol: 점심 먹으셨어요? No. It is that you have to say 점심 드셨어요? |
| Keith: And that’s what we want to focus on today. This is an honorific word. Instead of 먹다, instead of using that verb and the honorific infix, you use a totally different verb |
| Hyunwoo: 드시다 |
| Keith: To eat. |
| Hyunwoo: Maybe because it’s such a common word that is used every day. |
| Keith: And actually some Korean verbs, they can’t be used – well they can be used with the honorific infix but they have other words to be more honorific and a little more natural. So let’s go with the verb to sleep. |
| Seol: 자다 |
| Keith: And what’s the honorific version? |
| Seol: 주무시다 |
| Keith: So this is a totally different word, it has a same exact meaning. It is just honorific version of it. So how did 드시다 come out in today’s conversation? |
| Hyunwoo: 우리 살사를 드셨어요? |
| Keith: Let’s break it down real quick. |
| Hyunwoo: 우리 |
| Keith: Our. |
| Hyunwoo: 살사 |
| Keith: Salsa |
| Hyunwoo: 를 |
| Keith: Object marking particle. |
| Hyunwoo: 드셨어요 |
| Keith: Ate honorific. Now let’s break down the conjugation of this really quickly. What’s the verb? |
| Hyunwoo: 드시다 |
| Keith: To eat honorific and now we add the past tense conjugation |
| Hyunwoo: 었 |
| Keith: So the verb stem is |
| Hyunwoo: 드시 |
| Keith: Now we have 았/었/였 conjugation, which one do we choose? |
| Hyunwoo: 었 |
| Keith: Because the last vowel is E. So what do we have? |
| Hyunwoo: 드시었 |
| Keith: And the last two syllables contract into one. |
| Hyunwoo: 드셨 |
| Keith: And we can finish it off. |
| Hyunwoo: 드셨어요 |
| Keith: Okay let’s move on to our last word. |
| Seol: 안 돼 |
| Keith: Cannot, can’t do, must not be. So how did it come out in today’s conversation? |
| Hyunwoo: 돈은 안 돼요. |
| Keith: Money cannot be, it can’t be money. What does that mean exactly? |
| Hyunwoo: I think it depends on the context. Here Agashi asks for a refund. So the 직원 is saying 돈은 안 돼요. The act of giving you the money back is 안 돼요. |
| Keith: Cannot be, it must not be. So can we have a couple of examples? |
| Hyunwoo: 음주운전은 안 돼요. |
| Keith: Drinking and driving cannot be, it must not be. |
| Hyunwoo: 여러분, 컨닝 안 돼요. |
| Keith: It’s – this is Konglish. |
| Hyunwoo: Yes |
| Keith: And it’s cunning as in an adjective cunning. |
| Hyunwoo: Yeah. |
| Keith: Someone is cunning but what does it mean in Korean? |
| Hyunwoo: 시험 볼 때 다른 사람 답을 몰래 보는 것. |
| Keith: Cheating. |
| Seol: Yeah it should be cheating in English. |
| Keith: Cheating. |
| Seol: Yeah but we say 컨닝. |
| Keith: 컨닝하다? |
| Seol: 컨닝하다. 컨닝 안 돼요. 컨닝하면 안 돼요. |
| Keith: So 안 돼 cannot be, must not be, must not do also. So remember to pay attention to the context. All right. So let’s move on to today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Keith: What are we talking about today? |
| Hyunwoo: Today, we're talking about the imperative. Keith, 설명해 주세요. |
| Keith: The imperative is used when you're asking someone to do something. When you tell someone to do something. But the simple thing about the imperative is that the conjugation in the standard present tense, intimate and standard politeness level, it's the same exact thing. So it's just a matter of intonation. So, let's have the verb "eat". You're a mom and you're telling your kid to eat. |
| Seol: 먹어. |
| Keith: It's the same thing. Same thing as standard politeness level. Simple present tense. So let's go over the question, "Do you eat kimbap?" |
| Seol: 너 김밥 먹어? |
| Keith: That rising intonation at the end. How do you say, "I eat kimbap."? |
| Hyunwoo: 응 나 김밥 먹어. |
| Keith: So how do we say, "You, eat kimbap." |
| Seol: 너 김밥 먹어. |
| Keith: What's the different intonations there? The question, fairly easy. You've got a rising intonation at the end. What's the difference between the statement and the imperative? |
| Seol: 먹어, the imperative, it sounds more fully intonation. So 먹어, instead of 먹어. |
| Keith: And it's a little more abrupt and stronger, too. |
| Seol: Right. 너 김밥 먹어. 먹어. You should eat kimbap. |
| Keith: Ok. Let's have a really quick quiz over here. Let's see if you can tell the difference between the declarative and the imperative. |
| Hyunwoo: 김밥 먹어. 김밥 먹어. |
| Keith: So if you caught that, the second one is the imperative. It's a little stronger, it's a little shorter, and it's a little sharper, too. So please remember to check out today's review track. We're going to have the imperative with the correct intonation. But the thing with the imperative is that, because you're telling someone to do something, a lot of times you're using the honorific infix. Because why? |
| Seol: You don't want to be rude when you ask someone to do something. |
| Keith: So if you're not using the honorific infix or if you're using intimate politeness level, you're coming off as being really bossy. |
| Seol: It's like, "Do something! Eat this!" But when you use the honorific infix, it's going to be like "Would you please do something? Please, can you do this?" |
| Keith: Yeah, and being polite is a very big part of the Korean language. So how did the imperative come out in today's conversation? |
| Hyunwoo: 돈 주세요. |
| Keith: Give me money, please. |
| Hyunwoo: 여기 앉으세요. |
| Keith: "Sit here," and because of that honorific infix, "please." |
| Hyunwoo: 여기 오세요. |
Outro |
| Keith: Please come here. All right and so that’s going to do it. Remember to stop by and leave us a comment. See you there. |
| Seol: 코멘트 남겨. |
| Hyunwoo: 공부 열심히 해. |
| Keith: If you didn’t catch that, intimate politeness level, oh yeah. |
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