Learn about apologizing
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| In today’s lesson, we will learn a useful phrase for when the Korean is coming at you fast and furious and the content is a little too much. Today’s phrase is, I am sorry. I don’t understand. In Korean, it’s 죄송합니다. 이해 못 해요. (joesonghamnida. ihae mot haeyo.) One time slowly, 죄송합니다. 이해 못 해요. (joesonghamnida. ihae mot haeyo.) And now by syllable, 죄-송-합-니-다. 이-해 못 해-요. (joe-song-ham-ni-da. i-hae mot hae-yo.) The first phrase is 죄송합니다 (joesonghamnida). It means sorry. Let’s break this phrase down and hear it one more time 죄-송-합-니-다 (joe-song-ham-ni-da). Next we have 이해 (ihae). This word means understand. One time by syllable, 이-해 (i-hae). Next we have 못 (mot) which means not possible. One time slowly, it’s 못 (mot). Lastly we have 해요 (haeyo) which is to do. One time by syllable, 해-요 (ha-yo). Altogether we have 죄송합니다. 이해 못 해요. (joesonghamnida. igae mot haeyo.) |
| This literally means sorry understand not possible to do. Translated, it’s I am sorry, I don’t understand. We can of course shorten this into just I don’t understand which of course is 이해 못 해요 (ihae mot haeyo). One time slowly, 이해 못 해요 (ihae mot haeyo). And now by syllable, 이-해 못 해-요 (i-hae mot hae-yo). Building on this, we can add the phrase, I don’t speak Korean which in Korean is 한국말 못 해요 (hangungmal mot haeyo). One time slowly, 한국말 못 해요 (hangungmal mot haeyo). And now let’s break it down by syllable, 한-국-말 못 해-요 (han-guk-mal mot hae-yo). The first word 한국말 (hangungmal) means Korean language. Let’s break this word down and hear it one more time. 한국말 (han-guk-mal). Next we have 못 (mot) which once again means can’t do or not possible. One time slowly, 못 (mot). And this is followed once again by 해요 (haeyo) which means to do. One time by syllable, 해-요 (hae-yo). |
| So altogether we have 한국말 못 해요 (hangungmal mot haeyo) which literally means Korean not possible to do or I can’t speak Korean. This phrase 한국말 못 해요 (hangungmal mot haeyo) may get you out of a jam in Korea. For example, when I was in Korea, a friend of mine who was a foreigner had taken the subway somewhere but as it turns out, she bought the wrong ticket and needed to pay a little more. It wasn’t much but the man at the ticket booth had asked her to pay some money. She was still fresh in Korea at that time and didn’t speak a lick of it. The only phrase she knew was 한국말 못 해요 (hangungmal mot haeyo). The ticket guy got frustrated and just let her pass. So who knows! Maybe this can get you out of a jam. |
| Okay. To close our today’s lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you’ve learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 화이팅 (hwaiting)! |
| I am sorry, I don’t understand - 죄송합니다. 이해 못 해요. (joesonghamnida. ihae mot haeyo.) |
| I don’t speak Korean - 한국말 못 해요 (hangungmal mot haeyo). |
| All right, that’s going to do it for today. |
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