Dialogue

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Lesson Transcript

Michael: How are sentences structured in Korean?
Kyejin: And are the rules rigid?
Michael: At KoreanClass101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Ben Lee is a foreign exchange student and he is walking through central Seoul with his friend, Ga-eun Gim. Ben sees someone in the street that he thinks is a famous Korean singer and says to Ga-eun,
"I know him. It's Paul Kim."
Ben Morris: 저 사람 알아요. 폴 김이에요. (Jeo saram arayo. Pol gimieyo.)
Dialogue
Ben Morris: 저 사람 알아요. 폴 김이에요. (Jeo saram arayo. Pol gimieyo.)
Ga-eun Gim: 나도 누구인지 알아요. (Nado nuguinji arayo.)
Michael: Once more with the English translation.
Ben Morris: 저 사람 알아요. 폴 김이에요. (Jeo saram arayo. Pol gimieyo.)
Michael: "I know him. It's Paul Kim."
Ga-eun Gim: 나도 누구인지 알아요. (Nado nuguinji arayo.)
Michael: "I know him too."

Lesson focus
Michael: In Korean, the most common sentence structure is Subject, Object, Verb, or S-O-V. Korean is also considered a topic-prominent language, meaning subjects can often be omitted from a sentence since their role in a sentence is secondary in focus to the topic.
[Recall 1]
Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue and how it works in practice.
Do you remember how Ben says "I know him. It's Paul Kim"
(pause 4 seconds)
Kyejin: 저 사람 알아요. 폴 김이에요. (Jeo saram arayo. Pol gimieyo.)
Michael: Let's concentrate on the first sentence, "I know him."
Kyejin: 저 사람 알아요. (Jeo saram arayo.)
Michael: This sentence literally means "that person (I) know."
First, we have
Kyejin: "저" (jeo),
Michael: which means "that."
Kyejin: 저 (jeo)
Michael: Next we have
Kyejin: "사람" (saram),
Michael: or "person."
Then, it is
Kyejin: "알아요" (arayo).
알아 (arayo)
Michael: is the infinitive form of the verb
Kyejin: 알다 (alda),
Michael: which means "to know."
Finally, there is the informal-formal sentence ending
Kyejin: 요(yo).
Michael: Remember, there are three levels of politeness in Korean--formal, informal-formal, and casual.
Kyejin: 요(yo)
Michael: falls into the informal-formal category.
Altogether, it is:
Kyejin: 저 사람 알아요. (Jeo saram arayo.)
Michael: "I know him."
[Recall 2]
Michael: Now let's take a look at our second sentence.
Do you remember how Ga-eun Gim says "I know him too."
(pause 4 seconds)
Kyejin: 나도 누구인지 알아요. (Nado nuguinji arayo.)
Michael: Did you notice the difference in how each sentence is structured?
Michael: Ben says,
Kyejin: 저 사람 알아요. (Jeo saram arayo.),
Michael: "I know him." But, in response, Ga-eun Gim says,
Kyejin: 나도 누구인지 알아요. (Nado nuguinji arayo.)
Michael: This sentence literally means "I also who it is know," or "I also know who that person is."
First, we have
Kyejin: 나(na),
Michael: the informal "I."
Next is the additive particle
Kyejin: "도" (do),
Michael: which means "also" or "too."
Then, we have
Kyejin: 누구인지 (nuguinji),
Michael: which means "who it is."
It is a combination of
Kyejin: 누구(nugu),
Michael: a noun meaning "someone," and
Kyejin: 인지 (inji),
Michael: the copula
Kyejin: 이다(ida),
Michael: or "to be."
Next is
Kyejin: "알아요" (arayo).
알아 (ara)
Michael: is the infinitive form of the verb
Kyejin: 알다(alda),
Michael: which means "to know."
Altogether, it is:
Kyejin: 나도 누구인지 알아요. (Nado nuguinji arayo.)
[SUMMARY]
Michael: So far we have learned that the subject-object-verb structure is dominant in Korean, although the Subject is not necessarily needed to make the sentence complete.
Expansion
Michael: Although Korean has a S-O-V sentence structure, sometimes you will hear people putting the object at the end of the sentence, making it a S-V-O structure. This is used when the speaker wishes to stress the subject, or what they know. Take a look at the sentence:
Kyejin: 저 사람 알아요. (Jeo saram arayo.)
Michael: By putting the object at the end, you would get:
Kyejin: 알아요, 저 사람. (Arayo jeo saram.)
Michael: As you can hear, the same words were used, but in a different order. The meaning is the same, but, usually, when the object goes at the end of a sentence, it is used to stress the subject, although the meaning itself remains relatively the same, "(I) know that person."
Let's have a closer look at how the sentence is structured this time. First is
Kyejin: 알아요 (arayo)
Michael: Meaning "to know," next is
Kyejin: "저" (jeo)
Michael: meaning "that," and next is
Kyejin: "사람" (saram)
Michael: meaning "person."
Kyejin: 알아요, 저 사람. (Arayo jeo saram.)
Let's take a look at the next sentence:
나도 누구인지 알아요.
If you change the sentence structure to put the object at the end, you would be stressing that you know 'who' that person is:
나도 알아요, 누구인지. (Nado arayo, nuguinji.)
This literally means "I also know who it is."
Michael: First we have
Kyejin: 나(na),
Michael: the informal "I."
Next is the additive particle
Kyejin: "도" (do),
Michael: which means "also" or "too."
Then, we have
Kyejin: "알아요" (arayo).
알아 (ara)
Michael:which means "to know."
Next is:
Kyejin: 누구인지 (nuguinji),
Michael: which means "who it is."
It is a combination of
Kyejin: 누구(nugu),
Michael: a noun meaning "someone," and
Kyejin: 인지 (inji),
Michael: the copula
Kyejin: 이다(ida),
Michael: or "to be."
Altogether, it is:
Kyejin: 나도 알아요, 누구인지. (Nado arayo, nuguinji.)

Outro
Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them!
Kyejin: 안녕히 계세요. (Annyeonghi gyeseyo)
Michael: See you soon!

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