Learn the basic rules of Korean sentence structure
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| 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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