Learn to give your reason for something in Korean
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| Do you know how to give a reason for something in Korean? |
| You'll learn how in just a moment. |
| Hi, my name is Joyce, and this is Three Step Korean by KoreanClass101.com. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn how to give a reason through a quick conversation. |
| Let's look at the dialogue. |
| As you listen, pay attention to how they ask about the topic and how the other person responds. |
| 민규 씨, 초대해 줘서 고마워요. 너무 잘 먹었어요. |
| (Mingyu ssi, chodaehae jwoseo gomawoyo. Neomu jal meogeosseoyo.) |
| 별말씀을요. 와 줘서 고마워요, 가은 씨. |
| (Byeolmalsseumeul-yo. Wa jwoseo gomawoyo, Gaeun ssi.) |
| 지금 바로 회사에 갈 거예요? |
| (Jigeum baro hoesae gal geoyeyo?) |
| 아니요. 왜요? |
| (Aniyo. Waeyo?) |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? 민규 씨가 점심을 샀으니까, 제가 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요. |
| (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo? Mingyu ssi ga jeomsimeul sasseunikka, jega aiseukeurimeul sago sipeoyo.) |
| 좋아요. |
| (Joayo.) |
| Let's break it down. |
| 민규 씨, 초대해 줘서 고마워요. 너무 잘 먹었어요. |
| (Mingyu ssi, chodaehae jwoseo gomawoyo. Neomu jal meogeosseoyo.) |
| Min-gyu, thank you for inviting me. I ate really well. |
| 별말씀을요. 와 줘서 고마워요, 가은 씨. |
| (Byeolmalsseumeul-yo. Wa jwoseo gomawoyo, Gaeun ssi.) |
| Don’t mention it. Thank you for coming, Ga-eun. |
| 지금 바로 회사에 갈 거예요? |
| (Jigeum baro hoesae gal geoyeyo?) |
| Are you going straight to the office now? |
| 아니요. 왜요? |
| (Aniyo. Waeyo?) |
| No. Why? |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? 민규 씨가 점심을 샀으니까, 제가 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요. (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo? Mingyu ssi ga jeomsimeul sasseunikka, jega aiseukeurimeul sago sipeoyo.) |
| This is two sentences, so let's take it one by one. First, "날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo?)" |
| First, 날씨가. |
| 날씨 means "weather," and 가 marks it as the subject. Together, 날씨가 means "the weather is…" |
| Next, 더우니까. |
| This comes from 더우다, meaning "to be hot." The -니까 ending means "since" or "because," so 더우니까 means "since it’s hot." |
| Then, 아이스크림, a borrowed word for "ice cream." Easy! |
| Finally, 먹을까요? |
| This comes from 먹다, meaning "to eat." The -을까요? ending is used to make a suggestion or ask someone’s opinion about doing something together. |
| So, 먹을까요? means "Shall we eat?" |
| Put it all together: |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo?) |
| "Since it's hot, shall we eat ice cream?" |
| Now the next sentence, "민규 씨가 점심을 샀으니까, 제가 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요. (Mingyu ssi ga jeomsimeul sasseunikka, jega aiseukeurimeul sago sipeoyo.)" |
| First, 민규 씨가. |
| 민규 씨 is how we politely address Min-gyu, and 가 marks him as the subject. |
| Next, 점심을 샀으니까. |
| 점심 means "lunch," and 을 marks it as the object of the verb. |
| 샀으니까 comes from 사다, meaning "to buy." The -으니까 ending gives the meaning of "since" or "because." |
| So, 점심을 샀으니까 = "Since (he) bought lunch." |
| Then, 제가. |
| 제 is a humble way to say "my," and 가 is the subject marker, so 제가 means "I" in a formal way. |
| Finally, 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요. |
| 아이스크림 means "ice cream," and 을 marks it as the object. |
| 사고 싶어요 comes from 사다 ("to buy") + 고 싶어요 ("want to"). |
| So, 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요 = "I want to buy ice cream." |
| Put it all together: |
| "Since Min-gyu bought lunch, I want to buy ice cream." |
| 좋아요. |
| (Joayo.) |
| Sounds good. |
| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| [Verb or Adjective Stem]니까 or 으니까 [Follow-up]. |
| ([Verb or Adjective Stem] nikka or eunikka [Follow-up].) |
| [Reason], [Follow-up]. |
| This pattern is used to explain the reason for something, followed by the result or action taken because of that reason. 니까 or 으니까 attaches to the verb or adjective stem to indicate the cause of an action. If the stem ends in a vowel, 니까 (nikka) is used. If the verb stem ends in a consonant, 으니까 (eunikka) is used. The follow-up statement expresses what happens because of the given reason. |
| Let’s see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? |
| (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo?) |
| “Since it’s hot, shall we eat ice cream?” |
| We see 니까 in 날씨가 더우니까, so we know it’s giving a reason, something happens because of something else. |
| 더우니까 comes from the adjective 덥다 (deopda, “to be hot”). But 덥다 is an irregular ㅂ-adjective, which means the ㅂ changes to 우 before adding -니까. |
| So, 더우니까 means "Since it's hot." |
| Now that we’ve got 더우니까, let’s put the whole sentence together: |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? |
| "Since it's hot, shall we eat ice cream?" |
| Now, you can use this structure to explain reasons and results in Korean conversations! |
| This same pattern works with other ㅂ-irregular adjectives too. For example: |
| 춥다 (chupda, “to be cold”) → 추우니까 (chuunikka, “since it’s cold”). |
| Also, while our dialogue has a subject, 날씨가, it's not always needed. You could form a complete sentence with just "추우니까," because the subject is understood from context. We will see an example of this later. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| 이번 주는 바쁘니까 다음 주에 만날까요? (Ibeon juneun bappeunikka da-eum jue mannalkkayo?) |
| Since I’m busy this week, shall we meet next week? |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Here, 이번 주 (ibeon ju) means " this week." The -는 (-neun) marks 이번 주 as the topic of the sentence. |
| 바쁘니까 comes from the adjective 바쁘다 (bappeuda, “to be busy”). Unlike 덥다, 바쁘다 is a regular 다-adjective, so we can just add -니까 directly to the stem. |
| Next is 다음 주에 만날까요? (da-eum jue mannalkkayo?), which is the end clause. 다음 주 (da-eum ju) means "next week," and 만날까요? (mannalkkayo?) comes from 만나다 (mannada, "to meet"), forming a polite suggestion, "Shall we meet?" |
| Here's another example |
| 날씨가 좋으니까 공원에 갈 거예요. (Nalssiga joeunikka gongwone gal geoyeyo.) |
| Because the weather is nice, I will go to the park. |
| 날씨가 좋으니까 공원에 갈 거예요. (Nalssiga joeunikka gongwone gal geoyeyo.) |
| Because the weather is nice, I will go to the park. |
| Let's try one more, |
| 손님이 오니까 음식을 만들 거예요. (Sonnimi onikka eumsigeul mandeul geoyeyo.) |
| Since a guest is coming, I will make some food. |
| 손님이 오니까 음식을 만들 거예요. (Sonnimi onikka eumsigeul mandeul geoyeyo.) |
| Since a guest is coming, I will make some food. |
| One last example. |
| 추우니까 창문을 닫아 주세요. (Chuunikka changmuneul dada juseyo.) |
| Because it’s cold, please close the window. |
| Like we explained earlier, the subject 날씨가 is understood from context. |
| 추우니까 창문을 닫아 주세요. (Chuunikka changmuneul dada juseyo.) |
| Because it’s cold, please close the window. |
| Let's review. |
| Do you remember how to say "the weather"? |
| 날씨가 (nalssi ga) |
| 날씨가 (nalssi ga) |
| And how to say "to be hot"? |
| 덥다 (deopda) |
| 덥다 (deopda) |
| Do you remember how to say "eat ice cream"? |
| 아이스크림 먹다 (aiseukeurim meokda) |
| 아이스크림 먹다 (aiseukeurim meokda) |
| And how to say "Since it’s hot, shall we eat ice cream?"? |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo?) |
| 날씨가 더우니까 아이스크림 먹을까요? (Nalssi ga deounikka aiseukeurim meogeul kkayo?) |
| Do you remember the polite suffix attached to a person’s name? |
| 씨 (ssi) |
| 씨 (ssi) |
| And how to say "buy lunch"? |
| 점심을 사다 (jeomsimeul sada) |
| 점심을 사다 (jeomsimeul sada) |
| Do you remember how to say "buy ice cream"? |
| 아이스크림을 사다 (aiseukeurimeul sada) |
| 아이스크림을 사다 (aiseukeurimeul sada) |
| And how to say "Min-gyu, you bought lunch, so I’d like to buy ice cream."? |
| 민규 씨가 점심을 샀으니까, 제가 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요. (Mingyu ssi ga jeomsimeul sasseunikka, jega aiseukeurimeul sago sipeoyo.) |
| 민규 씨가 점심을 샀으니까, 제가 아이스크림을 사고 싶어요. (Mingyu ssi ga jeomsimeul sasseunikka, jega aiseukeurimeul sago sipeoyo.) |
| Thank you for watching. |
| Now you know how to give a reason in Korean. |
| ...and now you can move on to the practice. 다음 시간에 봐요! (Daeum sigane bwayo!) |
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