Yes? No? What's The Subject Anyways?

After introducing you to '이다'. You are now ready venture into more sentence components. But before that, we first go to words that are, I say, sentences already. The YES and the NO.

'예'(ye), which means 'yes', is often pronounced `네'(neh). It is used as a regular response to a knock at the door, or hearing your name called, and being greeted. The opposite of `예' is '아니오'(aniyo). This means 'no' is used in negative replies to questions, in contradictions and denials, and as an informal reply to apologies, expressions of thanks, and compliments.

Now we'll go on identifying what Korean sentences are all about. In a typical English sentence, we easily identify the subject of the sentence though the order SVO(Subject-Verb-Object)

Ex: Sheila is reading a book. 'Sheila' is the subject/noun
'is reading' is the verb
'book' is the object or the receiver of the action

In Korean, the sentence is of the form SOV(Subject-Object-Verb). Look at the previous example in the past lesson. But we can't rely on just the form. Hangukeo uses identifiers or markers to identify subject, verbs, objects and other parts of a sentence. Let's discuss the SUBJECT/TOPIC MARKER.

The subjective marker '-이/가'

The subjective marker `-이/가' (-i/-ga) is used to indicate that the preceding noun phrase is the subject of the sentence. ‘-가’(-ga) is used after a word which ends with a vowel, while `-이’(-i) is used after a consonant.

A subject of a sentence is the agent (doer) of the action described by the sentence. Assuming that a state of being can also be treated as an action, a subject can take any kind of predicate, i.e., a verbal(action), an adjectival(description), or a nominal predicate(another noun: I am a student).

Example:

English: I read books.
Korean: 내가 책을 읽습니다 - Nae+ga(I+subject marker) chaek+eul(book+object marker) ilseummnida(read+verb
copula)

English: This is my father.
Korean: 이분이 아버지예요 - Ibun+i(This+subject marker) abeoji (father+ informal verb copula)

The topic marker '-은/는'

While the subjective marker `-이/가' indicates the subject of a sentence, the topic marker `은/는'(-eun/-neun) is used to indicate the comparison of topics. If there is no connotation of comparison with another subject, this marker cannot be used. '-는'(-neun) is used after words ending in a vowel, `-은'(-eun) is used after words ending in a consonant.

Now you might say, what is the difference between a subject and a topic? This is my greatest Korean confusion and nobody has given me a quite satisfying answer. Even my Korean friends can't explain, they said they just use it based on what sounds good. Which is unacceptable for me. Thank God for Sogang materials. First, `은/는'(-eun/-neun) is used instead of `-이/가' (-i/-ga) when your statement is comparing the subject to other things. Second, is when the subject is being talked about the whole time.

Example:

이것이 연필이에요. This is a pencil(yeolpil-ieyo).
이것은 연필이에요. This (in comparison with other things) is a pencil.

한국말이 재미있어요. Korean is interesting(jaemi-isseoyo).
한국말은 재미있어요. Korean(in comparison with other languages) is interesting.

Tough??? Wait for our next lessons XDDD

Friendly Introductions

As a supplementary to our lesson about '이다'(ida), I bring you another audio lesson to give more emphasis on it. I suggest that you read the Notes first and study the grammar section, read on the transcript on your own and then listen to the conversation so you'll know proper pronunciation and accent.

Just like how these people are doing. If you studied my past post well, then you'll somehow understand them ^^



If you still can't then listen and study this



Download Notes and Audio Here:
Beginner 1: Lesson 2 - Friendly Intro

If they can do it. We can do it too!

Still Don't Know How to Read/Write?

Before I go on more stuff about grammar, I wanted to make sure that you all know how to read and write. If the materials I have are not enough. Watch this video:

To Be or Not To Be

I hope you have familiarized yourself already with reading, writing and rules of pronunciation. If your answer is 'Neh!' then you can move on with grammar and sentence construction. Which, by the way, I'm still finding hard to do. Let's start with particles and identifiers, shall we~

TO BE:

This is one of the things you first need to learn. With so many particles and identifiers, I say this is the easiest - '이다'(ida) which means 'to be' and '아니다'(anida): 'not to be'.

'이다' is the form which links a subject with its predicate, indicating equality or identification. If this form is attached to the noun, there can be no pause or space between it and the Noun. It is pronounced like a part of the Noun. If you've read the materials on my last post, you may have known that when '이다' is conjugated in the present tense and expressed for use in formal context and noun ending in vowel, it changes into '입니다'(imnida: why 'b' is pronounced as 'm'? review rules of pronunciation in Introduction paper I compiled). If the noun ends with a consonant, it changes to 슴니다 (seumnida).

(Read on Self Introduction Notes Page 3)

Now you might be hearing 'yo' over and over in series and songs, etc. This is part of the semi-formal or informal-polite substitute of 이다. It has two different forms '-예요' and '-이에요'. '-예요' is used when the Noun ends with a vowel, and '-이에요' is used when the Noun ends with a consonant.

Example:

안나 + -예요 --> 안나예요. [Anna yeyo - (I) am Anna] - noun 'Anna' ends with a vowel

책상 + -이에요 --> 책상이에요. [Chaeksang iyeyo - (This) is a desk] - noun 'chaeksang(desk)' ends with

a consonant

NOT TO BE:

This word is used for making negatives. You have already studied '이다` which indicates equality or identification. The '이다' is attached directly to a noun, and is pronounced as one word with the noun. When you make the negative construction of '이다', the subject marker '-이/가' (to be discussed soon ^^) is attached directly to the noun, and then followed by the negative verb '아니다' (anida). For use in formal, it becomes '아님니다'(animnida). For semi formal use, it becomes '아니예요'(aniyeyo).

Example:

From: This is a chair.

이것이 의자예요. <---> 이것이 의자가 아니예요. [Igeoshi wijaga aniyeyo - This is not a chair]

^_^

Intro~ Please.

I found this resource off the net and thought of sharing it with you guys. Everything starts with Introduction... so here we go!



Unlike other audio tutorials, it is a bit entertaining. I've tried Pimsleur but I get easily bored. This audio, I can say, may have a lot of fillers but it helps in understanding the lesson well. I have Lesson 1 zipped and uploaded.

Beginner 1: Lesson 1 - Self Intro
PW: B101081308SI

ENJOY! I will upload more soon~

Equip Yourself! Read, Write, Romanize and Globalize!!! ^^

It was not an easy process and took a lot of dedication to do so. But let me list it for you:

1. I obviously had to memorize the Korean Alphabet. Had to know how the characters are written and pronounced.

Resource you say? Well, I suggest you google it (everyone does). Try "Korean Lessons" or "Korean language" as keywords. There are a lot out there but if you really don't have time to look at each of them, see these free links:

Sogang Korean Program - My Favorite
Learn-Korean.Net
LearnKorean.Com


2. Language is best learned through music. So I practice reading, writing and romanization of the words through songs. If you like K-pop like I do, you'll agree that it is necessary. Besides, you can learn to pronounce words right through listening to how singers (gasoo) say it. Try these sites:

Aheeyah.Com - Lyrics, Translation and Romanization
Gasaman.com - Pure Korean Lyrics
Z-Degrees.Net - for Korean Music Download

3. Enrich your vocabulary. Nuff said!

Korean Multimedia Dictionary - fun site for commonly used words
ZKorean.Com - English to Korean, Korean to English Online Dictionary

4. Study by heart this little something I've compiled.

Introduction to Korean - Compiled by Me ^_^

If you guys have more interesting stuff I am not aware of. Do share!

I Self Study Korean!

I am a fan girl. I love basically any form of entertainment from music to books, to movies, comics, animes, tv series, etc. I never stopped craving for new things even if it doesn't speak my language. I was addicting myself into Chinese music when a friend randomly gave me a Korean song. It was from a group called 1TYM. That's when I started venturing into the Korean entertainment scene. I watched movies, listened to Kpop and watched almost every series i can find, of course with subtitles on it. Eventually, I got tired from living in a world of subtitles. It felt incomplete and I was never satisfied. That's when I thought of studying Hanguk. I've been aided by a friend who self-studies Korean. She taught me how to read and write. But at a busy point of my life, I discontinued self-study. I still went on with my Korean fan girling, yes. But somewhere along, the urge to study Korean relived and I thought of a better way to push myself to do it. I invited some friends to do self-study every week. With some consolidated resources, I try to study concepts by myself and discuss it with them.

I am no expert in Korean to teach other people. And you might say it's foolish for me to do so. It would appear like a blind teaching a blind case. That is why, I am putting up this blog. To share what I have acquired so far. And to have Korean-language-learned people share their knowledge to me and correct any mistakes or confusions I may have.

I hope this would be helpful to peeps around the world who wanted to self-study Korean like I do.

Annyeong Haseyo!