Lesson 4 - 제4과
Grammar & Translation


  Grammar explanation

 

A - Origin particle -에서

This particle is used after the place or time of origin of a given action.

Examples:

도서관에서공부해요.
Library + o.p.  study

(I, you, he, etc) study at the library.

 

이현애식당에서먹어요.
Lee Hyeon-ae + t.p.  canteen + o.p.  rice + obj.p.eat

Lee Hyeon-ae eats (rice) at the canteen.

This particle also has other uses, which we will be studying shortly.

 

B - The negation

In korean there are two ways to express negation.

1/ With

In this case, one only needs to add before the verb. (Originally, this prefix used to be 아니.)

Examples:

친구를 만났어요? = Did you meet (your) friend?

아니오, 만났어요. = No, I didn't meet him/her.

2/ With -지 않다

The verbal suffix -지 않다, conjugated in the wanted tense, is added after the root of the verb. (Originally this suffix was -지 아니하다.)

Examples:

친구를 만났어요? = Did you meet (your) friend?

아니오, 만나지 않았어요. = No, I didn't meet him/her.

 

C - Introduction to the numbers: sino-korean numbers

In Korean there are two categories of numbers (why should it be simple when it can be so complex): pure Korean numbers, which have been existing as soon as Koreans started to speak korean, and sino-korean numbers.

Let's start with the (easier) sino-korean numbers:

123 456 789 101001000 10000

The main advantage of the sino-korean numbers is that you only need to learn the 13 numbers above to be able to count up to 99 999.

How can we put numbers together then? It is very easy: twelve is "ten two", fifty is "five ten", 695 is "six hundred nine ten five", 4378 is simply "four thousand three hundred seven ten eight", etc.

Now in Korean:

십이 (ten two) = 12

오십 (five ten) = 50

육백구십오 (six hundred nine ten five) = 695

사천삼백칠십팔 (four thousand three hundred seven ten eight) = 4378

 

  Translations of the texts

Text 1

 

Lee Hyeon-ae: John, what have you been doing lately?

John: I'm diligently studying korean.

Lee Hyeon-ae: Where do you study?

John: I study at the Department of linguistics of Seoul National University.

 

Text 2

 

John: Kim Tae-ho, what did you do yesterday?

Kim Tae-ho: I met a friend. John, what did you do yesterday?

John: I didn't see a friend. I read a book in (my) dorm.

  Kim Tae-ho, who did you meet?

Kim Tae-ho: I met Sue.

John: What did you do with Sue?

Kim Tae-ho: (We) watched a movie.