Vocabulary
The vocabulary is separated into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs for the purpose of simplicity.
Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but it is good to see as you progress through your learning).
A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found
Want to give your brain practice at recognizing these words? Try finding the words in this vocabulary list in a
Nouns:
= Korea
Common Usages:
한국 사람 = Korean person
한국어 = Korean language (For Korean people, Korean language class is called “국어 (수업)”)
한국인 = Korean person
한국 역사 = Korean history (in school, Korean history class is usually called “한국사 (수업)”)
한국 문화 = Korean culture
한국 경제 = Korean economy
한국 전쟁 = the Korean War
한국주식시장 = Korean stock market
한국어능력시험 = Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK)
Notes: The formal name of the country is 대한민국
Examples
저는 7년 동안 한국에서 살았어요 = I lived in Korea for seven years
저는 내년에 한국에 갈 거예요 = I will go to Korea next year
저의 어머니는 올해 한국에 올 것입니다 = My mom will come to Korea this year
저는 한국어를 한국에서 배웠어요 = I learned Korean in Korea
고등학교는 한국에서 어려워요 = High school is difficult in Korea
그 집은 한국에서 지어졌어요 = that house was built in Korea
저는 한국에서 살고 있어요 = I live in Korea
There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file. You can download all of these files in one package
For help memorizing these words, try using our
You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this
Greeting Words
Throughout my lessons, I will only use grammar and vocabulary that you have learned from a previous lesson. In , I taught you how to write words in Korean. Above, you can see the first set of words you should study to get you started. I have not yet taught you how to use those words or how conjugate them.
The words for “hello,” “thank you,” “how are you,” and “please” are actually quite difficult in Korean. There is actually grammar within the words themselves. At this stage, I would simply memorize these “greeting words” as one unit, and you can worry about the grammar within them later when it becomes relevant. The words are:
= hello
감사하다 and 고맙다 are the two words that are commonly used to say “thank you.” However, they are rarely used in those forms and are almost always conjugated. They can be conjugated in a variety of ways, which will be introduced in and The most common ways to conjugate these words are:
The way to say “how are you?” in Korean is:
= How are you?
Although this is the most literal way to ask “how are you?” in Korean, it is not as common as the English expression. Korean people love food, and common way to greet somebody is to ask them if they have eaten. The idea of asking questions in Korean is taught in
The way to say “please” in Korean is:
= Please
It is, of course, important for you to memorize these expressions in Korean, but you need to know that there is a reason why they are said that way. For now, don’t worry about why they are said that way, and simply memorize them. We will get back to them in later lessons when they become important.
Sentence Word Order
Korean has a sentence structure that is hard to grasp initially for English speakers. For our purposes in Lesson 1, the words in Korean sentences are written in the following order:
Subject – Object – Verb (for example: I hamburger eat)
Or
Subject – Adjective (for example: I beautiful)
I am going to quickly explain what a “subject” and “object” mean, as your ability to understand later concepts depends on your understanding of this.
The subject refers to person/thing/noun/whatever that is acting. The subject does the action of the verb. For example, the subject in each sentence below is underlined:
I went to the park
I will go to the park
My mom loves me
He loves me
The dog ran fast
The clouds cleared up
In English, the subject always comes before the verb.
The object refers to whatever the verb is acting on. For example, the object in each sentence below is underlined
My mom loves me
The dog bit the mailman
He ate rice
Students studied Korean
In English, the object always comes after the verb. However, a sentence with a verb does not require an object. For example:
I slept
I ate
He died
Sometimes there is no object because it has simply been omitted from the sentence. For example, “I ate” or “I ate rice” are both correct sentences. Other verbs, by their nature, cannot act on an object. For example, you cannot place an object after the verbs “to sleep” or “to go:”
I sleep you
I go you
Subjects are also present in sentences with adjectives. However, there is no object in a sentence with an adjective. The subjects are underlined in the following adjective-sentences below:
School is boring
I am boring
The movie was funny
The building is big
My girlfriend is pretty
The food is delicious
Verbs and adjectives are placed at the end of a sentence. Actually, every Korean sentence and clause must end in one of the following:
– A verb
– An adjective, or
– 이다
I talk about the meaning of 이다 later in this lesson. It is neither a verb nor an adjective, but it behaves like them. Every verb, every adjective and 이다 end in “다,” and these are the only words in Korean that can be conjugated.
Korean also has a formality system built into the language. That is, the way one speaks to an older person who deserves high respect would be different than the way one speaks to a friend. There are many ways words in a sentence can change depending on the formality of the situation, but the two most common, basic and important things to be aware of are:
1) There are two ways to say “I” or “me” in Korean:
나, used in informal situations, and
저, used in formal situations.
2) There are many ways to conjugate a word. As we saw above, the word 고맙다 can be conjugated many different ways. It is important to know which conjugation to use in which situation. This is taught in . Until Lesson 6, I make no distinction of formality and the focus is more on sentence structure than conjugations. Until then, you will see both 나 and 저 arbitrarily used. Don’t worry about why one is used over the other until Lesson 6, when formalities will be explained.
Okay, now that you know all of that, we can talk about making Korean sentences.
Korean Particles (~는/은 and ~를/을)
Most words in a Korean sentence have a particle (a fancy word to say ‘something’) attached to them. These particles indicate the role of each word in a sentence – that is, specifically which word is the subject or object. Note that there is absolutely no way of translating these particles to English, as we do not use anything like them.
The following are the particles you should know for this lesson:
는 or 은 (Subject)
This is placed after a word to indicate that it is the subject of a sentence.
Use 는 when the last letter of the last syllable of the subject is a vowel. For example:
나 = 나는
저 = 저는
Use 은 when the last letter of the last syllable of the subject is a consonant. For example:
집 = 집은
책 = 책은
를 or 을 (Object)
This is placed after a word to indicate that is the object of a sentence.
Use 를 when the last letter of the last syllable is a vowel. For example:
나 = 나를
저 = 저를
Use을 when the last letter of the last syllable is a consonant. For example:
집 = 집을
책 = 책을
We can now make sentences using the Korean sentence structure and the Korean particles.
1) I speak Korean = I는 Korean을 speak
는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
을 is attached to “Korean” (the object)
2) I like you = I는 you를 like
는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
를 is attached to “you” (the object)
3) I wrote a letter = I는 letter을 wrote
는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
을 is attached to “letter” (the object)
4) I opened the door = I는 door을 opened
는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
을 is attached to “the door” (the object)
5) My mom will make pasta = My mom은 pasta를 will make
은 is attached to “my mom” (the subject)
를 is attached to “pasta” (the object)
The same could be done for sentences with adjectives. However, remember that sentences with adjectives will not have an object:
1) My girlfriend is pretty: My girlfriend은 is pretty
“은” is attached to “my girlfriend” (the subject)
2) The movie was scary = The movie는 was scary
“는” is attached to “the movie” (the subject)
We will now switch our focus to using actual Korean words to create sentences ending in 이다.
To be: 이다
Let’s start building sentences in Korean. In this lesson, we will start by making simple sentences using the word 이다. The translation for “이다” is “to be.” English speakers often don’t realize how difficult the word “to be” is. Depending on who is being referred to, the word “to be” could be any of the underlined words below:
I am a man
He is a man
They are men
I was a man
They were men
In each of those sentences, a different word (is, am, are, was, were) is used depending on the subject and tense of the sentence. I can’t imagine how difficult this would be for an English learner. In Korean, the 이다 is used to represent all of those “to be” words.
As mentioned earlier, 이다 can be conjugated. In that way, 이다 is similar to verbs and adjectives, but the rules for 이다 are often (but not always) different. I will teach you how 이다 differs from verbs and adjectives as it becomes important in later lessons. For example, in Lesson 52 you will learn that the process for quoting a sentence with 이다 is different than with verbs and adjectives.
Like adjectives, 이다 can not act on an object. Only verbs can act on objects. For example:
I eat hamburgers (eat is a verb, the object is a hamburger)
She meets my friend (meet is a verb, the object is my friend)
They study Korean (study is a verb, the object is Korean)
We listen to music (listen is a verb, the object is music)
All of those sentences (can) have objects because the verb is the predicate of the sentence. However, in sentences that are predicated by adjectives, there will not be an object
I am pretty
She is beautiful
They are hungry
We are smart
Look at those four sentences. When we use adjectives in English, we must also use “to be” words like am, is and are. In other words, we cannot make sentences like this:
I pretty
She beautiful
They hungry
We smart
Unlike in English, 이다 is not used in these types of sentences. That is, we do not use 이다 to indicate that something “is” an adjective. The structure of sentences predicated by adjectives is discussed in Lesson 3.
So, 이다 is not used in these types of sentences:
I am pretty
She is beautiful
They are hungry
We are smart
However, 이다 is used in these types of sentences:
I am a man
He is a man
They are men
I was a man
They were men
이다 is used to indicate that a noun is a noun. The basic structure for a sentence predicated by “이다” is:
[noun은/는] [another noun][이다]
For example:
I는 man이다 = I am a man
Now substitute the words for “man” and “I,” which are:
나 = I
남자 = man
The Korean sentence would look like this:
나는 남자이다 = I am a man
Notice that 이다 is attached directly to the second noun. Verbs and adjectives are not attached to nouns like this, but 이다 is. It would be incorrect to include a space between the second noun and 이다. For example, this would be incorrect:
나는 남자 이다
Although it might look and feel like “남자” is an object in that sentence, it is not. 이다, like adjectives and unlike verbs cannot act on an object. It would be incorrect to include the object particle on the second noun. For example, this would be incorrect:
나는 남자를 이다
The focus of this lesson ( is to introduce you to simple Korean sentence structure. Until you reach and you will not be exposed to the conjugations and honorifics of Korean verbs, adjectives and 이다. These words are very rarely used without conjugations and honorifics.
The conjugation of sentences is very important, but so is the structure of sentences. When creating these lessons, I went back in forth many times thinking about which one I should present first. You can’t conjugate sentences if you don’t have a logical sentence to conjugate; and you can’t create a logical sentence if you don’t know how to conjugate it. In the end, I figured it would make more sense to present the information this way – where learners are introduced to sentence structure and then learn how to conjugate the words within the sentence.
Throughout all of my lessons, I use example sentences to show how grammar can be used. The example sentences in Lessons 1 – 4 are not conjugated. However, directly beneath each non-conjugated sentence is a conjugated version of the same sentence in parenthesis (one formal and one informal conjugation). You might want to glimpse at how the words are conjugated, but remember that this will be taught in and (for verbs and adjectives) and (for 이다).
Other examples of 이다 in use:
나는 여자이다 = I am a woman
나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher
나는 사람이다 = I am a person
나는 ______이다 = I am a _______
(나는 _______ 이야 / 저는 _____이에요)
You can substitute any noun into the blank space to make these sentences.
The words “this” and “that” are often used as the subject of these types of sentences. Let’s now look at how we can apply 이것, 그것 and 저것 to sentences with 이다.
This and That (이/그/저)
You can see in the vocabulary above that the word for “this” is 이 in Korean.
We use 이 in Korean when we are talking about something that is within touching distance (For example: this pen – i.e. the one I am holding). Just like in English “이” (this) is placed before the noun it is describing. For example:
이 사람 = This person
이 남자 = This man
이 여자 = This woman
이 차 = This car
이 탁자 = This table
이 의자 = This chair
Unfortunately, there are two words for “that”: 그 and 저. Early learners of Korean are always confused with the difference between “그” and “저.”
We use 그 when we are talking about something from a previous sentence or from previous context, regardless of if you could see it or not. Providing examples would be too difficult right now because you do not know any Korean sentences. However, if I were to say: “I don’t like that man [when your friend mentioned him in a previous sentence].” The word “that” in that sentence would be how “그” is used.
We use 저 when we are talking about something that we can see, but cannot touch because it is too far away.
We can place “그” or “저” before a noun to describe “this” or “that” thing just like we did with “이.”
이 사람 = This person
그 사람 = That person
저 사람 = That person
이 남자 = This man
그 남자 = That man
저 남자 = That man
이 여자 = This woman
그 여자 = That woman
저 여자 = That woman
이 의자 = This chair
그 의자 = That chair
저 의자 = That chair
이 탁자 = This table
그 탁자 = That table
저 탁자 = That table
Again, although the English translations of “그” and “저” are the same, it is important to remember that they are not the same word in Korean.
One of the most common words in Korean is “것” meaning “thing.” When 이, 그 or 저 are placed before “것,” the result is a compound word. Therefore, when placing “것” after 이, 그 or 저, there should not be a space between the two. In other words, the following are words in and within themselves, and not two separate words:
이것 = this thing
그것 = that thing
저것 = that thing
We see this same phenomenon happen with other common words that you learn in future lessons. You don’t need to worry about this now, but we see this same thing happen with the word 곳 (meaning “place”) and 때 (meaning “time”).
With these words, the word “thing” isn’t necessary in the English translation. Let me explain.
I’ll use “that” as an example, but the same idea can be applied to the word “this.”
“That” can be placed before a noun to describe it. As we saw earlier:
That person
That man
That woman
However, it can also be a noun itself. For example:
I like that
In this type of English sentence, “that” is referring to some thing that you like. It is a noun. It is a thing.
Therefore, the sentence could just as easily be said as:
I like that thing
I don’t like to use grammatical jargon in my lessons, but if you know what these words mean, it could be helpful. In both English and Korean, “that” can be a determiner (as in, “I like that man”), and it can also be a pronoun (as in “I like that”). When used as a determiner in Korean, you should place 그 before a noun. When used as a pronoun in Korean, the word 그것 is used.
In this same respect, while “이, 그 and 저” translate to “this, that and that” respectively, and are placed before nouns to indicate “this noun, that noun and that noun,” “이것, 그것 and 저것” are nouns (they are pronouns). Therefore, they do not need to be followed by the redundant word “thing,” although their meanings would be exactly the same:
I like this
I like this thing
I like that
I like that thing
We can now use these nouns as subjects or objects in a sentence. We will look at how they can be used with “이다” next.
Using This/That with 이다
Remember, 이다 translates to “to be” and is conjugated as “am/is/are” in English. Now that we know how to use 이, 그 and 저 (and 이것, 그것 and 저것), we can now make sentences like this:
That person is a doctor
We can start by putting those words into the Korean structure:
That person는 doctor is
And then changing the English words to the appropriate Korean words:
그 사람은 + 의사 + 이다
그 사람은 의사이다
More examples:
그 사람은 선생님이다 = That person is a teacher
이것은 탁자이다 = This (thing) is a table
저것은 침대이다 = That (thing) is a bed
그 사람은 남자이다 = That person is a man
그 사람은 여자이다 = That person is a woman
그것은 차이다 = That (thing) is a car
이것은 나무이다 = This (thing) is a tree
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