Lesson 13 (Beginner 1A L5)

I have decided to add the lesson number within the course to the title for this and all future posts. This will make it easier to keep track of in future. I don't imagine I'd stop taking the lessons for a while. I'll continue to increment each lesson by 1 still for each post.

I'm currently on the second set of 8 lessons, which is Beginner 1A. Before this, the first 8 lessons were classified as Foundation.

In this lesson, there was a test on the conjugation for the verbs and their meanings. Last lesson also had one too... but it was a pop quiz on the verbs and locations. Previously, we have always been told when there are tests.

We are still on chapter 3, but next week should be chapter 4. The homework was to finish up the handout. Based on this chapter and the last two, it seems to take about 3 lessons to complete a single chapter in the book.

Grammar

Two grammar points today:

1. Indicating the location where an action took place
2. Negating a verb

Indicating Location of an Action: N (location) 에서 + action

Add 에서 after a location noun (refer to the vocab list in Lesson 11) to indicate that an action takes place there.

The handout simply says "action", but to be clear, an action would consist of either:

1. a conjugated verb (e.g. 일해요)
2. a conjugated verb and an object (if the verb must take an object, for example, say, 밥을 먹어요)

It doesn't matter if there is Batchim or not in the preceding noun. You add the same particle in either case: 에서.

Examples:

• 회사에서 일해요. (I'm working at the company.)
• 집에서 밥을 먹어요. (I'm eating a meal at home.)

Negating a Verb: 안 V

Generally, you add 안 before the verb to negate it.

Example:

• Positive sentence: 저는 밥을 먹어요. (I'm eating rice/a meal.)
• Negative sentence: 저는 밥을 안 먹어요. (I'm not eating rice/a meal.)

However, if it's a N 하다 verb, 안 is placed after the noun, but before 하다.

Example:

• Positive sentence: 저는 일해요. (I'm working.)
• Negative sentence: 저는 일 안 해요. (I'm not working.)

This doesn't apply when it's a verb that ends in 하다, but it's not a noun before, such as 좋아하다.

So if someone asks you if you like oranges:

• 오렌지를 좋아해요? (Do you like oranges?)

And you don't, you would say:

• 아니요, 안 좋아해요. (No, I don't like (them).)

(Interesting how the object can be dropped here in Korean, but it would be weird to do so in English.)

Vocabulary

There is no new vocabulary for this week since we are still on chapter 3.

You can refer to Lesson 11 and Lesson 12 for the vocabulary for this chapter.

Random: Words for Yes

This is a completely random thought that popped into my head while walking home today. The Korean word for yes is 네 (romanised ne), and it sounds similar to the Greek word for yes: Ναί (nai, writing the letter nu in uppercase as that makes it clearer that it's not a v).

First, I don't know why I didn't realise this sooner. It took only, what, 4 months? Possibly because I've not touched Greek in very long, and I was only ever a beginner in it, so it doesn't come to mind as often.

Second, I also don't know why this didn't confuse me as much. I know when I started with Greek, Ναί sounded so much like "nay" that I always had to stop to think whether it was yes or no.

Perhaps it has to do with how the Korean word for no is so different from yes, because it has 3 syllables? Then again... όχι has 2 syllables... so... I have no idea.