Lesson 43 (Beginner 3A Lesson 3): I must only write this post

This lesson was a bit different. The teacher used her iPad instead of her laptop, because apparently the battery stopped charging that morning. She had used it for a physical in-person class in the morning (which also explains why she's now at the school every week), and then the message about the battery needing to be charged came up even though it was plugged in.

This meant that we had no breakout rooms, and there was no listening to the audio files. There was no interactive textbook stuff (I think it's some extra content for the textbook). There was a PDF of the textbook and also the handouts so those were still screen shared.

Today, I'm going to try to do free recall when typing out the first cut of this post for the grammar in an attempt to improve my learning on the topic. I've known this from probably the book Make It Stick, but since I'm reading Ultralearning now and it's a reminder, I should try to do more of this to aid my own learning.

I've already done the vocab in advance, so those are definitely not from memory. But in terms of learning vocab, I always have Anki.

Grammar

3. N만

This is used to indicate something unique, that is, the "only" thing. It can also be translated "just".

In terms of where it occupies a sentence grammatically, it can be anywhere that 도 can be. (For more on 도, see Lesson 27.)

Like 도, it replaces 은/는, 을/를 and 가/이.1

It exists together with the other particles such as 에 and 에서, so instead of replacing them, you would have 에만 or 에서만.

Examples:

  1. 오늘 아침 먹었어요. (I only ate breakfast today. That is, I didn't eat any other meal.)
  2. 집에서 운동해요. (Only I exercised at home. That is, out of everyone at home, only I exercised at home.)
  3. 여우원숭이는 마다가스카르에 있어요. (Lemurs are only found in Madagascar.)

4. V-아야/어야/해야 되다/하다

This is used to indicate when something must or has to be done. It can also indicate something should be done.

  • In the informal form, it is more common to use 되다, so you have 돼요.
  • In the formal form, it is more common to use 하다, so you have 합니다.

As you can probably already tell from the form, you have to conjugate to the present tense form, attach 야, and then add 되다/하다.

For example, if you have:

  • 먹다: It becomes 먹어야 돼요 (informal)/먹어야 합니다 (formal).
  • 가다: It becomes 가야 돼요 (informal)/가야 합니다 (formal).
  • 공부하다: It becomes 공부해야 돼요 (informal)/공부해야 합니다 (formal).

Examples (sentences):

  1. 몸이 아파요. 그래서 약을 먹어야 돼요. (I am sick, so I need to eat medicine.)
  2. 내일 시험이 있어요. 그래서 꼭 공부해야 돼요. (I have a test tomorrow, so I must study.)
    • 꼭 makes the necessity stronger, making it more definite.
  3. 월요일에 회사에 가야 돼요. (On Monday, I have to go to work.)

In terms of revising for a test in future, I should revise with scenarios (e.g. the person is sick) and give advice for the scenarios (e.g. eat medicine and rest), because those are the most tricky. There were many of these in the textbook and also for the homework (workbook).

Pronunciation

In class, we all had to come up with example sentences. In one, someone said: 월요일에 일해야 돼요. (On monday, I have to work.)

When the teacher repeated, I noted that she also pronounced it as [일해] and not [이래], as I'd have imagined.

For the longest time I thought 일하다 was just [일하다] but more recently heard it as [이라다]. It's not wrong for sure to pronounce the ㅎ, just a question of wanting to know what natives tend to say.

So with the current data I have, 일하다 seems like one of the those verbs where it's more... okay to pronounce the ㅎ.

Vocabulary

Korean English Notes
손님 guest
관심 interest 关心. interest in a topic, 관심이 있어요.
문화 culture 文化
준비하다 to prepare 准备. 선물을 준비하다 = to prepare a present (for someone's birthday)
장식 decorations
장식하다 to decorate e.g. the house, in preparation for a birthday party
내년 next year Take note not to use 다음 with 년. This is special, like how 내일 is "tomorrow". However, you still need 에 as a particle for time, e.g. 내년에 결혼할 거예요.
내후년 the year after next Or you can say 2년 후 (이 년 후), which is literally "2 years later".
결혼하다 to get married 結婚. 결혼 sounds more like [겨론]... Not sure if it's [겨로나다].
반지 ring
결혼반지 wedding ring
빌리다 to rent
웨딩드레스 wedding dress
프러포즈를 하다 to propose
luggage
짐을 싸다 to pack luggage
가이드복 travel guide book
리포트 report
내다 to submit e.g. a report

About the Title

It's based on the 2 grammar points for today, and also the fact that I was procrastinating to write this.


  1. The teacher called these the "particles without meaning" but I don't really understand why, because to me they have meaning in that they indicate the topic, object, or subject in a sentence. I guess maybe she meant that they are "meaningless" when translated into English. That is, that there isn't a word for them when translated, while for 에 and 에서, they might be translated as "at", "on", etc. 


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