Lesson 46 (Beginner 3A Lesson 6): I was late because I was unable to join the Zoom meeting

I was almost 10 minutes late to the lesson because of, basically, technical difficulties. For some reason, the password for the Zoom meeting was "wrong". It kept telling me I typed the wrong password.

Initially I thought I'd remembered it wrong. Then I thought it was the wrong keyboard (since I use Colemak, but switch to the Korean one to type in my Korean name, though usually it switches back).

But after trying so many times, I really suspect something went wrong somewhere. I not only used the laptop's keyboard, but also my external keyboard, and I even resorted to copy and paste and still it didn't work.

Eventually I resorted to using another computer. This is the older one that I have which, well, near the end almost ran out of battery, so I had to charge it, which ended up being really slow, and even after I closed pretty much all other apps. :/

My friend didn't join the lesson, so intially I messaged him to say that I couldn't get on, but he said he wasn't joining today. I was wondering if it was just me, and turns out it was. But they were just going through the first speaking dialogue in the textbook.

The rest of the lesson was finishing up the handout with the 2 grammar points, and I noticed that the teacher rotated us for all the different breakout sessions.

Also, I got the invoice for the next term today after the lesson.

Grammar

3. 못 V

This is used to express that the subject of the sentence is unable to perform the verb. It is a form of negation.

The grammar itself is very simple, and we saw this somewhat in Lesson 35, with N을/를 못하다. However, that was specifically for 하다 verbs. The teacher mentioned in brief the use of 잘 with other verbs back then, too, I remember it was 치다.

The idea is that when you say you cannot do something, then you use 못. For this reason, 못 can only be used with verbs. The other negation 안 can be used with both verbs and adjectives because it negates an action or a state.

When would you use 못 or 안?

Say you have a question such as: 내일 학교에 가요? (Are you going to school tomorrow?)

If you answer: 아니요, 못 가요. 감기에 걸렸어요. (No, I cannot go. I caught a cold.)

But if you could also say: 아니요, 안 가요. 수업이 없어요. (No, I am not going. I do not have class.)

Notice the difference. In the second, you would not use 못 because it's not about your inability to go.

A small note about this, is that if the teacher asks you if you did your homework, you should use 못 and not 안. During the class, the teacher said if we used 안 she will be very hurt, and basically the reason for that is when you use 안, it's as though you intentionally did not do the homework. I found the explanation when I re-read this article (I first read it after Lesson 35).

Pronunciation

Now, the tricky part with this is the pronunciation.

1. 못 + ㄴ, ㅁ: [몬]. Example: 못 만나요 [몬 만나요], 못 나가다 [몬 나가다]
2. 못 + ㅇ: [모ㄷ]. Example: 못 일어나요 [모디러나요]. (Think of 맛없다, it's [마덥따])

For the second one, it's when two different words are combined that you get the [ㄷ] sound. For example with 옷이 (옷 + particle), this is pronounced as [오시]. The teacher also answered my previous unspoken question I have regarding why 맛있다 is [마싣따]. Originally, 맛있다 was pronounced as [마딛따], but it's become so common that they stick the two together, and it has the [ㅅ] sound instead.

4. A/V-아서/어서/해서

This is used to express cause and effect.

With the above construction, the cause goes before the -아서/어서/해서, while the result comes after. Otherwise, you will invert the cause and effect. Basically, the -아서/어서/해서 sticks to the cause, so if you want to mention the effect first, and put the cause after, you must also move -아서/어서/해서 together with the cause.

This is the grammar behind the greeting phrase "Nice to meet you": 만나서 반갑습니나. (Literally, I meet you so I'm glad.)

By this point it isn't hard to figure out how to conjugate it, it's just the same as -아요/어요/해요 but you replace 요 with 서. (Honestly my problem now is remembering which grammar requires the basic form and which ones require me to conjugate.)

Examples:

• 많다: 많아서
• 먹다: 먹어서
• 좋아하다: 좋아서

Just two things to take note of:

1. The tense is only expressed in the final clause (like 고). You will never have 먹었어서 (X). Even if the cause is in the past, you will not have that.
2. -아서/어서/해서 cannot be used with imperative or propositive forms, such as -(으)세요 and -(으)ㄹ 까요?. If you are trying to express a reason for a suggestion (e.g. please eat this because it's delicious), it utilises another grammar, not this.

4.5 N(이)라서

This is the noun form, when you are giving a reason that is a noun. It's not in the textbook at this point, but will be covered later. It was included in the handout, so I'll include it too.

Same as before, you add the 이 if the noun has batchim, otherwise leave it out.

Examples:

1. 일요일이라서 집에서 쉬어요. (It's Sunday so I rest at home.)
2. 약속 시간이 두 시라서 지금 가야 돼요. (The appointment is at 2pm so I have to go now.)

Vocabulary

Not many new words today as well.

Title

Well, I was indeed late, and one of the grammar points was about giving a reason for something. And the other was about inability to do something, so it's kind of a stretch, but I guess it works?