Lesson 59 (Beginner 4A Lesson 3): I will do ~; I am going (in order) to ~

A lesson after a two-week break is always a tiny bit nerve-wrecking for me. There were only 4 of us this lesson; both of the newer students didn't attend. The newest student had informed the teacher, but the other one had not. It seems that the girl is staying in our class since she was in the lesson.

We started out with vocabulary revision using Quizlet Live. The first 2 rounds were in groups (pairs), while the last 2 were individual.

Naturally, that meant that there was some additional revision. The exercise we did last lesson on saying what we can do is taken from the textbook. We sort of did it again. "Sort of" because the teacher did let me off in the end, and I didn't have to come up with something when I was the last, when we went round robin. I only had to answer the question.

The other speaking activities we did were in relation to the grammar that we learnt in the lesson.

For the second grammar point of the chapter, it was the birthday party exercise from the textbook (p. 178). We each had to ask and someone had to volunteer and answer with ... 게요. At the start, no one did, so the person who asked had to do it: 없어요? 그럼 제가 ... 게요.

For the third grammar point of the chapter, we had to come up with what we did, and then after one round of that, it was what we were going to do.

Fortunately the homework for this week was just the workbook, so I'd completed it within the same day.

Grammar

2. V-(으)ㄹ게요

Translated, this is "I will do ~" or "let me do ~".

It is used to express the speaker's strong intention or promise to the listener to do a certain action, as a result of hearing what the listener has said.

As such, it can only be used with a first person subject (singular or plural), and only for statements (not questions).

For the conjugation:

• 받침 O + -을게요
  • Examples: 읽을게요 (읽다), 받을게요 (받다), ...
• 받침 X, ㄹ + -ㄹ게요
  • Examples: 갈게요 (가다), 만들게요 (만들다), ...

Examples:

1. • 가: 내일 일찍 오세요. (Please come early tomorrow.)
   • 나: 네, 일찍 올게요. (Yes, I will come early.)
2. • 가: 전화가 오네요. 전화 좀 받아 주세요. (There is a call. Please answer the phone.)
   • 나: 네, 제가 받을게요. (I will answer.)
3. • 가: 누가 케이크을 만들 거에요? (Who will make the cake?)
   • 나: 제가 만들게요.(I will make it.)

Comparison with Future Tense

How does this compare with the future tense V-(으)ㄹ 거예요?

For V-(으)ㄹ게요, there is a relationship with the listener and the subject's intention or thought is expressed while taking the listener into consideration.

Let's look at one of the earlier examples.

• 가: 내일 일찍 오세요. (Please come early tomorrow.)
• 나: 네, 일찍 올게요. (Yes, I will come early.)

In this situation, the speaker 나 did not intend to come early at first. But after hearing what the other person has said, he decides on the spot to do something. The decision to come early is related to what was said before.

By contrast, say if you had this exchange (which uses the future tense V-(으)ㄹ 거예요):

• 가: 내일 일찍 올 거예요. (I will come early tomorrow.)
• 나: 그래요? 알았어요. (Really? I see.)

Here, there is no relationship with the listener. The subject's intention or plan is expressed unidirectionally. That is, he has already decided that he is going to come early and is sharing this fact to the listener. It is not based on anything the listener said.

Usage Notes

This is a summary of what has been said.

1. This expression can only be used with verbs that express the will of the subject. It cannot be used with adjectives, or verbs where the subject cannot be the first person (e.g. 비가 오다, where the rain is not due to your intention).
2. Only subjects in the first person can be used. In other cases, you use the future tense.
3. The expression cannot be used in questions. You would also use the future tense for questions.

3. V-(으)러 가다/오다

This is used to express the purpose of going (가다) or coming (오다).

For the conjugation:

• 받침 O + -으러
  • Examples: 읽으러 (읽다), 받으러 (받다), ...
• 받침 X, ㄹ + -러
  • Examples: 보러 (보다), 만들러 (만들다), ...

My biggest problem with this right now is the pronunciation. 러 is not a character that appears frequently, and so feels very foreign on my tongue. It's very easy to mispronounce, I guess as 려? I am honestly not sure.

Examples:

1. 도서관에 책을 읽으러 가요. (I am going to the library to read a book.)
   • The order can be switched: 책을 읽으러 도서관에 가요.
2. 신년회하러 친구 집에 갈 거예요. (I am going to my friend's house for a new year's party.)
3. 우리 집에 저녁 먹으러 오세요. (Please come to my house for dinner.)

Usage Notes

1. Only movement verbs can be used after -(으)러, so 가다, 오다, 다니다 are acceptable.
   • For non-movement verbs, it uses another grammar -으려고 that will be covered in the next chapter.
     • From the first look, it reminds me of V-(으)려고 하다... which if I had to take a stab and guess, is a specific form of this other grammar. After all, V-(으)려고 하다 is used for something planned, that is, it is also for expressing intent or purpose. Wiktionary calls this -으려고 connective form "Motive".
2. This can be used with all the different tenses of the movement verb, so past tense (갔어요), future tense (갈 거예요), expressing desire (가고 싶어요), etc.
3. Obviously, you cannot use movement verbs before -(으)러 as it would make no sense. 가러 가다 is like saying "to go to go".

Vocabulary