Lesson 65 (Intermediate 1A Lesson 3): Introductions Still

A new student joined the class, but because two were absent, we only had 4 students (including me). Ended up having to introduce myself, which was quite terrible because I'm bad at it.

We finished up chapter 1 and started on chapter 2.

For chapter 1, there was Speaking 2, Listening, Culture Note, Pronunciation, and Self-Check left.

Culture Note

The culture note was about names, specifically Korean names. Usually they are 3 characters, with the first being the family name. It's pretty much the same as with Chinese names.

There was a short passage to read. I forgot that 의 was to be pronounced [에] in 친구들의 이름. 😓

We also did discuss a little on common first and last names here. First names no one said anything, but I thought that the new student's name was quite common. For the last names there were a few given for common ones. The teacher said when she first came here she didn't know how to pronounce "Ng", which is a pretty common surname too.

Pronunciation

The rule states that when the final consonant sound [ㅂ] is followed by the initial consonants ㄴ or ㅁ, then [ㅂ] is prounounced as [ㅁ].

Nothing new, it's exactly the same rule from chapter 7 in the SNU 1A book, covered in Lesson 31. (I had compiled a list for my last test, so it was easy to dig out.)

Even by the time that rule was covered back then, it was also mentioned before in at least 2 other lessons:

1. Lesson 23 on the numbers
2. Lesson 29 with formal speech

If there's any difference, it's only in the examples. Since we have learnt more words since then and more grammar, there aren't only examples with syllables that end with ㅂ, but also those that end with the [ㅂ] sound.

• 앞문 [암문] - "front door"
• 값만 [감만] - 만 here means "only"

Vocabulary

Grammar

1. V-는 것

This is used to change a verb phrase into a noun phrase.

In a sentence like "I like drawing", this is what you need to translate the "drawing" part: 저는 그림 그리는 것을 좋아해요.

The conjugation is very simple, just tack on -는 것 to any verb stem. Just note that for ㄹ verbs the ㄹ is removed due to ㄹ elimination.

Examples:

• 가다 → 가는 것
• 먹다 → 먹는 것 [멍는]
• 놀다 → 노는 것

In spoken Korean, recall that you have 이거 to say "this one", though the proper form is 이것.

Similarly, over here, frequently 거 is said in place of 것. (것 is the proper way, and must be used when written.)

You can also do combinations, something like with 뭐 and 뭘:

• 거 + 을 → 걸
• 거 + 이 → 게

However, you can also just simply use 거 when speaking.

This solved my Duolingo mystery with when to use 게. I could guess 거 + 은 → 건 (this is unverified, not covered here), 거 + 을 → 걸, but didn't know that 거 + 이 = 게.

Another thing to note is that in this construction, if the verb has an object before it, the object particle 을/를 is usually omitted:

• 제 취미는 책 읽는 거예요. (제 취미는 책 읽는 것이에요.)
• 저는 드라마 보는 걸 좋아해요. (저는 드라마 보는 것을 좋아해요.)
• 그림 그리는게 재미있어요. (그림 그리는 것이 재미있어요.)

Title

Well, still had to introduce myself this lesson, so we weren't done with introductions. Chapter 2 is on hobbies, which is also one of the things you might mention about yourself in a self-introduction. At least we did when the previous student joined (the one who has since transferred to another class).