I just finished learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet, but now where do I begin? The grammar is one question that I get asked a lot from learners, and they also want to know in what order specifically they should study the grammar. So I made this video as a guideline to help you get a general picture of how basic Korean grammar works and get an idea of what you should study.
So now let's get straight into the seven basics of Korean sentences. Let's first look at the word order in Korean sentences. So the basic word order in an English sentence goes like this. I work, I sleep, I study, mom cooks.
So the subject comes first and then comes the verb. And same with other sentences, right? And the same works in Korean sentences. The subject comes first and then comes the verb. All these sentences, the subject comes first and then the verb.
Subject, verb. Subject, verb. So it goes in the order of subject and verb.
And by the way, it's okay if you don't know what each word means in Korean. For now, you can just follow the comprehensive explanation I have for you because this is just a guideline to help you understand how Korean sentences work in general. So yes, in Korean sentence, subject comes first and then the verb.
So that's easy to process so far, right? but here's where it gets different when you say i study let's write it in red i study korean and mom cooks the dinner here another element in a sentence is added which is an object so here some of you might be confused with the term object so object in a sentence this is o Object in a sentence is basically something or someone that the subject does the action to. Just to clarify in case you're still confused.
So in this sentence, he is the subject, paint is the verb, and me is the object because me is the one being painted by the subject he, right? And here as well, she is the subject. Watch is the verb and TV is the object because this is an object that the subject does the action to, right?
So these are called object in a sentence. So here in these two sentences, Korean and the dinner is the object in a sentence. And in English sentence, you can see that the object comes after a verb, right? It's not I Korean study, it's I study Korean. so it's in the order of subject, verb, and object, but in Korean sentence that is not the case.
In Korean, subject comes first and then the object and then the verb is placed the last. So this is the object part and you can see that they are placed before a verb not after a verb unlike in English. So for a recap, in Korean sentence, it goes in the order of subject and then verb, but if there is an object of the verb, then you state the object first and then comes the verb, right?
So it goes in the order of subject-verb or subject-object and then verb. And this is the most fundamental order that the Korean sentence follows, and this is the very basic of all the sentences in Korean. Now let's move on to the second basic, which is the verb.
So we just learned that the verb is the element in a sentence that comes the very last. And it's important to note that because the verb gets combined with the sentence ending, which is the third element that we're going to learn. But for now, let's focus on what there is to know about Korean verbs. So just like in any languages, there are present tense. past tense and future tense in Korean verbs.
There are also present progressive, past progressive, and many other tenses, but these three are the most basic tenses. And how it works with Korean verbs is that there is a base form in every single verb. It's also called a dictionary form, but let's just go with base form here.
And from that base form, the verb is conjugated in present tense, past tense, and future tense by following the conjugation rule. If the word conjugate sounds quite intimidating, it just basically means that you change the base form to another form, either a present tense form, past tense form, or future tense form, or many other forms, because the verb's base form cannot be used in a sentence. it must be conjugated when it's used in a sentence. And the conjugation rules in each tense are different and also in the same tense the rule differs by what the stem of the verb looks like, whether the stem does or doesn't end in certain vowel or whether the stem ends in 받침 and so on. And what I mean by stem is, so stem basically refers to these parts in a verb.
So these are all the base form. All base forms you can see end in 다. And stems in a verb are the letters that are placed before 다.
So all the letters except 다 are the stem in a verb. So when you conjugate a verb, basically what happens is you change the stem into a present tense form or past tense form and future tense form according to the corresponding conjugation rules. And some verbs don't follow the regular conjugation rule and have their own rule.
And those kinds of verbs are called irregular verbs. And since they don't follow the regular rule, you have no choice but to memorize how these verbs are conjugated in their own way. So yes, you're going to learn the specific conjugation rules when you study Korean verbs.
It's not too difficult. You'll get used to it with time. And for now, that's the gist of how Korean verbs are formed in a sentence. and moving on to the third element the sentence endings so we just learned that a verb is the very last element that's placed in a sentence but that is only 90 true because there is one more element that comes after a verb which is a sentence ending or to be more precise it gets combined with the verb so sentence ending is something that may take time for you to get used to because it's something that many other languages don't have the exact equivalent of. And there are a variety of sentence endings, each with different meanings.
But don't worry, as a beginner, there are three basic sentence endings that you can start with. And those are these three. So 반말 ending, and 존댓말, two types of 존댓말 ending, 유 ending, and ㅂ받침, or 씁니다 ending.
You may be curious about what 반말 and 존댓말 even mean. And the difference between these two isn't difficult, but knowing when to use which one is crucial. Basically, 반말 is an informal form and 존댓말 is a formal form. However, don't be fooled by the English term formal and informal because it's not the exact right translation.
Formal here doesn't necessarily mean you use it only when you are at a very formal event or meeting, although it can be used in those cases as well. But basically, formal form, 존댓말 is used to people whom you should be showing respect to. For example, people you have met for the first time, people who are older than you, or even people younger than you that you want to show respect to. And informal form, 반말 is used when you are with your very close friends or family or little kids. So you use it to people who are close enough or younger enough for you to comfortably use informal form.
So this doesn't really have to do with the age or formality of the event that you're in, but more with how close you are with that person. You can learn more about the differences in a separate lesson on my channel, but for now let's move on to what basic sentence endings there are in each 반말 and 존댓말. So like I said, you can start with these three.
So plain 반말 ending and plain 존댓말 ending 유 and 씁니다. What I mean by plain is the plain ending used for a flat general statement, not like a question or endings that add special meanings to the sentence. So that's what I mean by plain here. So first, in plain 반말 form, there is no sentence ending attached.
You just conjugate the verb. You can just conjugate verbs in whichever tense you intend and just end it there without additional sentence ending. So for plain 반말, there is no sentence ending attached. And in plain 존댓말, after the conjugated verb, you put 유 and it becomes 존댓말 form.
So you likely would have heard many Korean sentences that end in 유 and now you know that 유 is a sentence ending for 존댓말, right? And there's also another sentence ending other than 유, which is 비읍받침 or 씁니다. But even if they're saying 존댓말 ending, when a verb is combined with 비읍씁니다 ending, it follows a different conjugation role from when it's combined with 유.
So as you can see here, this one is in the form of 단말, the informal. but in 존댓말 you can add 요 and it becomes 존댓말. however when you put ㅂ니다 or 씁니다 in the you can see that see that the stem's form is different right? so different conjugation will apply depending on what sentence ending you're using. And this is not as difficult as it sounds and you'll see when you get to learn this.
And other than these three, there are more sentence endings like this, each with different meaning. And you can see that the form is different in 반말 and 존댓말, right? So you can expect to learn them when you're learning the sentence endings in Korean.
And our fourth basic element is an adjective. So adjective is a word that modifies a noun, right? the word that tells you the trait of the noun so in these sentences you can easily identify what the adjectives are pretty and smart and pretty and smart this one directly modifies the noun and this one is used with b verb and modifies the subject right and in korean adjectives are treated like a verb so it has another name which is a descriptive verb So adjective in Korean is basically a verb that shows the trait of a noun.
And since it's a verb, adjectives also, like all the verbs, has their own base form and can be conjugated in present tense and past tense and future tense by following the same rule as the verbs. So for example, 예쁘다 is a base adjective that means to be pretty. means to be pretty. And we learned that base form cannot be used in a sentence.
It must be conjugated in other tenses, right? So if you want to say 지수 is pretty, this adjective has to be conjugated in present tense, right? And 예쁘다 in present tense is 예뻐.
So here you can say 지수는 예뻐. Or if you want to make it in 존댓말 sentence, you can simply put 유 ending. 지수는 예뻐요. 지수 is pretty. And if you want to say Jeff was smart, and smart, the base form is 똑똑 and 똑똑하다.
This is right. So you can see that my hands are dirty from all the inks from the pens that I used. I hope you don't mind.
Let me just wipe this out. Okay, back to... 똑똑하다 is a base adjective that means to be smart.
And when you want to say Jeff was smart, what can you do? You can conjugate it in past tense, right? 똑똑하다's past tense is 똑똑했어.
So you can bring it and say And then you can put you ending if you want to make it in so adjective works the same way as verb in that it's phase one it's conjugated in present tense past tense and future tense however when you say pretty jisu or smart jeff the adjectives directly modifies the noun that comes after it right so in these two sentences pretty and smart functions as a verb But in this case, the adjective works as a modifier that directly modifies the noun that comes after it. And in this case, the adjective takes a different form. So in this case, You should say 예쁜 지수 and 똑똑한 제품.
So an adjective when it's a modifier and an adjective when it's used as a verb have different form, right? So this is something that you'll get to learn in Korean adjectives, so you can expect them coming. And moving on to the element number five, the adverb.
So we just learned that an adjective is something that modifies a noun, right? But an adverb is something that modifies a verb, an adjective, or even the whole sentence. So adverbs basically give additional information to the sentence, right? So let's take a look at these two sentences. I sleep and I work.
If you want to specify how you're sleeping, you can put an adverb. For example, let's say you sleep peacefully. And this is an adverb, right? Because it modifies the verb. And same right here.
If you want to specify how you work, you can write the adverb. I work joyfully. And this is an adverb because it gives more detail to... the verb, right? So in English, it's okay if the adverb comes after a verb, right?
It can come before or after a verb. But in Korean, like we just learned, verb is always the last element in a sentence except the sentence endings. So adverbs also should be placed before a verb.
Sometimes adverbs can also be placed at the very front part of the sentence, even before the subject. But as a beginner, you can just remember that adverbs come Before a verb. So here, to translate I sleep peacefully in Korean, you can say, 저는 자유 means I sleep. And you should put the adverb that corresponds to peacefully before the verb.
So you should say, 저는 평화롭게 자요. And here as well, 저는 일해요. means I work and joyfully should be placed before the verb 슬겄게 일해요 so that's where adverbs should be positioned and just like in English many adverbs come from the adjective so peacefully this adverb comes from peaceful the adjective right? and you just put ly to make it into an adverb and same with joyful you make it into an adverb by putting ly and same in korean so 평화롭게 actually comes from the adjective this is the base form right and 즐겁다 as well it comes from an adjective so if you know many adjective vocabularies it's easy to change them up in adverb vocabularies right so studying adjective words and adverb words can go hand in hand And also, very in this sentence is also an adverb because it modifies pretty, right? So 매우, the adverb, comes before an adjective or a verb.
It can also be considered a verb, right? So adverbs are placed before a verb. And how about these two sentences?
So I speak in Korean and I study at school. So here, in Korean and at school. can be considered adverbs because they give additional information to the sentence, right?
So since these are adverbs, when translated in Korean, they should be placed before a noun. So let's try translating it. So 저는 말해요 means I speak, and the words that correspond to in Korean should be placed before a verb.
So in Korean is 한국. and I study at school same with this one so I study is 저는 공부해요 and if you want to put at school it should come before a verb and you should say 저는 학교에서 so again you can see that adverbs are placed before a verb and this is the perfect time to move on to our sixth element which is the particles. And I said it's a perfect timing because lu and eso here are the particles. So what exactly is a particle? Particles in Korean are also called post position because it's placed after a noun.
So noun and then the particle comes. So I told you that these two are particles, right? And 한국어 is a noun that means Korean language and 학교 is a noun that means school and particles are placed after a noun as you can see right so those are called the particles so the english equivalent would be the prepositions like in at by for right but the only difference is that in english the particles are placed before a noun right but in korean particles are placed after a noun so that's one thing you need to know about korean particles and another one is that in korean particles There is such a thing as a subject marking particles and an object marking particle, which are the particles that you put after a subject and after an object to indicate that this noun is the subject in this sentence and this noun is an object in this sentence.
And there are two types of subject marking particles and one object marking particle. Let's look at the example sentences where these markers, these particles are used. So, 는. Oh, a subject marking particle.
은, a subject marking particle. 가, a subject marking particle. 를, an object marker this time.
이, subject marker. And 를, object marker. So from these particles, we know that 저 is a subject. 한국 is a subject.
제프 is subject. 저 is an object. BTS is a subject and 노래 is an object, right?
So if you can identify these particles, then you can immediately know what is the subject and object in a sentence, right? And one more thing guys, so the subject marking particles and object marking particles are not always necessary. You don't have to put them in every single sentence after every single subject and object.
However, there are cases where you have to clarify what is the subject and the object in a sentence and also removing these particles sometimes doesn't sound natural and that is one of the things that you'll find very confusing when you learn but don't worry too much you'll get the hang of it with time and our seventh element the last one finally is the conjunction also known as the sentence connector so the equivalent in english would be words like and but so therefore if so and so on so what they do is they basically connect two or more sentences like this right so here is a sentence connector that means and and hajiman here is a sentence connector that means but so just like english conjunctions they connect two sentences right but what's special about korean conjunctions is that they can merge with the verb in the first sentence So 지수는 예뻐요. 그리고 제프는 똑똑해요. Can be changed to this sentence.
And what happened here is that 예뻐요 and 그리고 merged. And the result of that combination is 예쁘고. And same with this one.
Same can be done with this one. So here the verb in the first sentence and the sentence connector 하지만 merged and became 일하지만. So 이래요 and 하지만 combined and became 이라지만. So a conjunction in Korean can not only connect two or more sentences, but it can also make two sentences in just one sentence by being merged with the verb that comes in the first sentence, right?
So we just learned all the seven basic elements in Korean sentences that we need to know. But back to number one, the word order, there is one thing that I would like you guys to know. So, back to the sentence order.
So, we learned that this basic sentence order is subject, verb, and subject, object, and then verb, right? But, in some cases, the subject or the object or both can be removed. That can happen when the subject or an object is obvious by the context. When it's obviously guessable what the subject and object is in that sentence.
and the most common example is i love you in korean so in korean i love you is saranghae But if you translate I love you in a full Korean sentence using every single element that we just learned, it's 나는 너를 사랑했다 is the subject, 는 is the subject marking particle, 너 is the object, you, 를 is the object marking particle, and 사랑해 is the present verb of 사랑하다, which means to love. But instead of saying the full sentence, we remove the subject and object and just say the verb love and this is because when you're saying i love you to someone it's obvious that the speaker is i and the listener is you right so obviously i am the subject and you is the object so in these kinds of situations and contexts the subject or object or both can be removed and let's also look at the following dialogue so means are you doing well but the exact translation would be doing well without the subject you and also the answer of b they yes i'm doing well but the exact the right translation would be doing well without the subject i and the subject is removed because it's obvious that the person a is asking you a question right and also person b means I am doing well, right? Because it's person B who's answering.
So in these kinds of situations and contexts, subjects are removable. And let's look at the last dialogue. I think from the basic knowledge that we learned today, you can easily see the structure of the sentence.
So 는 is a subject marking particle. So 제프 is a subject. 를 is the object marking particle. So 한국어, which means Korean language, Korean, is the object.
and is the verb with the sentence ending right so this sentence means jeff dislikes korean is a verb that means to dislike and so jeff dislikes korean and then so this is the full sentence right but then b answers means no no so is a verb that means like. so here person b just answers with the verb without any subject or object. and why is that? because it's obvious that b means jeff likes korean, right?
so in these kinds of contexts, the subject and object can be removed and you can only go with the verb. and it's not! terribly wrong to specify the subject and object in this context, but you can make your sentence a lot simpler this way, right?
So yes, depending on the context, a subject or an object or both can be removed. So these are the seven basics you will get to learn in Korean grammar, and there's actually no rule or answer in which one you should learn first and last if you want to go with the verb first. go ahead. If you want to learn the particles first, then that's absolutely fine too.
Whichever one you start learning, make sure you spend more time on what you have difficulty understanding or getting used to. Then you can move on to studying the next one. And my suggestion guys is that you get a Korean grammar book for beginners like this that has all the grammar points outlined in the front page so that you can use this book as some sort of grammar dictionary. I know that books like this aren't catered to learners necessarily but more to teachers so it might not be the best book to study with by yourself but I recommend you have at least one grammar dictionary like this with you because it somehow puts you at ease by having all the grammar points organized in one book and you can also kind of keep track of your progress with it like how much of the particles do I know or I just heard a certain sentence ending being used and is that an easy level ending that I can learn now?
Kind of like that. So if you finish learning all the grammar points here in this book, that's when you know you're not at a beginner's level anymore and you're ready to move on to the next level. So yeah, I really recommend that you get a grammar book like this, which will be helpful one way or another when you're studying.
So that's it for this video and I hope my work was worth it and that you found it helpful. And anywho guys, I'll see you in the next video or in other lessons that are already on my channel. Either way, thank you for studying with me and I wish you all the best in your Korean learning journey.
Fighting everyone! Fighting! Annyeong!