Expressing ‘How wonderful it would be…’

Another use of the verb in conditional form is for English expression ‘how wonderful it would be if…’   The conditional form of verb followed by phrase 얼마나 좋겠어요 (olmana chokesseoyo) does it.  The pattern would look like this – (었)으면 얼마나 좋겠어요.   Note that the verb formed with -으면 can be in past or present form.

Here are some of its applications:

• 시간이 더 있었으면 얼마나 좋겠어요 (Shicani deo isseoseumyeon olmana chokesseoyo) – How wonderful it would be if we had more time.
• 하얀 색이 아니었으면 얼마나 좋겠어요 (Hayan saeki anieosseumyeon olmana chokesseoyo) – How wonderful it would be if it wasn’t white.
• 가수 휘성씨 만나면 얼마나 좋겠어요 (Kasu Wheesungshi mannamyeon olmana chokesseoyo) – How wonderful it would be to meet Wheesung the singer.

Uses of Conditional Verb form -(으)

There are a handful of practical uses of verb  in conditional form.  One of which is in combination with 좋겠어요 (-chokesseoyo).   I have learned that 좋다 (choda) can either mean to like or is good.  However, when it is used with verb in conditional form and the future form  of 좋다  which is 좋겠어 (chokesseo) it then corresponds to English sentence expressing hope or wish.

To simplify, first sentence clause ending in (으)면 plus final verb 좋겠어요  (chokesseyo) or 좋겠습니다 (chokessumnida) creates the expression ‘It would be good if….’ or ‘I hope or … ‘

We know that in English to say something like ‘It would be good if we have a wine’ is an expression that expresses wish to have wine.   Here are examples of verb in conditional form used side by side 좋겠어요.

• 여름이 가지 않으면 좋겠어요. (Yeoreumi kagi aneumyeon chokesseoyo) – Literally this means, if summer did not go, it would be good.  [= If summer did not go it would be good.]
• 한국말을 잘 하면 좋겠어요. (Hangukmareul  jal hamyeon chokesseoyo) – I wish I speak Korean well or I hope speak Korean well.
• 지금 김치를 사면 좋겠어요. (Chigeum kimchireul samyeon chokesseoyo) – It would be good if we buy kimchi now.

Conditional Verb

I really spend little time now learning and reviewing my Korean.  Now is just high time to learn another type of verb in conditional form.   The conditional form is a two-shape ending;  -으면 (eumyeon)  attached to consonant ending base verbs and plain -면 (myeon) attached to vowel ending base verb.

When this ending is attached to verb its meaning becomes when/if <verb>.   This is how the verb is formed, see how base verb transform into its conditional form:

• 가 (ka) –> 가면 (kamyeon) – when one goes or if one goes
• 이쁘 (ippeu) –>  이쁘면 (ippeumyeon) – if something is cute or when its cute
• 쓰 (sseu) –> 쓰면 (sseumyeon) – if one write or when someone writes
• 먹 (meok) –> 먹으면 (meokeumyeon) – if one eats or when one eats
• 받 (pad) –> 받으면 (padeumyeon) – if one gets or when one gets
• 들 (deul) –>  들으면 (deureumyeon) – if one hears or when one hears

To an -ㄹ extending verb such as 사-ㄹ (sal, means live) the verb ending is attached on the extended form of the verb using 면 — as such 살면 (salmyeon) means if one lives or when one lives.   It’s a bit tricky, supposedly the extended form ends in consonant but the verb ending used if for vowel ending verbs which is 면.

Want vs. Like

A year ago when I started the difficult battle of learning Korean Language, i seek refuge with websites that offer Language Exchange Partners which I fondly called my LEPs.   I had a few and they come and go.  One of the earliest question I asked was how to express ‘i would like to…’   At that time I learned about -고 싶다 (-go shipda) verb which is used to express wish, desire or want.  But one of my LEPs told me to use the verb 좋겠어  (jokesso).   He told me this is commonly used because -go shipda can only be used to express one’s (first person sentence).  I was confused then.

One’s desires, wants  and wishes are expressed by using the auxiliary verb -고 싶어요 (-go shipeoyeo).   To say someone other than you desires, wants and wishes  to… -고 싶어해요 (-go shipeohaeyo)  is used.  However to say someone likes something, one can use 좋아세요 (choaseyo) or 좋아해요 (choahaeyo).

Here are some sample application:

• 비빔밥을 먹고 싶어요.  ( Bibimbapeul mokko shipeoyeo) – I want to eat bibimbap.
• 친구는 비빔밥을 먹고 싶어해요. ( Chinguneun bibimbapeul mokko shipeohaeyo) – My friend wants to eat bibimbap.
• 친구는 비빔밥을 좋아해요.  (Chinguneun bibimbap choahaeyo) – My friend likes bibimbap.

Denying Obligation

Last time I learned how to express obligation by using the particle -야 (-ya) and 해요 (haeyo).   Now I learned how to deny such obligation something like the English expression ‘you don’t have to’ or ‘you may not’ or ‘you need not’.

This is not something really offensive, the tone is rather it’s all right even if <verb>.  The expression is formed by using a particle I just recently post, 도 (do) that is, added to a negative verb followed by 좋아요 (choayo), 돼요 dwaeyo) or 괜잖아요 (gwaenchanayo).   So it’s necessary to know first how negative verbs are formed to be able to make use of this new expression.

A quick recap verbs are made negative by adding 안 in front of it this is the short cut or the longer way which is verb+지 (ji)  않아요.

Here are examples of the practical use of this expression:

• 밥을 안먹어도 괜잖아요. (Bapeul anmokodo gwaenchanayo) – It’s alright if you don’t eat the rice.
• 내일 집에 가지 않아도 돼요.  (Jipe kaji anado dwaeyo).  You don’t have to go home tomorrow.
• 아무선물을 가져오지 않아도 좋아요. (Amuseonmureul kajyeo.oji anado choayo).  It’s okay even if you don’t bring any gift.

Expressing Obligation with -야 해요

This new particle  I learned simulates the way English statements stress the need to do something from just doing it.  I will clean the room tomorrow is a  bit lax compared to saying I must clean the room tomorrow.  The latter sends out something like a higher level of   urgency or an obligation.    This ‘must’ or ‘need to’ message  I learned is expressed by using the particle -야 (-ya) then ending the statement with verb 해요 (haeyo).  The particle is attached to a verb’s infinitive form both for plain and honorific verbs.

• 학교에 가야 해요 (Hakyoe kaya haeyo) – I need to go to school.
• 내일 공부해야 해요 (Naeil gongbuhaeya haeyo) – I must study tomorrow.
• 언니 이 책을 읽어야 해요 (Eonnie i chaekeul ilkoya haeyo) – My (older) sister needs to read this book.

야 attached to the verb gives it the ‘only if you <verb>” meaning and the 해요 as verb ending means ‘will do it’.  As such the combination of this particle and verb ending  therefore results to meaning  you have to <verb>.

나는  한국어 책을 읽어야 해요 =)

More Uses of 도 (Do)

I really feel sorry for my self and for those who have been looking forward to new post that I cannot update more frequently.  I have been constantly reading the new handbook I got authored by Samuel Martin called Practical Korean.  It’s another book I just got from Powerbooks  three weeks ago.

Since the creation of Elementary Korean is actually inspired by the the first edition of this book,  the approach in explaining is somehow similar except that Practical Korean is using romanization heavily as opposed to Elementary Korean which uses romanization for pronunciation simulation purposes.

I found this lesson on the use of  of the particle -도.  Previously I learned that this is attached to a word (usually a noun) which gives meaning  ‘too’ or ‘also’.  Like when you say 나도  (nado), it means me too or me also.  Previously this particle has been compared with it’s brother 또 (Ddo) which means the same but the difference is, its a stand alone word.  It does not have to be connected to a noun.

Now I learned a practical application of the particle -도 in combination with the verbs 좋아요  (choayo) and 괜잖아요 (gwaenchanayo).   좋아요 means ‘is good’ or ‘to like’ while 괜잖아요 means ‘is okay’ or ‘to be alright’ or ‘makes no difference’.  The particle is actually attached to the infinitive form of the verb, in present tense.

The use of -도 in combination with 좋아요 or 괜잖아요 gives the same meaning as the English statements that asks or gives permission in this thought flow:

• ‘is it okay if I…?
• ‘can i…?
• it is okay for you to…
• you can…

He are some examples:

내일 공부해도 좋아요? (Naeil kongbuhado choayo?) – Is it okay to study tomorrow?

여기 앉아도 괜잖아요 (Yogi anjado gwaenchanayo) – I don’t mind if you sit here.  You can sit here

연필로 써도 좋아요 (Yeonpilro sseodeo chuayo) – You can write using pencil.

이 방에 계셔도 괜잖아요 (I bange kyesyeodo gwaenchanayo) – It’s okay for you to stay in this room.

Korean Wordbook for Beginners

A year ago when I got the chance to visit Seoul, I bought a handful of Korean books to help me learn the language fast.  I have not opened most of them except the culture  comic book.  Now that I temporarily stopped reading Continuing Korean to review my previous learnings, I took the time to open this small handbook called Korean Wordbook for Beginners.  Its a Korean-English wordbook but it doesn’t have romanization which I really don’t mind.  One language adviser once said that to be able to learn Korean, one must get rid of romanization. Instead, the focus should be on reading and writing in Hangul.

The book is relatively cheap. It only cost me 4800KRW or less than 5USD.   It contains common Korean words used.  It has synonyms and antonyms which I find really helpful in making the right choice of word.   It also has example of the word’s use written in Korean without any English translation so it will somehow challenge your proficiency.

I appreciate the appendix as well as it contains collection of words commonly used in expression like Question Pronouns, Conjunctive Adverbs (normally used to connect 2 sentences), counting units or marker, number, colors and a lot more.

Here is a collection of Question Pronouns:

• 어느 / 어떤 (eoneu/eoddeon) – which 
• 어디 (eodi) – where
• 누구 (nugu) – who
• 누가 (nuga) – who as subject
• 무엇 (mueo) – what
• 무슨 (museun) – adjective form of what
• 언제 (eonje) – when
• 얼마 (eolma) – how much
• 얼마나 (eolmana) – how much, how long, how many
• 어떻게 (eotteoke) – how, by what means
• 먗 (myeot) – how, what
• 왜 (owae) – why

Use of -과/-와

I have been reading comments about this particle that  is used to connect two noun.  It actually means ‘and’ in English usage — like books and bags, music and lyrics etc.  미안해요. It’s my bad. I really had it interchanged, the book and also a Korean friend confirmed that -과 (gwa) is used after a consonant ending word while -와 (wa) is used after a vowel.

So for the those who have been asking questions about it 과 goes with the consonant and the book was right it was my eyes that is not.

This made me review the entire lesson on this particle.  To recap, this particle is attached at the end of the noun or nouns used in a sentence like 연필과 종이와 책 (yeonpil-gwa, chongi-wa chaek).  This means pencil, paper and book.  If these nouns are used as topic in a sentence the topic marker -은/-는  will be added in the last noun, so in this case it would be 연필과 종이와 책은 (은 since 책 is ending in consonant).

Unlike the English counterpart this particle is pronounced as if part of the original word.  The pause is after the particle as illustrated below:

• Korean: 연필과 <pause> 종이와 <pause> 책
• English: pencil<pause> and paper <pause> and books (this is just an illustration as we know that it is grammatically incorrect to use and over and over again in English for series.  We use and before the last noun in the series and separate each word with just comma)

Verb Ending -네요 (-neyo)

Another learning from my Language Exchange Partner (LEP) is this topic,  the verb ending -네요 (-neyo).   This verb ending is used in declarative sentence.   I have not encountered this yet from the book so I am just relying on my previous learnings.  Two examples were given to me, analyzing each sentence:

버스가 정류장을 지나가네요. (Beosuka cheongryujangeul chinaganeyo  -The bus passes by the bus stop).   I suppose this verb ending, as most of the verb endings i have learned, is added to a verb’s base form.   

당신은 슬퍼보이네요.  (Dangshineun seulpeoboineyo – You look so sad). In this example i think it can be connected to copula 이에요 (ieyo).  I am not sure with it but looks like 네,  replaced 에 in the copula. 

My LEP mentioned that 네요 is rarely used with subject ‘I’.  Likewise he stressed that 하네요  (haneyo) is often used to say something that one saw or heard.  Here are some examples:

• 그가 아프다고 하네요.  (Keuga apeudago haneyo. ) He is sick (he or someone said)
• 제인이 말하기를 그 연극은 굉장하다고 하네요.  (Jeini malhagireul ku yeongukeun koengjanghadago haneyo) Jane said the play is awesome.
• 강원도에는 폭설이 내렸다고 하네요. (Gangwondoeneun pokseori naeryeottdago haneyo).  Heavy snowfall is reported in Gangwon Province.

From the samples that he gave me i suppose that haneyo is used with verb+고 하네요.   I will try to research more on this verb ending as it  is commonly used in a conversation.