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Word Pattern and Basic Vowels

In most Korean books I read, the characters are discussed only after the common phrases are introduced. There may be a scientific explanation about this.  When I gained interest in learning Hangul, I immediately checked on the characters and its near equivalent to the alphabet.  Most books say you need to hear how the words are pronounced by native Korean speakers <this is another tough task–to find a native speaker> .  I must say I have memorized the characters at least the basic ones. 

ㅏ (a) as in ant

ㅓ (eo) as hot

ㅗ (aw) as in toe

ㅜ (oo) as in loop 

ㅡ (u) short uh sound as in put

ㅣ (i) as in feet

ㅐ (ae) as in apple

ㅔ (e) as in pet

There are other vowels aside from these.  In fact they have more vowels than consonants.  From my readings words seemed to be formed by sound.

Word for the day starts with the ㅏ sound.  아버지 (a-beo-ji) means father.  Note that the word actually starts with the ㅇ  character which is actually classified as consonant in Hangul.  When i was doing initial self study I learned that the pattern per block is Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (C-V-C) and in some cases could be C-V-C-C.  I noticed that if the word has to start with a vowel sound, ㅇ  is present.  Then I learned that this character is actually silent in terms of pronunciation and will only have a sound if its used as final consonant in a word.  In such cases ㅇ  becomes ‘ng’ in sound such as the word 사랑 (sa-rang) then C-V-C pattern still applies.

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Welcome Welcome

 These are the phrases you will most likely hear when you are to enter an establishment specifically restaurants.

어서 오세요 (eoseo-ose-yo) or welcome in English

들어 오세요 (tu-ro-ose-yo) for come in.

Word for the day is 김치 (kim-chi) one of the staples in Korean meals.

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Saying Good Work

How to day good job or good work to someone:

잘하셨어요 (jal-ha-syo-sso-yo) which is the casual but polite way

잘핬어 (jal-ha-sso) is the very casual way to say it.  Usually said to someone younger.

Word for the day 도로 (taw-raw) which mean road

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Say Excuse Me

People tend to say ‘excuse me’ when they are about to say or do something which they feel may be offending or distracting to another person or the situation.  In the Philippines, it is polite to say ‘excuse me’ when you are to pass in the middle of two persons talking or if you need to leave the table in a gathering while everyone is still seated.

These are the 한글 counterpart of  the phrase ‘excuse me’

실례합니다  (sil-lye-ham-ni-da) is like saying excuse me for what I am doing

실례핬습니다 (sil-lye-hass-sum-ni-da) is excuse me for what I did

실례하겠습니다 (sil-lye-ha-gess-sum-ni-da)  is excuse me for what I will be doing

Word for the day 아니오 (a-nio) simply means ‘no’.

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See You…Please to Meet You

After the usual greetings and introductions there are some common phrases that we use almost everytime we are in that situation.  It is usual to appreciate meeting someone regardless if a new friend or someone whom you have not seen for a while. The following are some common phrases for this:

처음 뵙겠습니다 (cheo-um-bwep-kess-sum-ni-da)  which means I am pleased to make your acquiantance. This is the formal and honorific way to say it same goes with this:

방갑습니다 (pang-gap-sum-ni-da) which means ‘I see you, I am pleased’.

Sometimes when we greet our friends it is usual for us to say we want to see them again.  In most cases reply is not expected but its normal to say back the phrase like these:

또 뵙겠습니다 (tto-bwep-kess-sum-ni-da) which could mean ‘see you again’ the formal way.  또 봐요 (Ddo bowayo)  means the same but this is less formal than the first.

Word for the day is 네, simply means yes.

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My Name is…

After knowing how to greet people the 한극  way, it is just logical to know how to introduce yourself.  This is just the basic way:

제 이름은 <your name>이에요. This is similar to saying ‘My name is <actual name>.  You can just simply put your English name written in alphabet but if you know how to write your name in 한글 it would be better.  Like my name Jane is spelled 제 인.  So i can introduce myself as 제 이름은 제 인 이에요 (Che i-reum-un JeIn-i-eyo).  제 can be replaced with 제가 (che-ga) or 나는 (na-nun) which both means ‘I’.

Word for the day 문 (moon) which means door.

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Greetings at Work

I have learned that there is specific way to great people at work.  Now it seems that the 안녕 greetings are the generic ones.   There is specific greetings for people in the workplace or if you are in s similar situation (case where there is work to be done).

수고하습니다 (su-go-ha-sum-ni-da) is saying hello to someone who is working

수고하세요 (su-go-ha-se-yo) is saying goodbye to someone who is working

수고하겼어요 (su-go-ha-kyo-sso-yo) is like saying thank you for helping me or well done

Word for the day 집 (jip) which means house.

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Thank you and I’m Sorry

I am having fun while reading my Elementary Korean book.  I am currently on the first 2 chapters and I am taking time to understand each chapter.  These chapters focused more on the common phrases used in Korea. I am trying to master them.  These are some that I learned to write and pronounce easily:

감사함니다   (kam-sa-ham-ni-da)  this is the polite way to say thank you, another way could be 고맙습니다 

I have also learned the colloquial way to say thank you, this is what you normally hear on dramas and movies specially when people of the same age level are speaking with each other 고맙다 (ko-map-ta) or 고마워 (ko-ma-wa)

One of the commonly used phrase too is ‘I am sorry’. The formal polite way to say this in hangul is 미안합니다 (mi-an-ham-ni-da) or  죄송합니다 (chwe-song-ham-ni-da).  If you have been watching movie with subtitles, you will likewise hear this word which corresponds to sorry too, 미안해 (mianhae which almost sounds like bi-ya-ne).

Word for the day is 답장 (dap-jang) which means reply.

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한글 a Day

I promise to learn new 한극 word or phrase a day.  I am about to get my 3rd Korean reference book and I really would like to improve my Hangul.  I have started with this craze the day I started with this blog.  I have learned so many words by just listening to Korean music, watching movies or dramas and thorugh my language exchange partners.   I have my books as reference in confirming some of the words. 

One practical thing that I learned in understanding 한글 is that the characters represents a syllable of a word or sometimes its the word itself.  The word is spelled as they sound.  Each block (square like formation) contains at least two characters or maximum of four.  Like the word Hangul:

ㅎ(h) + ㅏ(a) +  ㄴ(n)  and ㄱ (g) + ㅡ (u) + ㄹ (l)

Similar to the complexity of English spelling and pronunciation, I know I have such hardships as well in improving on this language.  I wish to have the same determination until I reached my desired fluency. 

One of the first words I learned is the usual greetings, unlike in English there are several ways to greet a person.  The greetings usually depends on the time of the day and there is just the simple hi and hello.  Well in Korea this is how they greet each other:

안녕하세요  pronounced as An-nyeong-ha-se-yo.  If you want to say hi, hello, good morning, good afternoon or good evening, this is the right greetings.  It is also used to say ‘how are you?’ to frequently encountered people.  There is s separate ‘how are you?’ for a person that you just met for the 1st time or have met after a long time.  

I also learned how to say goodbye trough reading.  There are two ways to say goodbye:

안녕히 계세요    an-nyeong-hi   kye-se-yo  said to someone who will be staying. 

안녕히 가세요    an-nyeong-hi   ka-se-yo  said to someone who will be leaving.

The word for the day its 사랑 (sa-rang) which means love.