Tag: Vocabulary

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Vocabulary: Gift (Seonmul)

It’s December. Christmas starts when the month ends with -ber here in the Philippines. So it’s like an event slowly unraveling until it hits the 25th of the December. Actually Christmas is still in the air until the last day of the holiday vacation. This is the season when my head is filled with thoughts of 선물 (seonmul).

Isn’t it nice to receive one?  I think Christmas is celebrated more as a day for couples in South Korea rather than a family event like Chuseok.  In my country, it’s gift giving day.  Sharing your blessings to other people. I like receiving gifts that are functional, something that i can really use.

너에게 좋은 선물을 뭐예요? (What is a good gift to you?)

 

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Vocabulary: To Write

I have downloaded an application from iPAD that allows me to doodle.   It kinda let you practice your Hangul writing without wasting papers and inks. The word 쓰다 (seuda) is the dictionary form of the verb write, so it means ‘to write’.

To use this in a sentence you have to identify the base or infinitive form of the word that is 쓰(seu) and 써 (seo) respectively.  Here are some use that I can think of:

  • 여기에 이름을 써 주세요 (Yeogie ireumeul sseo juseyo) – Please write your name here.
  • 친구에게 편지를 썼어요 (Chinguege pyeonjireul sseosseoyo) – I wrote a letter to a friend.
  • 나중에 블로그 엔트리를 쓸거에요 (Najunge beullogeu enteurireul sseulkoeyo) – I will write ( I have an intention of writing) a blog entry later.

Try the Doodle application in iPAD it’s just cute and nice way to practice Hangul writing. It’s also cool that iPAD has enabled writing on most east asian fonts and that includes Hangul.

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Presenting Options Using ‘Or’

This post is about two simple Korean words I learned which allows you to present two options.  This is similar to the English word ‘or’. These two words are 또는 (ddoneun) and 아니면 (animyeon).  Here are sample phrases:

  • 커피 또는 우유 (kopi ddoneun uyu)
  • 커피 아니면 우유 (kopi animyeon uyu)

Both phrases mean coffee or milk, the difference is that when you use 또는 you are presenting two contrasting ideas therefore  one of the choices will be excluded unlike 아니면 which presents two ideas that are both acceptable.

These words can occur at the beginning of the sentence.  As in the example below:

  • 기차로 갈까요?  아니면 택시로 갈까요?  (Kicharo kalkkayo? Animyon tekshiro kalkkayo?) Should we take the train? Or (else) shall we take a taxi?  In this sample, both options is of course acceptable to the speaker.
  • 영화관에 가지 않았어요. 또는 음악희에도 가지 않았어요. (Yonghwagwane kaji anasseoyo. Ddoneun eumakhui.edo kaji anasseoyo.) I have not been to movie theater [and I don’t like movies anyway]. Nor have I been [on the other hand] to any concert [and I do like concert].   This statement plainly states not being able to go to movie theater the second statement is the same  but with the use of 또는 in the beginning of the second statement the thought enclosed is considered in the overall context of the statement as such the second statement means not being able to go but would like to go.