BASIC KOREAN: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK

BASIC KOREAN:A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOKBasic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible referencegrammar and related exercises in a single volume.This workbook presents twenty-five individual grammar points in livelyand realistic contexts, covering the core material which students wouldexpect to encounter in their first year of learning Korean. Grammar pointsare followed by examples and exercises which allow students to reinforceand consolidate their learning.Basic Korean is suitable for both class use as well as independent study.Key features include: abundant exercises with full answer key all Korean entries presented in Hangul with English translations subject index.Clearly presented and user-friendly, Basic Korean provides readers with theessential tools to express themselves in a wide variety of situations, makingit an ideal grammar reference and practice resource for both beginners andstudents with some knowledge of the language.Andrew Sangpil Byon is Associate Professor at the State University ofNew York at Albany, where he teaches courses in Korean language andcivilization.9780415774871 A01.indd01.indd i i7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are:Basic CantoneseIntermediate CantoneseBasic ChineseIntermediate ChineseBasic GermanIntermediate GermanBasic ItalianBasic IrishIntermediate IrishBasic PolishIntermediate PolishBasic RussianIntermediate RussianBasic SpanishIntermediate SpanishBasic WelshIntermediate Welsh9780415774871 A01.indd01.indd ii ii7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

BASIC KOREAN:A GRAMMAR ANDWORKBOOKAndrew Sangpil Byon9780415774871 A01.indd01.indd iiiiii7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

First published 2009by Routledge2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RNSimultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge270 Madison Ave, New York, NY10016Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa businessThis edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’scollection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk .” 2009 Andrew Sangpil ByonAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprintedor reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,including photocopying and recording, or in any informationstorage or retrieval system, without permission in writingfrom the publishers.British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British LibraryLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataByon, Andrew Sangpil.Basic Korean : a grammar & workbook / Andrew Sangpil Byon. – 1st ed.p. cm. – (Grammar workbook series)1. Korean language – Grammar – Problems, exercises, etc.2. Korean language – Textbooks for foreign speakers – English. I. Title.PL913.B96 2008495.7′82421–dc222008006927ISBN 0-203-89227-5 Master e-book ISBNISBN10 0-415-77487-X (pbk)ISBN10 0-203-89227-5 (ebk)ISBN13 978-0-415-77487-1 (pbk)ISBN13 978-0-203-89227-5 (ebk)9780415774871 A01.indd01.indd iv iv7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

CONTENTSPrefacevii1Reading Hangul (the Korean alphabet)12Characteristics of the Korean language93Nouns154Predicates and endings235The deferential speech level and the polite speech level296The subject case particle 㧊VṖGi/ka397The special particle 㦖 Un/⓪ nUn478Pronouns559Numbers, ordinals, and plural marker tUl65Counters, question word ⳝ myOt, and some timeexpressions73The copula 㧊 V㞚 Gand the verb of existence andlocation 㧞 V㠜 8112Case particles 1 㦚 Ul/ lUl and O㦒P (U)ro8913Case particles 2 㦮 Ui, 㠦 e, 㢖 wa/ὒ kwa, O㧊P irang,and 䞮ἶ hago99Case particles 3 㠦 esO, 㠦Ợ ege, 䞲䎢 hant’e, kke,㠦Ợ egesO, and 䞲䎢 hant’esO10915Special particles 1 to and Ⱒ man11716Special particles 2 㧊 ina, 䎆 put’O, and 㰖 kkaji1251011149780415774871 A01.indd01.indd v v7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

viContents17Past tense and double past tense marker13318Negation14119Irregular verbs15120Expressing desire -ἶG㕌 -ko sip’ta and progressiveform -ἶG㧞 -ko itta161The endings -O㦒Pඥ Ệ㡞㣪 -(U)l kOyeyo and -O㦒Pඥ 㣪f-(U)l kkayo?16922Prenouns17723Adverbs and adverbials18324The endings -O㦒Pඥ 㣪 -(U)l laeyo and -O㦒PඥỢ㣪 -(U)lgeyo19125The suffixes -Ỷ -ket and -O㦒P㔲 -(U)si199Key to exercises207Index245219780415774871 A01.indd01.indd vi v i7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

PREFACEKorean-as-a-foreign-language (KFL) teaching and learning in the Englishspeaking world has hardly been popular among non-Koreans until quiterecently. However, the number of KFL learners has started to grow rapidlysince the latter half of the 1970s for various reasons, such as the increasing visibility of South Korea on the international stage because of its fasteconomic development and its democratization over the last four decades,the continuing support from the Korean government regarding the expansion of the Korean Studies program abroad, the growing importance ofthe North Korean issues in contemporary global-political affairs, and therecent growth of the Korean-American population in the USA.In the USA alone, the number of colleges that offer KFL courses wasmerely ten in 1975. However, that number has grown to over 130 in theearly 2000s. A few universities, including the University of Hawaii at Manoaand the University of California at Los Angeles, have offered Koreanlanguage BA, MA, and PhD programs. The number of Korean community schools (for K-12 Korean and culture education) grew from seven in1975 to 832 in 1996, and to over 900 in the early 2000s. In addition, over20 public high schools have recently started to teach Korean. The Koreanlanguage boom is not confined within the US private sector or universitysettings but is found in the government sector as well. For example, USgovernment institutes such as the Defense Language Institute, the ForeignService Institute, and the Central Intelligence Agency provide intensiveKorean language training.In recent decades the number of KFL textbooks for English-speakingKFL classroom use has steadily increased. However, the number of KFLstudy materials intended for a self-study purpose is still relatively scarce.Furthermore, to date there has been no published KFL grammar workbookthat specifically aims at providing supplemental grammar explanations andexercises in a single volume.Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook and its sister volume,Intermediate Korean, are intended to meet that need. The book focuses onproviding an accessible reference grammar explanation and related exercises9780415774871 A01.indd01.indd vii v ii7/4/2008 1:43:04 PM

viiiPrefacein a single volume. It is designed for independent English-speaking adultKFL learners who intend to maintain and strengthen their knowledge ofessential Korean grammar and for classroom-based learners who are looking for supplemental grammar explanations and practices. Consequently,this book differs from existing KFL materials whose primary purpose is tohelp KFL learners acquire four language skills, such as listening, speaking,reading, and writing, as well as cultural knowledge.The layout of this book also differs from those of existing KFL materials. For instance, a typical KFL textbook chapter may include modeldialogues, followed by vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, culturalnotes, and exercises. In contrast, following the pattern of other GrammarWorkbooks of the Routledge series, every unit of Basic Korean focuseson presenting jargon-free and concise grammar explanations, followed byrelevant grammar exercises.This book has 25 units, and it does not take a functional-situationalapproach in grouping and/or sequencing target grammatical points. Ratherit sequences and covers grammatical points according to their grammaticalcategories (e.g., nouns, pronouns, particles, numbers, verbs, adjectives, andso on), so that learners can use the book for reference material as well asfor practice material. The exercises at the end of each unit are designedprimarily to reinforce the target grammatical points.All Korean entries are presented in Hangul (the Korean alphabet) withEnglish translations to facilitate understanding. Accordingly, it requiresthat learners familiarize themselves with Hangul in Unit 1, before goingon to the rest of the book. In addition, when translating Korean entriesinto English, efforts were made to reflect the Korean meaning as closelyas possible. Consequently, some learners may feel certain English translations do not reflect typical English usages. However, the direct translationapproach was employed for pedagogical purposes.In writing this book, I have been fortunate to have the assistanceand support of many people. I would like to thank my colleagues inthe Department of East Asian Studies at the University at Albany, StateUniversity of New York, who were supportive of this project. I am gratefulto anonymous reviewers for their constructive and valuable comments.I would like to express sincere gratitude to Sophie Oliver for initiallyencouraging this project and to the editorial and production teams atRoutledge, Andrea Hartill, Ursula Mallows, Samantha Vale Noya, andAndrew Watts for their advice and support throughout the process. Mythanks also go to Lisa Blackwell for her careful and thoughtful copy-editing.Finally, as always, my special thanks go to my wife, Isabel, who, with heroptimism and encouragement, makes it possible for me to do what I reallylove to do. Of course, I bear all responsibility for any shortcomings anderrors remaining.9780415774871 A01.indd01.indd viiiv iii7/4/2008 1:43:05 PM

UNIT 1Reading Hangul (the Korean alphabet)The Korean writing system “Hangul” is one of the most scientific and systematic writing systems in the world. Hangul is made of an alphabet of 21vowel and 19 consonant symbols. The system was invented in 1443 by theKing Sejong the Great and his group of royal scholars during the Chosundynasty of Korea (1392–1910). This unit introduces how to read Hangul.The unit introduces individual vowel and consonant symbols and discusseshow each symbol is assembled into syllables to spell Korean words.VowelsHangul has a total of 21 vowel symbols. Among them are 11 basic voweland ten double-vowel symbols. The basic vowel symbols include:ර ස ාa (as in father)uh (as in uh-oh)o (as in home)oo (as in boo)u (as in pull)ee (as in feet) වෆ a (as in care)e (as in met)we (as in wet)wi (as in we are the world)ui (u as in pull, followed by ee as in feet, but said quickly as onesound).Ten double-vowel symbols are made of either adding one more stroke tosome of the above basic vowel symbols or combining some basic vowelsymbols together. For instance, the following six double-vowel symbolsare results of adding one more stroke (adding the y sound) to the first sixvowel symbols above (e.g., adding a stroke to ර “a,” you get ල “ya”).9780415774871 C01.indd01.indd 1 17/4/2008 1:36:06 PM