Essential Grammar

Essential GrammarFor Korean as a Second Language 2004 All rights reserved byChul Young LeeVersion 2.3

PrefaceDemand for the Korean langauge education as a second language is significantly increasing these days. TheKorean language is an agglutinative language and is sometimes recognized tricky to learn by the people whospeak a European language as their primary language. But depending on how systematical the educationmethod is, it can be efficiently learned with the aid of its scientific letter system Hangeul.This book aims to provide the comprehensive rules and factors of the Korean language in a systematic way.The grammar chapters contain most of the important basic rules so that you can build the essence to learnKorean. This book can be used for self-learners who are learning Korean with other books and environmentand want a good grammar textbook. This book can be also used as a textbook in a Korean class, in whichcase I recommend the instructors to provide replicating examples to the students and try to relate themultiple chapters on the inflectional words with each other to maximize the efficiency of the education.I hope this can contribute to the Korean language education to all the people who teach or learn Korean.Chul Young Lee이철영2

CONTENTSPart I. Alphabet & Basic PhoneticsChapter 0: About the Korean Alphabet System . . . 5Chapter 1: How to Compose a Syllable . . 6Chapter 2: Korean Alphabet . 7Chapter 3: Important Rules for Pronunciation . 11Part II. Basic GrammarChapter 4: Parts of Speech . . 18Chapter 5: Sentence Structure . 20Chapter 6: Inflectional Words . 23Chapter 7: Supplementary Inflectional Words . . . 28Chapter 8: Irregular Inflectional Words . . 32Chapter 9: Attitudes . 38Chapter 10: Postpositions . 41Chapter 11: Designation . 44Part III. Useful Expressions & VocabulariesChapter 12: 5W1H . 47Chapter 13: Frequently Used Basic Sentences . . . 48Chapter 14: Numeral & Units . . 51Chapter 15: Time . . 55Chapter 16: Family 573

Part I. Alphabet & Basic Phonetics4

Chapter 0. About the Korean Alphabet SystemThe World's Most Scientific Writing SystemThe Korean Alphabet is known to be the most scientific writing system in the world. This letter system iscalled Hangeul. Each character in Hangeul represents a unique sound in a systematic way, which makes itvery easy and clear to learn this letter system. This is why Korea’s literacy rate is extremely high.Hangeul was developed in 1443 by King Sejong (1397-1450) who clearly stated the purpose of developingthis letter system. It was basically to let everyone in the nation to be able to read and wirte easily. Hedeveloped the new letter system in an amazingly scientific and systematic way. He created the shapes of thecharacters in a way that they resemble the shapes of the human organs when they are pronounced.Hangeul is a state-of-the-art phoneme character system which consists of 10 basic vowels, 14 basicconsonants and some compound vowels and consonants, and you can write down whatever you hear in aunique way. You typically do not have to ask how to spell something. This is possible because one characterin Hangeul is mapped to only one sound.While you learn this letter system, you will be amazed to see how easy it is to learn and how powerful it is.You could even apply Hangeul to another language without a big problem.5

Chapter 1. How To Compose A Syllable1. Why is Syllable Important in Korean?Syllable is the unit of composing actual letters using the letter elements (consonants and vowels).Once you become able to build a syllable by applying the consonants and vowels, you can write anythingyou hear.2. What does a Korean Syllable look like?It is composed of three elements: Initial Sound (초성), Medial Sound (중성) and Final Sound (종성), asyou can see in the figure below.INITIAL[ 1 Consonant ]MEDIAL[ 1 Vowel ]FINAL[ 0, 1, 2 Consonant(s) ]Figure 1 A Korean Syllable3. Composing SyllablesSee the example below:InitialSound(1 consonant)한Medial Sound(1 vowel)Final Sound(1 consonant)Figure 2 An example of a syllableA syllable must have exactly 1 consonant as the initial sound and 1 vowel as the medial sound. A syllablecan be composed with or without the final sound (consonant). Sometimes there can be 2 consonantslocated as the final sound.Examples (보기)Syllables without the final sound: 가, 나, 너, 뽀, 쭈, 야, 의, 왜Syllables with 1 consonant as the final sound: 안, 녕, 합, 얌, 굉, 있, 낚, 꺾Syllables with 2 consonants as the final sound: 않, 없, 앉6

Chapter 2. Korean AlphabetThere are 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels.1. Consonants (자음)1) Basic ConsonantsConsonantNameValueStroke �응[ŋ]ㅈ지읒[j/g]ㅊ치읓[t p]ㅎ히읗[h]ㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅌㅍㅎ7

2) Compound ConsonantsConsonantㄲㄸㅃㅆㅉValue‘k’ sound in skyName쌍기역‘t’ sound in start쌍디귿‘p’ sound in spy쌍비읍‘s’ sound in say쌍시옷strong/voiceless ‘j/g’ sound쌍지읒1) Every compound consonant is a fortis. Do not get confused with aspiration (ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅊ)2) Do not get confused with double consonants which are combination of two differentconsonants (ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㄻ, ㅄ, and ㄿ).2. Vowels (모음)1) Basic VowelsVowelNameValueStroke ]ㅜㅡ으[-]ㅡㅣ이[i]ㅣㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅠ8

2) Compound lueName‘a’ sound in and애‘e’ sound in end에‘ya’ sound in yam얘‘ye’ sound in yes예[o] [e]외‘we’ sound in we위ㅡ ㅣ의‘wa’ sound in swallow와‘wo’ sound in wonderful워‘wa’ sound in wax왜‘we’ sound in wet웨3. Common Writing RulesWriting a syllable should be done by the following rules:1) Write in the following order: Initial Sound Medial Sound Final Sound2) For each letter element, write from Top and from Left.Polarity of Vowels (모음의 음양)Positive Vowels: ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅗ, ㅛ,and compound vowels including themNegative Vowels: ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ ,and compound vowels including themNeutral Vowel: ㅣVowel Accordance (모음조화): Vowels with the same polarity tend to stick togetherin words (but this is not an absolute rule any more in modern Korean). For example, aninflectional word with the stem with a positive vowel uses suffixes with a positive vowel. 보기 놀다 (to play) 놀 아요 놀아요9

Two-Element Syllable Matrix with Basic Consonants and Basic Vowels in �시이지치키티피히10

Chapter 3. Important Rules for Pronunciation중요한 발음 법칙들1. Representative Sounds for Consonants (자음의 대표값)[Rule 1]If a consonant is a Final Sound in a stand-alone syllable, it can be pronounced as one of only 7sounds: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅇwhere the consonants as a Final Sound belong to:[ㄱ] ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ, ㄳ, ㄺ[ㄴ] ㄴ, ㄵ[ㄷ] ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ[ㄹ] ㄹ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ[ㅁ] ㅁ, ㄻ[ㅂ] ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅄ, ㄿ[ㅇ] ㅇ[Rule 2]A Final Sound pronounces as its representative sound (in Rule 1), if it is followed by a consonant. 보기 �[Rule 3]A Final Sound recovers its original sound if it is followed by a vowel, unless they are at the border ofan independent combination. 보기 솟아낚아있어높아젖은[Comparison] Dependent combination: 옷을 입어요. (Original sound recovered)Independent combination:옷 입어요. (Pronounced as representative sound)[Rule 3-1]If there are 2 consonants in the Final Sound position, the second one recovers its value, when it isfollowed by a vowel. 보기 앉아요넓어요11

2. Phoneme Compression (음운 축약)Phoneme compression is a phenomenon that occurs when two phonemes meet andchange.[Rule 1] Consonant Compression (자음 축약)When‘ㄱ·ㄷ·ㅂ·ㅈ’are followed or preceded by ‘ㅎ’, they change to theaspiration‘ㅋ·ㅌ·ㅍ·ㅊ’. 보기 ㄱ ㅎ ㅎ ㄱ ㅋ노랗고 [노라코](yellow)ㄷ ㅎ ㅎ ㄷ ㅌ좋다 [조타](good)ㅂ ㅎ ㅎ ㅂ ㅍ밟혀 [발펴](to be stepped on)ㅈ ㅎ ㅎ ㅈ ㅊ닿지 [다치](to touch/reach)[Rule 2] Vowel Compression (모음 축약)When two vowels meet, they become a diphthong. 보기 ㅗ ㅏ ㅘ보아라 [봐라](to see)ㅜ ㅓ ㅝ주었다 [줬다](to give)[Note] Do not get confused with the historical transformation: ‘compaction’ (축약)In history there were special mutual assimilation cases where two consecutivevowels were compressed or became one sound. 보기 가히 개(dog)사이 새(bird)입시울 입슐 입술(lip)12

3. Consonant Assimilation (자음접변/자음동화)The final sound of a syllable, when it meets another vowel which is the initial sound of thenext syllable, one (or both) of these two changes its sound to resemble the other.[Backward Assimilation (역행동화)]If a final sound ‘ㄴ’ is followed by ‘ㄹ’, this ‘ㄴ’ is pronounced as [ㄹ].ㄴ ㄹ [ㄹ ㄹ] 보기 신라 [실라]난로 [날로](stove)If a final sound ‘ㅂ/ㅍ’ is followed by ‘ㄴ’ or ‘ㅁ’, this ‘ㅂ/ㅍ’ is pronounced as [ㅁ].ㅂ/ㅍ ㄴ/ㅁ [ㅁ ㄴ/ㅁ] 보기 감사합니다 [감사함니다](Thank you.)밥물 [밤물]옆면 [염면]If a final sound whose representative sound is ‘ㄷ’ (i.e., ‘ㄷ/ㅌ/ㅅ/ㅆ/ㅈ/ㅊ’ ) isfollowed by ‘ㄴ/ㅁ’, this former consonant is pronounced as [ㄴ].ㄷ/ㅌ/ㅅ/ㅆ/ㅈ/ㅊ ㄴ/ㅁ [ㄴ ㄴ/ㅁ] 보기 가 봤는데요 [가 봔는데요](I’ve been there.)한 곳만 [한 곤만](only one place)젖먹이 [전먹이](a nursing baby)13

[Forward Assimilation (순행동화)]If a final sound ‘ㅁ’ or ‘ㅇ’ is followed by ‘ㄹ’, this ‘ㄹ’ is pronounced as [ㄴ].ㅁ/ㅇ ㄹ [ㅁ/ㅇ ㄴ] 보기 (invasion)침략 [침냑]종로 [종노][Mutual Assimilation (상호동화)]ㄱ ㄹ [ㅇ ㄴ] 보기 &ㅂ ㄹ [ㅁ ㄴ](bitter discussion)격론 [경논](providence)섭리 [섬니]4. Palatalization (구개음화)A non-palatal consonant is pronounced as a palatal if it is followed by ‘ㅣ’ inside aword group (어절). This applies only if two syllables are combined in a dependentrelation.ㄷ l [ㅈ l]&ㅌ l [ㅊ l][Rule 1] Palatalization rule applies to dependent combination 보기 밭 이 [바치]끝 이 [끄치]맏 이 [마지]닫 히 다 [다치다][Rule 2] Palatalization rule does not apply to the following cases:1) Compound word (of independent words) 보기 홑이불 홑 이불 [혼니불]2) Within the stem of a word 보기 더디다,버티다, 견디다, 잔디, 느티나무14

5. Rules about ‘ㅎ’[Rule 1] Consonant Compression (자음 축약)See page 12.[Rule 2] ‘ㅎ’ is mute before a vowel 보기 좋아요 [조아요]않아요 [아나요][Rule 3] ‘ㅎ’ makes a following ‘ㅅ’ a fortis (tensed sound) 보기 좋습니다 [조씀니다]6. Voiceless Consonants ㄱ/ㄷ/ㅂ/ㅅ/ㅈ Pronounced as FortisIf voiceless consonants ㄱ/ㄷ/ㅂ/ㅅ/ㅈ/ follow a voiceless consonant (as the finalsound of a preceding syllable), they are pronounced as a fortis [ㄲ/ㄸ/ㅃ/ㅆ/ㅉ]. 보기 학교 [학꾜]꽃밭 [꼳빧]숙제 [숙쩨]This may or may not happen when they follow a voiced consonants (ㄴ/ㄹ/ㅁ/ㅇ). 보기 갈대 [갈때]담다 [담따]술병 [술뼝]언제 [언제](no effect)긴장 [긴장](no effect)출범 [출범](no effect)15