Vocabulary

Nouns:
= middle aged/ older woman
= thing/stuff
= hall/hallway
= destination
= nation/country
= neighbourhood
= figure (body shape/figure)
= tuition
= weapon
= right/correct answer
= youth
= this area/region
= economics/match or game
= grade/score
= tie (tie game)
= player (in sports)
= life*
= mosquito
= waist
= moon
= height
= greeting
= salt
= tobacco/smoke cigarettes
= patients
= hanger
= police
= international
Verbs:
= peel/cut/trim/shave
= to recognize something
= overcome
= adjust/fix/set
= pass an exam
= meditate
= decision (decide)

() = divorce
= ask
= smoke/light a fire of some sort
= blow (wind)
= continue
= to get hurt
= answer/respond
Adjectives:
= incorrect
= clean (adjective)
= to be remaining/left over
= clear/clean/pure
Adverbs and Other words:
() = free
= that day
= special*
= out/outside*
= business hours
= morning
= usual/normal
= space between two things*
Words With *

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Introduction
Okay, it is time to kick it up a notch.
Most of what you learned in Unit 1 was taught simply to be a foundation to what you will learn
here in Unit 2 (and later in Units 3, 4, 5 etc). Of course, the content you learned in Unit 1 was
very important (foundations are important) but here in Unit 2 it will be slightly different.
When learning Korean, you eventually reach a point where the only thing you are learning is
other ways to end sentences. There are hundreds upon hundreds of different things that you can
add to the end of sentences (to end them or to connect them to other sentences) to give a
sentence a different meaning. Im not going to lie: most of what you will learn from here on out
(aside from vocabulary) will be these sentence enders/connectors.

Not today, though. Today you will learn the most important aspect (in my mind) of Korean
grammar. It took me months to fully grasp this concept but not because it is terribly difficult, but
rather because I did not have good enough explanations when learning it. That is why I am here.
I am going to break down this concept for you like crazy spanning four lessons.
I am talking, of course, of ~ .
Understanding this concept will literally make your ability to create sentences increase
dramatically. Lets get started.
This lesson is long. Very long. Please read the entire lesson to fully understand everything. If
something is confusing, it will more than likely be resolved later in the lesson.
.
.
~ : Modifying Nouns with Verbs
Adjectives (in Korean and in English) get placed before nouns to describe them. You learned this
a long time ago in Lesson 4. You learned that when you want to use an adjective to describe a
noun, you must add ~/ to the stem of the adjective. For example:
=
=
=
To describe nouns in the following way:
Pretty girl:
Smart student:
Young teacher:
Simple enough.
But, what you dont know is that verbs can also describe nouns in this same way. It is the exact
same premise with adjectives, but it is very difficult for English speakers to understand.
This same thing (verbs describing nouns) is also done in English, but is done differently than in
Korean. As you know, In English and Korean, when an adjective describes a noun, the adjective
comes before the noun:
However, In English, when a verb describes a noun, the verb comes after the noun. For
example:
The girl who walks
The student who studies
The teacher who eats
The word who was added in all three examples, but it doesnt necessarily need to be who in
English. For example:

The girl that walks

The student that studies
The teacher that eats
In those three examples, that was added, and each example essentially has the same meaning
as when who was written instead. You dont need to worry about if it should be who/that or
whatever because you are not learning English you are learning Korean.
The point I am trying to get at here, is that verbs can also describe nouns. In English, verbs are
placed after the nouns to describe them.
The next sentence is the most important sentence of the entire lesson:
In Korean, verbs are placed before nouns to describe them very similar to how it is done with
adjectives.
How is this done? Like this?



Are those correct? Haha. No. Not by a long shot.
When you adjust adjectives to describe nouns, you know that you should add ~/ to the stem
of the word.
When you adjust verbs to describe nouns, you must add ~ to the stem of a verb:
=
=
=
These are all verbs that can now be placed before a noun to describe it:
= the girl who walks
= the student who studies
= the teacher who eats
Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking Okay, that is great, but when would I ever
say the girl who walks in a sentence?
That is a good question. Really, you would never (or very rarely) say something like that in a
sentence but understanding that sentence is the foundation for understanding everything else
about ~ .

Remember, in regular sentences (in English and Korean), it is very rare to just use the present
tense conjugation. For example, are these natural?:
= The girl walks
= The student studies
= The teacher eats
Are those natural? Yes, they are natural, but who would ever just say the girl walks. Usually in
every-day sentences, you would add more information or conjugate the sentence in other tense:
= The girl walked to school
= The girl will walk to school
= The girl walks fast
etc
You can use the same information to describe the noun (the girl):
The girl who walked to school
The girl who will walk to school
The girl who walks fast
Lets stick to the one in the present tense for now:
The girl walks:
The girl who walks:
The girl walks fast:
The girl who walks fast:
Okay, so whats the point? When would I ever want to say The girl who walks fast?
The thing is, now that you have made the noun the girl who walks fast/ you can
now place that noun in sentences that:
end in an adjective
end in a verb
end in
You have been doing the exact same things with adjectives since Lesson 4.
= Pretty girl
= The pretty girl is young

 = I met a pretty girl

= I am a pretty girl
= The girl who walks fast
= The girl who walks fast is young
= I met a girl who walks fast
= I am a girl who walks fast
Those sentences may not be that common/natural in English/Korean, but that is the basis of this
entire lesson. It is important to realize that entire clauses (or multiple clauses) can be put before
this ~ form, including clauses with subjects in them. Remember (from Lesson 2), when the
subject of the clause is not subject of the entire sentence, you must attach ~/ to that subject.
The subject of a clause describing a noun using ~ should always have the particle ~/
attached to it (unless the subject of the main clause is the same in which case, one can be
omitted). For example:
= The person I meet
= The movie I watch
= The food I eat
All more naturally said like this:
= The person I am meeting
= The movie I am watching
= The food I am eating
Again, now that you have those nouns, you can do whatever you want to them:
= The person I am meeting is pretty
= The movie I am watching is funny
= The food I am eating is delicious
More examples:
= The place I often go
= I am going to the place I often go to
= My friend is going to the place I often go

Actually, I feel like this is getting a little bit too complicated. I want to break this down one more
time.
This sentence should be simple to you:

 = My friend is going to school

Simple enough. Subject place verb.
If you want to describe that school, you could do so with adjectives:
= big school
= small school|
= bad school
or verbs:
= The school I go to often
Then, it is simply a matter of putting those nouns into sentences:
= My friend is going to the big school
= My friend is going to the small school
= My friend is going to the bad school
= My friend is going to the school that I go to often
Incredibly complicated at first, incredibly simple once you get the hang of it. The only problem is
that it is difficult for English speakers to get used to because we describe a noun with a verb after
the noun.
Many more examples:
= the/a girl that likes science
= I like girls that like science
= The exam I am writing
= The exam I am writing is difficult
= The girl who I am going out with
= The girl who I am going out with went to the US
= The food that my mother cooks
= The food that my mother cooks is always delicious
= students who do not study
= Students who do not study are not smart
= the day(s) I go to the park
= I am always happy on the days I go to the park
Actually, Korean people have the same problem with this concept when translating to English. If
you meet a Korean person who cant speak English well, they will always say sentences like this
in their Korean style.

Instead of saying: girls that like science, they say:

like science girls
Instead of saying the exam I am writing, they say:
I write exam
Instead of saying the girl I am going out with, they say:
I go out with girl
Instead of saying the food my mother cooks, they say:
my mother cooks food
Anyways, enough of what Korean people say.

It is hard to translate the definition of this concept directly in English, but it sometimes translates
to who, when, or that. These words however dont need to be in the sentence in English, as
you will see in the following examples. Each of the following pairs of sentences have the same
meaning in English:
My friend is going to the school I go to often
My friend is going to the school that I go to often
The exam I am writing is difficult
The exam that I am writing is difficult
The girl I am going out with went to the US
The girl who I am going out with went to the US
The girl that I am going out with went to the US
The food my mother cooks is always delicious
The food that my mother cooks is always delicious
Students that do not study are not smart
Students who do not study are not smart
I am always happy on the days I go to the park
I am always happy on the days that I go to the park
I am always happy on the days when I go to the park
That can be used in most situations. If the noun you are using is a person, who can be
exchanged for that. If the noun you are using is a time, when can be exchanged for that.

Im going to say this one more time. Read it a few times to make sure you understand it
completely (it is complicated). The noun that you create by describing it with a verb can be
placed anywhere that other nouns can be placed!
Lets describe one more noun and see where it can be placed:

 = the students that I teach

Placed as the subject of a sentence:
= The students that I teach dont want to come to
class
Before :
= That person is a student that I teach (I teach that student)
Placed in any clause within a sentence:
= Before the students that I
teach came to class, I cleaned the classroom
.. okay, I think you get it.

So far in this lesson you have learned how to describe nouns using verbs in the present tense:
The place I go
The food I eat
The student I teach
But what about the past tense?
The place I went
The food I ate
The student I taught
Or the future tense?
The place I will go
The food I will eat
The student I will teach
Lets talk about those now.

~ Past Tense (~/ )

You can also describe nouns with verbs in the past tense to make nouns like:
The place I went
The food I ate
The student I taught

To do this, instead of adding ~ to the stem of a verb, you must add ~/. You must add ~
to stems ending in a consonant ( = ), and ~ should be added directly to stems ending
in a vowel ( = ):
= The place I went
= The food I ate
= The student I taught
The general idea is the same as the present tense; the verb is simply conjugated into the past.
More examples:
= The food my mom cooked is delicious
= I ate all the food my mom cooked
= The person I met yesterday wants to meet me
again
= I want to pack up the food that is left over
1 = One of the students I taught last year has
already become a doctor
= On the day I didnt go to work, I went to the hospital

~ Future Tense (~/ )

You can also describe nouns with verbs in the future tense to make nouns like:
The place I will go
The food I will eat
The student I will teach
To do this, instead of adding ~ to the stem of a verb, you must add ~/. You must add ~
to stems ending in a consonant ( = ) and ~ should be added directly to stems ending
in a vowel ( = ):
= The place I will go
= The food I will eat
= The student I will teach
Many more examples:

 = The place I will go is Jeju-do

= I have something/work to do
= I dont want to accept the gift that that
person will give me
= The score I will receive is important
Actually, you know this concept already sort of.
In Lesson 9, you learned how to conjugate verbs into the future by adding / to verbs and
adjectives. When I explained that concept, I also explained that you wouldnt be able to
understand the grammar behind the reasoning for doing so. I just said memorize it you will be
able to understand it eventually.
Well, now is eventually. Adding / to the stem of a verb to describe a noun in the following
example:
(the food I will eat)
Has the exact same grammar (but not the same meaning) as:
(I will eat)
Remember, is a noun that means thing. Saying breaks down to:
= a thing I will eat
+
= is
=
This literally translates to I am a thing that I will eat.. but you cannot translate it like that.
Whenever a sentence ends in ~ , you need to just think of that as a future conjugation
despite what the grammar within it suggests.
All incredibly complicated, but you dont really need to worry about the intricacies of ~ .
Just know that it is a future conjugation.

. All of this brings me to the last point of this lesson:

So Whats the Point?: ~

The name for everything you learned in this lesson is ~ (or ~ for past tense and ~
for future tense). So far, I have shown you many examples of other nouns in place of :
= The food I eat
= The food I ate
= The food I will eat
= the student I teach
= the student I taught
= the student I will teach
= the day I go
= the day I went
= the day I will go
Question:
So why is the grammar concept called ~ ?
Answer: (This answer is ridiculously important)
If you ever want to change a sentence (or any part of a sentence) into a noun, you must do so by
adding ~ to the clause. which leads to the next question:
Question:
Why on earth would I want to change a sentence into a noun?
Answer:
Look at the following example:
You know this already:
= I want apples
Very simple sentence. Subject object verb,
But what if you wanted to say the following:
I want my friend to bring apples.
The structure is actually identical in the two sentences:
I want apples
I want my friend to bring apples
In both cases, I will put the thing that you want in brackets:
I want (apples)
I want (my friend to bring apples)

In Korean:
(apples)
(my friend to bring apples)
The first one is easy, you already know:

But the second one? How would I say this in Korean?:
(my friend to bring apples)
How can you say my friend brings apples in Korean?
= My friend brings apples
But! You need to change that sentence to a noun. THIS is the situation when you will need to
change clauses/sentences to nouns. Lets change that sentence into a noun:

This is very hard to translate into English. means thing. The rest of it is an adjective
describing that thing. If I had to translate it, I would say the thing of my friend bringing apples...
but, again, it cannot really be translated.
So, if we look at our sentences again:
I want (apples)
I want (my friend to bring apples)
Apples =
My friend brings apples (noun form) =
(apples)
(my friend to bring apples)
()
( )
= I want apples
= I want my friend to bring apples

Wow, complicated.
Lets look at another example.
I like movies.

Simple sentence. Subject object verb
But what if you wanted to say
I like making movies, or
I like watching movies
Again, I will put the things that you like in brackets:
I like (movies)
I like (making movies)
I like (watching movies)
Movies:
I make movies:
I watch movies:
Into noun form?:

(movies)
(making movies)
(watching movies)
()
( )
( )
= I like movies
= I like making movies
= I like watching movies
I didnt realize this when I first learned this grammar concept. In almost every sentence you will
ever say, you need to put this concept into use whether you realize it or not.

Think about it, how often do you simply say I want to eat food? You usually make it more
complex by saying:
= I want to eat what that person is eating
= I want to eat what we ate last time
= I want to eat my moms cooking
Etc

Or, if you wanted to talk about what your dream is. Before this lesson, you could have said this:
but that translates to My dream is teacher. Is that natural? My
dream is teacher? Instead, it would sound more natural if you said:
= My dream is becoming a teacher

Just one more quick note specifically about translating from English to Korean or vice-versa. You
dont need to worry about this too much, but it does help if you understand it:
As I said earlier, when you translate ~ (noun) the meaning becomes the (noun) that or
the (noun) who or the (place) where as in:
= The man who ran/The man that ran
= The place where I went/the place that I went
This would also include if the noun you are talking about is thing:
= The thing that I am bringing is rice
= The thing that I want most is a car
However, when you want to turn an clause into a noun by using ~ it usually
translates to to or ~ing :
= I want my friend to bring apples
= My dream is becoming a doctor/My dream is to become a
doctor
= I like watching movies/I like to watch movies
Very complicated, but not overly important to be aware of right now. The rest of the lesson,
however very important. Please, if you cant understand something, let us know. I cannot stress
the importance of the content in this lesson enough.
Thats it for this lesson, but in the next 3 4 lessons I will be going deeper and deeper into the
~ grammar concept. This first lesson should give you a good first step.