Posted by Ginny
Hopefully you’ve had some time to think about the ㄹ ending verbs in detail (published on September 14th 2009). I’m going to go even further and show you how to conjugate these verbs in the deferential polite form.
In the first post on ㄹ ending verbs, the verb 놀다 was conjugated as 놀아요 in the standard polite form. Before we move on to the deferential polite form I just want to point out some pronunciation discrepancies in the standard polite form. Although 놀아요 is spelled as “nolayo”, it’s actually pronounced as “norayo”. So the way you should pronounce 놀아요 is by saying it as 노라요. The same goes for 알아요. It’s pronounced as 아라요. Just remember that the correct spelling is 알아요, but the way you pronounce it “arayo”. With 만들다 you should pronounce it as 만드러요, or “manduroyo”, even though it’s spelled as 만들어요.
Now in the deferential polite, a verb like 알다 is going to be 압니다. The ㄹ is taken off and ㅂ is attached in place of the ㄹ. After the ㄹ, 니다 is attached. So with 놀다 it’ll be 놉니다. Again, remove the ㄹ, and attach ㅂin place of the ㄹ and add 니다 after the ㄹ. Can you guess how to change 만들다 in the deferential polite form? It’s going to be 만듭니다. When these verbs are used in the spoken form in everyday speech, it’ll sound a little different from the way it’s spelled. 압니다 will sound like 암니다 when said quickly. So instead of the “p” sound in 압니다 (the bottom character ㅂ) it’ll sound like an “m” sound (ㅁ) in 암니다.
The thing you have to remember here is that the correct spelling is with the ㅂ in 압니다. Again the same “m” sound appears in 만듭니다 (만듬니다) and 놉니다 (놈니다). In other words, it’s going to be spelled as “mandupnida” (만듭니다) but pronounced as “mandupnida” (만듬니다). Although this may seem confusing right now, you’ll soon see that these pronunciation changes are much easier than reading the actual word as it is. Not to get linguistically technical, but it’s quite difficult to end a sound in a “p” and soon after make an “n” sound, and so instead of a “p” there’s a tendency to make an “m” sound instead.
I think I’ll do another post on ㄹ ending verbs, but this time, it’ll be more of an exercise and it’ll incorporate some old grammar points we went over. Until then, 다음에 또 봐요! (See you again next time!)
Posted by Ginny
A lot of people think that the Korean language is phonetic, meaning that words are pronounced exactly as they are written. This is true to some extent, but there are cases where there is a discrepancy between the way Korean is read and the way it’s written.
When a riul (리율) or ㄹis placed next to a ㄴor niun (니은) the ㄹis pronounced as a ㄴ. This means that a word like 전라도 (Jonlado is a province in Korea) is pronounced as 절라도 (Jollado), even though it’s written as 전라도. 연락 (yonlak) or contact is pronounced as yolak (열락) even though it’s written as 연락. The same goes for 편리 (punli) or convenience. It’s written as 편리 but pronounced as 펼리 (pulli).
When mium (미음) or ㅁ is next to a niun (니은) ㄴ the ㄴ will sound like a ㅁ. A word like shinmun (신문) or newspaper, is pronounced as shimmun (심문), even though it’s written as shinmun (신문). The same goes for anma (안마) or massage. It’s written as anma (안마) but it’s pronounced as amma (암마).
When biup (비웁) or ㅂ is next to a niun (니은) or ㄴ the ㅂ will make a mium (미음) or ㅁ sound. With a word like kamsahapnida (감사합니다) or “thank you”, the p turns into an m sound, making the word into kamsahamnida (감사함니다), even though it’s written as kamsahapnida (갑사합니다). The same thing happens to a word like komapsupnida (고맙습니다) which also means “thank you”. Even though it’s written as komapsupnida (고맙습니다) it’s pronounced as komapsumnida (고맙슴니다).
When kiyok (기역) or ㄱ is next to a mium (미음) or ㅁ the ㄱ will make a iung (이응) or ㅇ sound. Kukmul (국물) or soup is pronounced as kungmul (궁물) and kukmo (국모) or queen is called kungmo (궁모).
When kiyok (기역) or ㄱ is next to a hiut (히읏) or ㅎ the ㅎ will make a ㅋ or kiuk (키윽) sound. Bukhan (북한) or North Korea is pronounced as bukkan (부칸). Chakhan (착한) which means “kind” or “good-hearted” is pronounced as chakkan (차칸).
Posted by Ginny
If you want to spell out a word in Korean, you’ll need to know what each character is called. Luckily, the vowels are just called by the way they sound, but the consonants actually have a name. Check out Byki Korean to listen to the consonants.
ㄱ - giyok (기역)
ㄲ - ssang giyok (쌍 기역)
ㄴ - niun (니은)
ㄷ - digut (디귿)
ㄸ - ssang digut (쌍 디귿)
ㄹ - riul (리을)
ㅁ - mium (미음)
ㅂ - biup (비읍)
ㅃ - ssang biup (쌍 비읍)
ㅅ - shiot (시옷)
ㅆ - ssang shiot (쌍 시옷)
ㅇ - iung (이응)
ㅈ - jiut (지읒)
ㅉ - ssang jiut (쌍 지읒)
ㅊ - chiut (치읓)
ㅋ - kiuk (키읔)
ㅌ - tiut (티읕)
ㅍ - piup (피읖)
ㅎ - hiut (히읗)
Posted by Ginny
Remember to try the Byki Korean to hear the complex vowels!
애 - 애인 (boyfriend/girlfriend)
얘 - 얘기하다 (to talk)
에 - 전에 (before)
예 - 예상 (anticipation)
와 - 왕자 (king)
왜 - 왜 (why)
외 - 외국 (foreign country)
워 - 월급 (salary)
웨 - 웨이터 (waiter)
위 - 위지 (dangerous situation)
의 - 의자 (chair)
Posted by Ginny
Did you know that there are 10 simple Korean vowels? I’ll try and give you an idea of what these vowels sound like; with examples of words that contain these sounds in English. However, the best way to learn these vowels is to hear them over and over. The Korean Byki has a list where you can hear these vowels. Check that out for more practice.
아 - “a” like in father
야 - “ya” like in yard
어 - “u” like in cut
여 - “yu” like in yup
오 - “o” like in oil
요 - “yo” like in yoke
우 - “u” like in sue
유 - “you” like in you
으 - “o” like in hood
이 - “e” like in easy
