Spaces Between Words

As in English, there are spaces between words in Korean sentences. The difference is, postpositional words (which are prepositions in English) and sentence endings in Korean are attached to the end of the word, without a space in between. Therefore when we type or write Korean we need to leave a space after words unless they have a postposition or sentence ending attached :

The correct way is :

저   피자   좋아해요.                                     I   like   pizza.

Jeo   pija   joahaeyo.

The wrong sentences are :

1)  저피자좋아해요.                                      Ilikepizza.

     Jeopijajoahaeyo.

2)  저  피  자  좋  아  해  요.                          I  l  i  k  e  p  i  z  z  a.

     Jeo  pi  ja  jo  a  hae  yo.

As you can see above, sentences are harder to read with no spaces between the words. The spacing is made more obvious on the hand writing sheet shown below.

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Negative Question Usage

When asking questions in Korean, people use the negative form very often. For example, in Situation Dialogue 2, “배 안 고파?” (Bae angopa? = Are you not hungry?) is used where in English we would ask Are you hungry? (“배 고파? = Bae gopa? ”). When this is used, you should think of the question as if it were not in the negative form. Negative questions are used often because they are indirect and therefore less intimidating. Using the negative form often will make your Korean sound more natural.

Another aspect of negative questions that can be very confusing to non-native speakers of Korean is that when answering, the opposite occurs from what happens in English. If in English someone asks you Aren’t you hungry? You can respond by saying No, I’m not hungry but in Korean you would have to reply with Yes, I’m not hungry (어, 배 안 고파 = Eo, bae angopa) because you are agreeing with the negation, i.e. agreeing that you are indeed not hungry. On the other hand, if you are hungry then you can reply with No, I’m hungry (아니, 배 고파 = Ani, bae gopa) which may sound very strange in English, but it is a correct and natural way to respond in Korean.

A good strategy for avoiding the “yes/no” problem is to just answer the question with a straight statement. For example, 배 안 고파 (Bae gopa = I’m hungry).

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Situation Dialogue 3

Study the conversation below :

Hyeonu and Minjun go to a pizza shop.

현우  :   들어가자.                                    Let’s go in here.

             Deureogaja

 (Minjun sees Hyeonu eating an olive)

민준  :   너 올리브 좋아해?                      You like olives?

             Neo ollibeu joahae?

현우  :   응, 왜? 넌 싫어?                          Yeah, why? Don’t you like them?

             Eung, wae? Neon shireo?

민준  :   어. 난 별로야.                              Yeah. Not really.

             Eo. Nan pyeolroya.

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Saying ‘Yes’ and ‘No’

Now, let’s learn how to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question in previous topic.

	Casual	Polite
Yes	어 or 응 (eo or eung)	네 (ne)
No	아니 (ani)	아니요 (aniyo)

If you like pizza, you can just say 어 (eo = yes), or say 어 (eo) and repeat the verb 좋아해요 (joahaeyo = like) as in the dialogue below. In English, we can add ‘I do’ as in ‘Yes, I do’. But in Korean, simply repeat the verb.

Friend 1  :   피자 좋아해?                                      Do you like pizza?

                  Pija joahae?

Friend 2  :   어, 좋아해.                                          Yes, I do.

                  Eo, joahae.

If you don’t like pizza, you can just say 아니 (ani = no) to your friend. You can also add the verb, but in this case you have to use the negative of the verb (just as in English you say ‘No, I don’t’) which you can form by putting the negative word 안  (an = not) right before the verb 좋아해 (joahae = like) as in the dialogue below.

Friend 1  :   피자 좋아해?                                     Do you like pizza?

                   Pija joahae?

Friend 2  :   아니, 안 좋아해.                                No, I don’t.

                   Ani, anjoahae.

However, it sounds too direct, so an indirect reply is often used, as in the dialogue below.

Friend 1  :   피자 좋아해?                                 Do you like pizza?

                   Pija joahae?

Friend 2  :   난 별로야                                       Not really.

                   Nan pyeolroya.

In Korean, it is considered impolite to say ‘no’ directly. Instead, you would normally give an excuse or reason without actually saying 아니요 (aniyo = no). For example, if someone asked you if you had a spare moment to lend them a hand, you might reply with 좀 바쁜데요 (Jom pappeundeyo = I am a little bit busy).

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Questions Structure

In the previous section we learnt how to make a simple statement such as ‘저 피자 좋아해요’ (Jeo pija joahaeyo = I like pizza). Turning this into a question is quite simple. You just say ‘피자 좋아해요?’  (Pija joahaeyo? = Do you like pizza?) with a rising intonation.

So if a sentence has a rising intonation at the end, it becomes a question :

피자 좋아해요?                        Do you like pizza?

Pija joahaeyo?

And if it has a falling intonation, it becomes a statement :

저 피자 좋아해요.                     I like pizza.

Jeo pija joahaeyo.

You may be asking what has happened to the pronoun ‘you’ in the question form. As mentioned in Unit 1 ‘Introducing Yourself’, the equivalent Korean pronouns of ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he/she’, ‘it’ and ‘they’ are normally omitted when it is obvious in context to whom or what you are referring. In particular, the Korean pronoun for ‘you’ is hardly ever used, unless the speakers are very close. To use it in any other situation is very insulting. The most common strategy when you are addressing someone is either to omit a subject altogether, or to use the person’s name instead.

For example :

1)    (너) 피자 좋아해?                 (Do you) like pizza?               (Casual)

       (Neo) pija joahae?

2)    로버트, 피자 좋아해?           Robert, do you like pizza?     (Casual)

        Robert, pija joahae?

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Word Order

Language has a structure. Look at the examples below :

1)         I             like        pizza.

       (Subject)      (Verb)      (Object)    

2)           I            pizza         like.

    (Subject)      (Object)      (Verb)

The obvious difference between them is the order of the words. Why don’t people say sentence (2)? English sentences follow a basic Subject-Verb-Object pattern as in (1). The Korean pattern is Subject-Object-Verb as in (2). The verb always comes at the end of the sentence.

Here are the Korean counterparts of ‘I’, ‘like’, and ‘pizza’ :

           I          like         pizza.

          저      좋아해요      피자.

          Jeo       joahaeyo         pija.

See, it sounds really weird. Now, let’s say ‘I like pizza’ in Korean. 저 (subject) comes first, and then 피자 (object) second, and 좋아해요 (verb) last. Therefore, ‘I like pizza’ in Korean is :

           Jeo         pija            joahaeyo.

            저         피자           좋아해요.

             I          pizza              like.

You may think you have learnt only one sentence, ‘저 피자 좋아해요’ (Jeo pija joahaeyo.). However, if we replace 피자 (pija = pizza) with other objects like 로버트 (Robert), 커피 (keopi = coffee) or 아이스크림 (aisekerim = ice cream) - just a few of the words you have learnt so far – you can already make lots of Korean sentences :

1)   저 로버트 좋아해요.                               I like Robert.                

      Jeo Robert joahaeyo.

2)   저 커피 좋아해요.                                   I like coffee.

      Jeo keopi joaheyo.

3)    저 아이스크림 좋아해요.                        I like ice-cream.   

      Jeo aiseukeurim joahaeyo.


Before we go on any further, we have to learn one more thing about the above sentence pattern. When we talk about ourselves, we usually add a particle 는 to 저 (Jeo = I) or 저희 (Jeo-hee = We). Therefore, all the above sentences could be changed as follows :


저는  (put any object here)  좋아해요.            I like (any object).

Jeoneun (put any object here) joahaeyo.

That's all about basic word order. If you have any confusion, don't hesitate to ask.

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Situation Dialogue 2

Study the conversation below :

Hyeonu is showing Minjun around Melbourne and it is about lunch time.

현우   :      배 안 고파?

민준   :      어... 약간.

현우   :      점심 뭐 먹을래? 피자 좋아해?

민준   :      피자？ 그럼.

현우   :      그럼, 우리 피자 먹자.

Romanisation and Translation

Hyeonu	Bae an gopa?	Aren’t you hungry?
Minjun	Eo... yakgan.	Yeah, a bit.
Hyeonu	Jeomsim mwo meogeullae? Pija joahae?	What do you want for lunch? Do you like pizza?
Minjun	Pija？ Geureom.	Pizza? Alright.
Hyeonu	Geureom, uri pija meokja.	Then let’s eat pizza.

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