Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CrikeyKorea]

[thatkidpercy]

I know what you mean and certainly in spoken language it'd be common for the other person to interject before you finish the question, but this was in a written message which is why it threw me! This didn't happen but an example conversation might be:

Girlfriend's mum: 존 어디 있는지?
Me: 지금 이마트인데 곧 집으로 들어가요
Girlfriend's mum: 거기서 뭐 사는지?

I'm not suggesting it's wrong, but my ears expect to hear "어디 있어?" / "어디 있냐?" / "어디야?" etc. if a question is being asked about my whereabouts.

[joesp]

Alright, I have no Korean to ask

흐어 저 아름다운 4등신 몸매!! 너무 사랑스러워요 ㅠㅠ

this is from Facebook, which should only be in English BTW....
what is "4등신"?

This one girl put up a picture of a dog standing on its hind legs, with its belly exposed and front and paws in the air, if that's relevant ....

[thatkidpercy]

[Enigma]

Turning down an offer of food

I go hiking every weekend and Korean hikers sometimes offer me food. Sometimes I accept but other times I've already eaten or don't want to stop. When they offer, they usually speak very quickly so I can't catch exactly what they're saying, but it's clear they're asking if I want to join them and have something to eat with them. I'm usually caught off guard and just say the first thing that comes to my head, for example, "Kwenchanayo. Kamsahamnida." (spelling?) I believe it's correct, but I'm guessing it sounds unnatural.
So in this situation, how do I say something that says something along the lines of, "Thank you, I appreciate the offer, but no thank you." Preferably it's not too long, and also something I could pronounce that Koreans would understand.

Thanks

[thatkidpercy]

To be honest I think what you're saying sounds fine. If you want to make it a little more emphatic, you could say something like "너무 고맙습니다만 관찮아요" (neomu gomap-seumnidaman, kwen-chan-a-yo / Thank you so much, but I'm okay)

Or, if you want to give a reason you could just change the end of the sentence:

너무 고맙습니다만...
... 시간이 없어요 (shigan-ee eobseo-yo / I don't have time)
... 빨리 가야돼요 (balli gaya-de-yo / I have to keep going quickly)
... 배가 터질 것 같아요 (be-ga teo-jil-geo gat-a-yo / I'm already full to bursting)

I'd probably go with the last one personally, if I was turning down an offer of food. In any case, I don't think what you're saying is unnatural!

[jonpurdy]

[Enigma]

Hey thanks for the reply, thatkidpercy. You gave me some great phrases to use there.

[padme]

I know a really awesome tutor so just pm me and I'll give you the details (plus I won't spam you after that ^^)

[joesp]

파리에 사는 친구가 한 명 있어요.

Me no like space between 한 and 명 ... I hate KOrean spacing. 도와 주세요.

[eumyang]

[joesp]

Hi again.

My question is, is there a space between "한" and "명".

I finally looked this up, if it is like 명 or 마리 or 번 or 개 or 자루 then it is a 의존형사 (dependent noun) and you put a space, but if it is a 조사 (particle) then you leave no space.

====================
I have one other nagging question.

how do I know whether or not to put a 는 on 게 in this Korean-written sentence:

이 옷이 낡았을망정 내게는 특별한 의미가 있는 거예요.

I have a fairly good group on 는 vs. 이 as you can see on my site subject_marker_vs._topic_marker
but I cannot figure out why they say 게는 here ....

[thatkidpercy]

I think you're confusing the 게 in that sentence with a different meaning... 내게 is a contraction of 나에게, not 내것이.

To me, the 는 here is highlighting the fact that this item of clothing is special to me. Without the 는 it sounds like the clothing could be important to other people too, but using 내게는 implies that it's only important to me.

[joesp]

I actually think you may be correct. 는 can be used to set things apart. However, there is no difference in English between it is special to me and it is special to me. Here is another example:

한국에서는 외국인등록증을 영어로 "alien registration card"이라고 하다니 참 재미있어요.

why on earth do they feel the need to add 는 ? With or without the 는, I see no difference in meaning. Am I supposed to learn this, or this fall beyonds my capability given that my native language is English? Like, fixing articles for Koreans.
=========================

I actually came back here to say that I finally figured out whether to say 다선 번 or 오 번. The answer is, "both". That is, with 번 you can use either the pure Korean or the Sino-Korean numbers.

한 번
one time

일번 number one

So, when I go into McDonald's I should say "일번 세트 주세요" (set number one) and when I want to say I did it five times, that is 다섯 번 했어요

[padme]