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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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 Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject: Question for speakers of Korean |
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I taught 2 grammatical tenses to my uni students this week. Strangely, none of my students can answer the question "how many grammatical tenses are there in Korean?"
Is there something flawed with this seemingly basic question? |
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nate1983
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Think about it this way. If you asked a bunch of American university students how many tenses English has, what would you expect? |
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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Possibly, a third would know. Do you think that I am being too optimistic? |
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Atavistic
Joined: 22 May 2006
Location: How totally stupid that Korean doesn't show in this area.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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| ytuque wrote: |
| Possibly, a third would know. Do you think that I am being too optimistic? |
Yes. |
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matthew254
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Denton, TX
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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think about it. we (native speakers of english) learned our language implicitly. we are learning Korean explicitly. those kids of yours are learning just like we did, implicitly.
the only time I can think of where 1/3 of the population can answer t hat question is when you have a bunch of English majors all together in a room 
You aren't "wrong" or anything for asking - all I would suggest is for you to get the kids thinking about what is a case in the first place. Give an example, then hopefully they will pick up and be able to think of other examples. |
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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| anybody know what the answer is? |
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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| anybody know what the answer is? |
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nicholas_chiasson
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Location: Samcheok
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:44 am Post subject: |
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| I believe it has only three, with adverbs(ie modifier not topic) used to show more detail similar to Russian Verbal Aspect(not saying the syntax is similar but the semantics are similar). At least it has three according to my Korean Grammar. Past Present and Future. It looks simple present and present progressive are the same. Can't speak for the others. |
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azalea
Joined: 31 Jan 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:25 am Post subject: |
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| There are three tenses in Korean - Present, Past and Future. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:55 am Post subject: |
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Korean has present, past, further in the past (like "used to"), future definite, future probable (the most common for future regardless of probability), present continuous (하고 있다), and, whilst it's true Korean doesn't have a perfect tense, it uses 보다 (literally 'see') for "have you ever?" (미국에 가 봤어요?). Here, 'see' is like 'experience'.
The above replies are as simplistic as they are erroneous, as is the expectation that Koreans should be able to say how many tenses Korean has. It's a very difficult question. How many does English have? |
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billybrobby
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:03 am Post subject: |
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| Justin Hale wrote: |
Korean has present, past, further in the past (like "used to"), future definite, future probable (the most common for future regardless of probability), present continuous (하고 있다), and, whilst it's true Korean doesn't have a perfect tense, it uses 보다 (literally 'see') for "have you ever?" (미국에 가 봤어요?). Here, 'see' is like 'experience'.
The above replies are as simplistic as they are erroneous, as is the expectation that Koreans should be able to say how many tenses Korean has. It's a very difficult question. How many does English have? |
Yeah, how many does it have? I don't know.
I don't know for Korea either. Are 하겠다 and 할거다 both one tense or different tenses?
Actually, after looking on wikipedia, I see what an easy question it is:
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| The number of tenses in a language may be controversial, since its verbs may indicate qualities of uncertainty, frequency, completion, duration, possibility, and even whether information derives from experience or hearsay. |
| Quote: |
| According to some linguists,[weasel words] English has only two tenses by which verbs are inflected, the nonpast tense (present tense) and the past tense (indicated by ablaut or ending in -ed). |
| Quote: |
| The distinction between grammatical tense, aspect, and mood is fuzzy and at times controversial....Going even further, there's an ongoing dispute among modern English grammarians (see English grammar) regarding whether tense can only refer to inflected forms. In Germanic languages there are very few tenses (often only two) formed strictly by inflection, and one school contends that all complex or periphrastic time-formations are aspects rather than tenses. |
Shame on your students for not clearly shouting out the answer in unison. |
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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I was taught and have several grammar texts which state that there are 12 grammatical or verb tenses in the English language. I wasn't aware there was a controversy. |
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nicholas_chiasson
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Location: Samcheok
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Justin Hale wrote: |
Korean has present, past, further in the past (like "used to"), future definite, future probable (the most common for future regardless of probability), present continuous (하고 있다), and, whilst it's true Korean doesn't have a perfect tense, it uses 보다 (literally 'see') for "have you ever?" (미국에 가 봤어요?). Here, 'see' is like 'experience'.
The above replies are as simplistic as they are erroneous, as is the expectation that Koreans should be able to say how many tenses Korean has. It's a very difficult question. How many does English have? |
However what you say would indiciate, that korean does, indeed have only three tenses. Only inflected verbs can have tense anyway, at least classically speaking. |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| ytuque wrote: |
| I was taught and have several grammar texts which state that there are 12 grammatical or verb tenses in the English language. I wasn't aware there was a controversy. |
I'm with you: past, present and future simple, progressive, perfect and perfect progressive. Though I also agree with the earlier post about there only being the two: non-past and past. Grammar seems pretty ambiguous to me, so I might as well be ambiguous about it. |
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petethebrick
Joined: 25 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: |
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| ytuque wrote: |
| Possibly, a third would know. Do you think that I am being too optimistic? |
Em, I'd probably need to consult a book on this one. Is that bad given that I'm teaching the language?  |
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