Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rabidcake]

I tried putting this into the learning Korean language thread but felt it deserved it's own topic.

Anyhow, one of my biggest difficulties in learning Korean is understanding these tricky adj's. They function so much like verbs that it almost irritates me, although I must admit it is extremely unique and I have never studied a language with this type of structure.

I want to learn a big list of commonly used adj's. In addition, I want to read a few grammar pages of how Korean adj's are used and when they are used. Everything I read regarding Korean adj's is always grouped up with Korean verbs. I know that Korean adj's can't be exactly the same as their verbs cousins, I really want to understand the difference.

Furthermore, I feel like the structure of adj's make it more difficult to include many of them in one sentence.

Anyone care to elaborate or recommend a few resources?

[T-J]

Sorry, I kind of ignored your question in the sticky because you're right, it really is a subject that is larger than the sticky's purpose. In fact there is so much debate on whether Korean has adjectives or not we will not come to an agreement here I'm afraid. Simply google "does Korean have adjectives?" and you will get more papers written on the subject than you could possibly wade through. These papers, written by linguists that have far more experience and knowledge than I'll ever have, present sound arguments for both sides of this topic and yet fail to agree.

That being said, in practical terms I've found that thinking of the verbs such as 크다 (to be) big, as an adjective helps as opposed to thinking of it as a verb. Notice (and I'm not implying you haven't) the presence of (to be) preceeding the adjective. Dictionary entries will contain this as well.

I've found the simplest way to get your mind around this particular stumbling block is to accept that adjectives do not require a linking verb. So instead of "The ball is big" think "Ball (is) big". I've referred to this as Tarzanification, not in a derogatory way, it just helps to get past this grammatical point.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can explain it better or address a more specific point.

Good luck in your studies.

[ironclad80]

I understand your frustration. There's a nice book here in bookstores called 501 Korean Verbs and because of the nature of adjectives in this language, there is also a counterpart called 501 Korean Adjectives.

It's basically 501 commonly used verbs/adjectives conjugated in all forms with example sentences.

VERY useful. I couldn't find anything this nice in the states because Korean isn't as popular as Japanese or Chinese, but these books are widely available here.

I highly recommend! I'd give you the author name but I don't have it in front of my right now.

[ironclad80]

I understand your frustration. There's a nice book here in bookstores called 501 Korean Verbs and because of the nature of adjectives in this language, there is also a counterpart called 501 Korean Adjectives.

It's basically 501 commonly used verbs/adjectives conjugated in all forms with example sentences.

VERY useful. I couldn't find anything this nice in the states because Korean isn't as popular as Japanese or Chinese, but these books are widely available here.

I highly recommend! I'd give you the author name but I don't have it in front of my right now.

[rabidcake]

[rabidcake]

[nathanrutledge]

500 Basic Korean Verbs
500 Basic Korean Adjectives

both of them by Bryan Park

The verbs book is red writing on the cover, the adjectives is blue writing.

TJ hit the nail on the head - English adjectives all start with (to be) even if it isn't said.

If you said " I am fat" you have "to be" in the word "am".

In Korean, it's the same thing. 나는 뚱뚱해요. (As for me, I am fat)

The trouble YOU are having (I'm assuming) is when it comes to saying things like "the fat person," situations where you want to describe something as part of the sentence, not necessarily as the whole sentence.

That's when you have to learn the modifiers. The main one to learn would be ㄴ. Using fat, you could say 뚱뚱한사람 to say "fat person." The rough way to say it is drop the 다 and add ㄴ to the end of the word. 하다 words are the easiest as they simply become 한 but some of the others have different forms, depending on what they end with.

I'm not the strongest with adjectives, so if I'm off, someone feel free to correct me, but generally this is how I've done it and I don't get many complaints. There are a few other modifiers as well, but that's the big one.

[Hugo85]

Well the basic structure is "I am Adj/verb" which is straigthforward and both adj and verb can be conjugated in the same way. However when you move on to more complicated grammar, then the grammar rule will make a distinction between adjective and verb.

As a previous poster, I use the word "be" when memorizing adjectives. I.E. "to be fat" and "to run".

[lichtarbeiter]

[T-J]

^^ 둘다 맞은데요.

Slightly different meaning though.
슬프지 마라. Don't be sad.
슬퍼 하지 마라. Don't act(do) sad.

[lichtarbeiter]

[T-J]

In strict grammatical terms (in text books where credence is given to the existence of adjectives in Korean) you are correct.

In colloquial usage 지 마라 is attatched to all verbs.

How often do you hear 시끄럽지 마. vs 시끄러 하지 마.

Both are acceptable. The former is more common. The latter more formal.

Further proof IMHO that Korean does not have adjectives.

I think a lot of this confusion stems from Koreans trying to explain grammar in terms that foreigners can understand.

[Jake_Kim]

[T-J]

[Jake_Kim]