Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

I try to study, but at the end of the day I just want to unplug and not crack the books. I carry my electronic dictionary with me all the time and a stack of flashcards, this helps a bit.

I have heard that conjugating verbs is easy, and from what I have seen it is pretty straightforward but I was wondering if anyone knows of a chart that has it all laid out already.

A list of the particles and postpositions would be cool too.

[thebum]

[chaz47]

I know I NEED a book on this stuff. I have many, I just want a chart that gives me examples. If I can see the logic and simplicity ( I have heard ) is in the system then perhaps more serious study won't be so daunting at the end of the day.

[gang ah jee]

Hey, who likes coming home after a hard days work and studying grammar? Not me. But I did it any way. Don't be so lazy. You make your living as a language teacher, you should know the kind of effort that is required to learn and automatise grammar systems. Buy a grammar book, learn the rules. Try making a chart as practice.

It's also probably worth pointing out that there are thousands of possible conjugations for any given verb. It's not like Spanish or Latin. That's why there are no easy cheezy charts.

[SPINOZA]

Yes, Chaz, buy a book and make a chart yourself. What I did was type the verb conjugations in huge font, print them, and stick them up on my wall.

The thing is with Korean verbs.....it's not just tenses. Korean has "V because" endings, "V-if" endings, "V-let's" (let's eat) endings, to name only a few.

Any such chart would be too big, with too tiny font to be worthwhile.

First learn the tenses...."I'm V-ing", "I did V", "I'm gonna V", "I wanna V"... then start on the rest.

Also, Korean has less distinction between verbs and adjectives than English.....there is a Korean infinitive "to be difficult", "to be spicy", for example. Learn how to make an adjective into a verb too, because that's jolly useful.

[Mashimaro]

From memory Richard Harris' 'Roadmap to Korean' has a list of some common verbs and simple conjugations at the back of the book.

But for mine it is far, far more beneficial to actually write them out yourself using a book and or korean friends to help you out.

[Sina qua non]

Just take any verb, drop the -da base form ending, and add either -ah-yo or -eo-yo (or if it is the common -ha-da base form ending, change the -ha-da to -hae-yo).

[Son Deureo!]

Believe me, if there were any way to make learning Korean grammar easy, someone would have published it by now and made, um.... a few thousand dollars or so.

Sorry, it's going to take some work, but it is doable. The best books I've seen to walk you through the intricacies of Korean grammar is Elementary Korean by Ross King and its sequel Continuing Korean.

Hang in there, keep studying, and keep practicing. You'll get the hang of it.

[Demophobe]

[Sina qua non]

[gang ah jee]

[Sina qua non]

[gang ah jee]

[SPINOZA]

I don't mean to patronize the OP, but possibly a beginner's book is the way to go here. Stephen Revere's book 'Survival Korean' is good for verbs and Oh Seung Eun's 'Korean Made Easy' is great for phrases.

All the following verb conjugations are in Stephen Revere's book:

to wanna V
because V
past tense
2 kinds of future tense
polite would you V?
V but V
V in order to V
continuous (present and past)
let's V!
can/can't V
to have to V
if V
gerrunds
seems as though one will have to V
to plan to V
to V one must V
if V then I would like to V

Get yourself a big list of Korean verbs from the net too.

[thebum]

ok i'll make you a simple list and post it later. i might not be able to get to it until this weekend. is it ok if it's all in hangul?