KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 66

Korean Lesson: Lessons 66

To do something at the same time as: ~(으)면서
By adding ~(으)면서 to the end of the first verb in a sentence, you can indicate that you did that verb while doing another verb. This form is pretty simple when used with typical verbs:
저는 먹으면서 공부했어요 = I ate while studying
저는 영화를 보면서 콜라를 마셨어요 = I drank cola while watching a movie
저의 여자친구는 운동하면서 운동하고 있는 다른 남자들을 항상 쳐다봐요 = My girlfriend always stares at other guys when she is exercising
Notice that (as is common with Korean connecting particles) the first verb is not conjugated. Rather, only the final verb is conjugated, and tense is implied from that final verb.
What is important to know is that you must use this form whenever you want to say “I grew up doing _____.” For example:
I grew up watching TV
I grew up playing hockey
Or simply,
I grew up in Canada
When doing this, you need to use the word “to grow up” (자라다) after the (verb)~(으)면서 portion of the sentence. For example:
저는 TV를 보면서 자랐어요 = I grew up watching TV
저는 하키를 하면서 자랐어요 = I grew up playing hockey
저는 아빠랑 같이 하키를 하면서 자랐어요 = I grew up playing hockey with my dad
This is all pretty easy, but you cannot use the ~(으)면서 form when using words of position (서다, 앉다, 눕다, etc…). I will talk about this in the next section.
Using Words of Position with ~(으)면서
You learned way back in Lesson 17 that you cannot usually attach the connecting particle “~고” to position-like verbs.
I could describe what I said in Lesson 17 again, but really, the explanation from that lesson is perfect. I will simply re-iterate what was written in that lesson:
“There are also many position verbs that usually act differently than regular. The most common of these are to sit (앉다), stand (서다), and to lie down (눕다).
The reason these are treated differently is because these are verbs that indicate a static state of position. For example, if I just said:
저는 먹고 공부했어요 = I ate and studied
In that sentence, aside from the fact that one action happened after another, 먹다 and 공부하다 have no relation to each other. However, if you were to say:
저는 눕고 책을 읽었어요 – That would mean “I lied down, and then read a book” – as in, I lied down, stood up again, and then read a book. I guess technically you COULD do that, but nobody would ever do that. Instead, what you wanted to say is that you lied down, and then, while lying down, you read a book. In these situations with position verbs, the first action is related to the section action. That is why there are treated differently.”
Getting back to this lesson – you shouldn’t really use “~(으)면서” with these position verbs. You could technically, but the meaning would be different that what you expect. For example, you could say:
저는 앉으면서 공부했어요
But you have to remember that “앉다” means “to sit” (as in, going from a standing position to a sitting position, and NOT the static position of sitting). Therefore, this sentence actually means that you studied while going from a standing position to a sitting position. Again, technically you could do (and say) that, but 99.9% of the time, that would not be the meaning that you are going for.
Instead, what you want to say is that while you were sitting, you studied. This is done using the same grammatical form as described in Lesson 17. You simply add ~아/어서 to the position-like verb (instead of ~(으)면서. For example:
저는 앉아서 공부했어요 = I studied while sitting (in a sitting position)
저는 침대에 누워서 TV를 봤어요 = I lied down and watched TV
Something that you don’t really need to know, but if you are a Korean grammar nerd (like me) you might want to read this. If you wanted to say “I was lying down” you would say:
저는 침대에 누워 있었어요 = I was lying down (NOT 눕고 있었어요).
So, technically, you can say:
저는 침대에 누워 있으면서 공부했어요 = I studied while lying down
But this is (as Korean people often do) shortened to:
저는 침대에 누워 (있으면)서 공부했어요:
저는 침대에 누워서 공부했어요 – I studied while lying down
There is another similar grammatical form that you should know about before moving on to the next lesson.
While: ~(으)며
By adding “~(으)며” in the same position as “(으)면서” you can create the same meaning of “while doing… I did….” For example:
저는 밥을 먹으며 공부했어요 = I ate while studying
저는 영화를 보며 콜라를 마셨어요 = I drank cola while watching a movie