KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 42

Korean Lesson: Lessons 42

별일 - If you break it down, 별 means "special" and 일 means "task/job/work." When you put them together, 별일 literally means "special task/job/work." But, 별일 is only ever used when combined with 없다 to make '별일 없다." You say this when you have nothing to do/not busy/nothing wrong. You can also ask somebody if everything is okay/if they are busy with this:
별일 없어? = Is everything okay? Are you busy these days?
밖 means outside and it usually put after another noun and followed by 에 because it usually refers to a location.
건물 밖에 = outside the building
학교 밖에 = outside the school
It can also be used on its own to mean "outside"
나는 밖에 나갔어 = I went outside
목숨 means "life" but is usually only used when you 'lose, save or risk' a life. It is a noun, but you can use other common verbs when using 목숨:
사람 4명은 목숨을 잃었다 = 4 people lost their lives (4 people died)
사이 - If you place 사이 in between two nouns, it represents the space between those two nouns:
저는 차 두 대 사이에서 서 있어 = I am standing between 2 cars
저와 학생들 사이는 좋다 = The relationship between my students and I is good
I am talking, of course, of ~는 것.
Understanding this concept will literally make your ability to create sentences increase dramatically. Lets get started.
This lesson is long. Very long. Please read the entire lesson to fully understand everything. If something is confusing, it will more than likely be resolved later in the lesson.
~는 것: Modifying Nouns with Verbs
Adjectives (in Korean and in English) get placed before nouns to modify them. You learned this a long time ago in Lesson 4. You learned that when you want to use an adjective to describe a noun, you must add ~ㄴ to the stem of the adjective:
예쁘다 = 예쁜
똑똑하다 = 똑똑한
젊다 = 젊은
To describe nouns in the following way:
Pretty girl: 예쁜 여자
Smart student: 똑똑한 학생
Young teacher: 젊은 선생님
Simple enough.
But, what you don't know is that verbs can also describe nouns in this same way. It is the exact same premise with adjectives, but it is very difficult for English speakers to understand this (it was for me, anyways).
This same thing (verbs modifying adjectives) is also done in English, but is done differently than in Korean.
As you know, In English and Korean, when an adjective describes a noun, the adjective comes before the noun:
However, In English, when a verb describes a noun, the verb comes after the noun:
The girl who walks
The student who studies
The teacher who eats
The word "who" was added in all three examples, but it doesn't necessarily need to be "who" in English:
The girl that walks
The student that studies
The teacher that eats
In those three examples, "that" was added, and each example essentially has the same meaning as when "who" was written instead. You don't need to worry about if it should be "who/that" or whatever because you are not learning English - you are learning Korean.
The point I am trying to get at here, is that verbs can also describe nouns. In English, verbs are placed after the nouns to modify them.
The next sentence is the most important sentence of the entire lesson:
In Korean, verbs are placed before nouns to describe them - very similar to how it is done with adjectives.
How is this done? Like this:?
걷다 여자
공부하다 학생
먹다 선생님
Are those correct? Haha. No. Not by a long shot.
When you adjust adjectives to describe nouns, you know that you should add ~ㄴ to the stem of the word.
When you adjust verbs to describe nouns, you must add ~는 to the stem of a verb:
걷다 = 걷는
공부하다 = 공부하는
먹다 = 먹는
These are all verbs that can now be placed before a noun to describe that noun to us:
걷는 여자 = the girl who walks
공부하는 학생 = the student who studies
먹는 선생님 = the teacher who eats
Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking "Okay, that is great, but when would I ever say 'the girl who walks' in a sentence?"
That is a good question. Really, you would never (or very rarely) say something like that in a sentence - but understanding that sentence is the foundation for understanding everything else about ~는 것.
Remember, in regular sentences (in English and Korean), it is very rare to just use the present tense conjugation. For example, are these natural?:
여자는 걷는다 = The girl walks
학생은 공부한다 = The student studies
선생님은 먹는다 = The teacher eats
Are those natural? Yes, they are natural, but who would ever just say "the girl walks." Usually in every-day sentences, you would add more information or conjugate the sentence in other tense:
여자는 학교에 걸었어요 = The girl walked to school
여자는 학교에 걸을 거에요 = The girl will walk to school
여자는 빨리 걷는다 = The girl walks fast
etc...
You can use the same information to describe the noun (the girl):
The girl who walked to school
The girl who will walk to school
The girl who walks fast
Lets stick to the one in the present tense for now:
The girl walks: 여자는 걷는다
The girl who walks: 걷는 여자
The girl walks fast: 여자는 빨리 걷는다
The girl who walks fast: 빨리 걷는 여자
Okay, so what's the point? When would I ever want to say "The girl who walks fast"?
The thing is, now that you have made the clause "the girl who walks fast/빨리 걷는 여자" you can now place that noun in sentences that:
- end in an adjective
- end in a verb
- end in 이다
You have been doing the exact same things with adjectives since Lesson 4.
예쁜 여자 = Pretty girl
예쁜 여자는 어려요 = The pretty girl is young
저는 예쁜 여자를 만났어요 = I met a pretty girl
저는 예쁜 여자예요 = I am a pretty girl
빨리 걷는 여자 = The girl who walks fast
빨리 걷는 여자는 어려요 = The girl who walks fast is young
저는 빨리 걷는 여자를 만났어요 = I met a girl who walks fast
저는 빨리 걷는 여자예요 = I am a girl who walks fast
Those sentences may not be that common/natural in English/Korean, but that is the basis of this entire lesson. It is important to realize that entire sentences can be put before this form, including sentences with subjects in them. Remember, when the subject of the clause is not subject of the entire sentence, you must attach 이/가 to that subject:
제가 만나는 사람 = The person I meet
제가 보는 영화 = The movie I watch
제가 먹는 음식 = The food I eat
All more naturally said like this:
제가 만나고 있는 사람 = The person I am meeting
제가 보고 있는 영화 = The movie I am watching
제가 먹고 있는 음식 = The food I am eating
Again, now that you have those nouns, you can do whatever you want to them:
제가 만나고 있는 사람은 예뻐요 = The person I am meeting is pretty
제가 보고 있는 영화는 재미있어요 = The movie I am watching is funny
제가 먹고 있는 음식은 맛있어요 = The food I am eating is delicious
More examples:
제가 자주 가는 곳 = The place I often go
저는 제가 자주 가는 곳에 가고 있어요 = I am going to the place I often go to
친구는 제가 자주 가는 곳에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the place I often go

Actually, I feel like this is getting a little bit too complicated. I want to break this down one more time.
This sentence should be simple to you:
친구는 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to school
Simple enough. Subject - place - verb.
If you want to describe that school, you could do so with adjectives:
큰 학교 = big school
작은 학교 = small school|
나쁜 학교 = bad school
... or verbs:
제가 자주 가는 학교 = The school I go to often