KEY TO KOREAN (키 투 코리얀)

"This" & "That"

This and That (이/그/저) (i/geu/jeo)

We use THIS "이" (i as in 't ee th' ) in Korean when we are talking about something that is within touching distance or close to the speaker.

(For example: this pen - i.e. the one I am holding). Just like in English "이" (this) is placed before the noun it is describing.

For example:
이 사람 (i saram)= This person
이 남자(i namja) = This man
이 여자 (i yeoja) = This woman
이 차 (i cha) = This car
이 탁자 (i takja) = This table
이 의자 (i euija)= This chair

Unfortunately, there are two words for “THAT”: 그 (geu) and 저(jeo) .
Early learners of Korean are always confused with the difference between “그(geu)” and “저.(jeo)”

They use 그 (geu) when they are talking about something from a previous sentence or from previous context, regardless of if you could see it or not. Also used to refer an object or person that is not close to the speaker but close to the listener. Providing examples would be too difficult right now because you do not know any Korean sentences.

However, if I were to say:
“I don’t like that man [when your friend mentioned him in a previous sentence].” The word “that” in that sentence would be how “그(geu)” is used.

They use 저 (jeo) when they are talking about something that we can see, but cannot touch because it is too far away.Things or person that is not close either the speaker or the listener.

We can place “그(geu)" or “저(jeo)” before a noun to describe “this” or “that” thing just like we did with “이.”

이 사람 (i saram)= This person
그 사람 (geu saram)= That person
저 사람 (jeo saram) = That person

이 남자 ( i namja)= This man
그 남자 (geu namja) = That man
저 남자 (jeo namja) = That man

이 여자 (i yeoja)= This woman
그 여자 (geu yeoja)= That woman
저 여자 (jeo yeoja)= That woman

이 의자 (i euija)= This chair
그 의자 (geu euija)= That chair
저 의자(jeo euija) = That chair

이 탁자 = This table
그 탁자 (geu takja)= That table
저 탁자 (jeo takja)= That table

Again, although the English translations of “그” and “저” are the same, it is important to remember that they do not have the same meaning in Korean.

One of the most common words in Korean is “것(geot)” meaning “thing.” When 이(i), 그(geu) or 저(jeo) are placed before “것,(geot)” the result is a compound word. Therefore, when placing “것” after 이, 그 or 저, there should not be a space between the two.

In other words, the following are words in and within themselves, and not two separate words:
이것 (i-geot)= this thing
그것 (geu-geot)= that thing
저것 (jeo-geot)= that thing

We see this same phenomenon happen with other common words that you learn in future lessons. You don’t need to worry about this now, but we see this same thing happen with the word 곳 (got) (meaning “place”) and 때 (ttae) (meaning “time”). With these words, the word “thing” isn’t necessary in the English translation. Let me explain. I’ll use “that” as an example, but the same idea can be applied to the word “this.” “That” can be placed before a noun to describe it.
As we saw earlier:
That person
That man
That woman

However, it can also be a noun itself.
For example:
I like that
In this type of English sentence,
“that” is referring to some thing that you like. It is a noun. It is a thing. Therefore, the sentence could just as easily be said as:
I like that thing
I don’t like to use grammatical jargon in my lessons, but if you know what these words mean, it could be helpful. In both English and Korean, “that” can be a determiner (as in, “I like that man”), and it can also be a pronoun (as in “I like that”). When used as a determiner in Korean, you should place 그 (geu) before a noun. When used as a pronoun in Korean, the word 그것 (geu-geot) is used. In this same respect, while “이, 그 and 저” translate to “this, that and that” respectively, and are placed before nouns to indicate “this noun, that noun and that noun,” “이것(i-geot), 그것(geu-geot) and 저것(jeo-geot)” are nouns (they are pronouns). Therefore, they do not need to be followed by the redundant word “thing,”
although their meanings would be exactly the same:
I like this
I like this thing
I like that
I like that thing

We can now use these nouns as subjects or objects in a sentence.

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