LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

KOREAN PARTICLES (WITH): ~과/와, ~랑/이랑 AND ~하고

Just when you thought this was going to be an easy lesson! Ha! This sounds crazy to an English speaker, but the same particles are used to mean "and" and "with" in Korean. You can distinguish them purely by the context of the conversation, which sounds like it would be difficult. However, even though you probably think it is difficult, it is always clear (even to a beginner) if the speaker is trying to express the meaning of "and" or "with" because of the sentence structure.

For example, when used to have the meaning of "and," a noun will always follow 과/와/(이)랑/하고: For example:

나는 사과와 바나나를 샀어 - I bought apples and bananas

After 와, another noun is used, which means you are talking about apples AND bananas. But if I said this:

나는 친구와 갔어 - I went with my friend
There is no additional noun after 와, which means it can only mean "with." If ~와 in that sentence had the meaning of "and", it would translate to:

I went, my friend and...
... which is just nonsense

Here are some examples:

나는 아버지랑 공원에 갈 거야 - I will go to the park with my dad
선생님은 학생들과 박물관에 갔다 - The teacher went to the museum with the students
요즘에 사람들이 친구들이랑 매운 음식을 먹지 않아요 - These days, people don't eat spicy food with their friends

Also notice that you can actually use these particles to mean both "and" and "with" within the same sentence:

저는 밥을 친구랑 저의 어머니랑 먹었어요 - I ate (rice*) with my mom and my friend
*Korean people often use "밥" (rice) to simply mean "food." It stems from the fact that Korean people eat rice with (almost) every meal – so if you ate, it means that you ate rice. You can say "밥을 먹었어" which can simply mean "I ate."

Two adverbs that are commonly used in sentences with "with" are 같이 and 함께. Both of them mean "together," and can be used in sentences even if the sentence doesn't have one of the particles meaning "with" (과/와/랑/이랑/하고). For example:

우리는 빵을 같이 먹었어요 - We ate bread together
우리는 빵을 함께 먹었어요 - We ate bread together

우리는 집에 같이 들어갔어요 - We went into the house together
우리는 집에 함께 들어갔어요 - We went into the house together

우리는 음악을 같이 들었어요 - We listened to music together
우리는 음악을 함께 들었어요 - We listened to music together

The use of the word "together" in the same sentence as the word "with" in English is usually unnatural. For example, it sounds unnatural for me to say something like this:

I ate bread together with a friend

Instead, in English, we would say one of the following sentences:

I ate bread with a friend
We ate bread together

In Korean however, it is okay to use 같이 or 함께 in either of these situations; that is – with the word "with" in the sentence, or without it. For example:

저는 빵을 친구랑 같이 먹었어요 - I ate bread with a friend (together)
저는 빵을 친구와* 함께 먹었어요 - I ate bread with a friend (together)

저는 빵을 친구랑 먹었어요 - I ate bread with a friend
저는 빵을 친구와 먹었어요 - I ate bread with a friend
Notice that I used ~와 with 함께 instead of ~랑. Just like with the meaning of "and," "~와/과" is more likely to be used in writing and in formal situations, whereas "~(이)랑" is more likely to be used in speech. This entirely depends on the person who is speaking/writing, but it is generally true. Likewise, the use of "함께" is generally used in writing and formal situations. Therefore, the use of 함께 is more likely to be paired with ~과/와 in these cases.

To add an additional level of complexity to this explanation – 같이 is more commonly used than 함께 (같이 is probably one of the most common words in Korean, while 함께 would fall much further down the list). However, when 함께 is used, it is more likely to be used with ~과/와. These are just generalizations based on observations of years of speaking with Korean people.

More examples:

저는 녹차를 엄마랑 같이 마셨어요 - I drank green tea with my mom
저는 엄마랑 유명한 영화를 같이 봤어요 - I saw/watched a famous movie with my mom
저는 선생님과 함께 공부했어요 - I studied with my teacher

You can also use these particles to say that you are simply 'with' somebody in a location. In order to do this, you must use 있다 along with one of the adverbs meaning "together". For example:

나는 친구랑 같이 있어 - I'm with my friend
저는 친구와 집에 함께 있어요 - I'm with a friend at home

Note that this meaning of "with" in Korean cannot be used like this:

I built a house with my hands

Remember, "my hands" are the method by which you did something, so, as you learned ~(으)로 should be used in those situations. For example:

저는 손으로 집을 지었어요