jeogiyo ( juh-gee-yo; hey there).
I: jeo ( juh; humble form of I, used with people you want to show respect to), na ( nah; form of I used when talking with close friends and younger family members).
You: seonsaeng ( sun-saeng; sir) , eoreusin ( uh-reu-shin; when referring to elderly), jane ( ja-nae; to address younger people), geudae ( geu-dae; to address your girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse), yeoreobun ( yuh-ruh-boon; to address groups of people), neo ( nuh; used in informal settings amongst peers).
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Part 1: Getting Started
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i ( ee; this), geu ( geu; that near the listener) , and jeo ( juh; that over there) are added before various nouns such as person and things to make them
pronouns.
He: i namja ( ee-nam-ja; this man), geu namja ( geu-nam-ja; that man near the listenr), ju namja ( juh-nam-ja ; that man over there) She: i yeoja ( ee-yeo-ja; this women), geu yeoja ( geu-yeo-ja; that women near the listener), jeo yeoja ( juh-yeo-ja; that women over there) However, using the namja ( nam-ja; man/men) and yeoja ( yeo-ja; woman/
women) to refer to someone, isn’t that polite. Instead use bun ( boon; no English translation. It is used when referring to a person you want to show respect to. Used for both genders.) to get i bun ( ee-boon; this person), geu bun ( geu-boon; that person near the listener) and jeo bun ( juh-boon; that person over there) when you’re referring to: a stranger, a person with seniority over you or when you are in a formal setting. Use i saram ( ee-sa-ram; this person ), geu saram ( geu-sa-ram; that person near the listener) and jeo saram ( juh-sa-ram; that person over there) when you are using informal polite Korean.
It: Use geot ( guht; thing) or its contraction geo ( guh; things). These are interchangeable. You can just pick one way and stick to it. Add i ( ee; this), geu ( geu; that), and geo ( guh; that) to get i geot ( ee-guht; this thing), geu geot ( geu-guht; that thing neat the listener), jeo geot ( juh-guht; that thing over there), or i geo ( ee-guh; this thing), geu geo ( geu-guh; that thing near the listener), jeo geo ( juh-guh; that thing over there).
We: uri ( oo-ree; we/us) used in casual conversation, jeohui ( juh-hee; we/us) used when speaking in front of an authority figure or a crowd.
Them: i deul ( ee-deul; these people), geu deul ( geu-deul; those people near the listener), jeo deul ( juh-deul; those people over there) when speaking of other people casually, i bundeul ( ee-boon-deul; these people), geu bundeul ( geu-boon-deul; those people) and jeobundeul ( juh-boon-deul; those people) when speaking of people that you are trying to show respect for.
Depending on context, the sentence geogi saram isseoyo ( guh-gee sa-ram-ee-ssuh-yo ) can mean “there are people there.” or “there is a person there.” And, in most cases, you don’t have to explicitly indicate that there is more than one. But if you want to, just add deul ( deul; it’s like adding’s” at the end of a word to make things plural in English) behind a pronoun or even a noun to show there are more than one. For example, the word for this respected person is i bun ( ee-boon ), and these respected people is i bundeul ( ee-boon-deul ). Isn’t this easy?
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Chapter 2: The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Korean Grammar and Numbers
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Yours, mine, and (not necessarily) ours
In Korean, you might notice that people tend to
jib (nae-jeeb; my house), or ne dongne (nae—
use the word uri (woo-ri; we/us) and jeohui
dong-nae; my neighborhood) .
(juh-hee; we/us when speaking to person with
This is also true when speaking of shared rela—
seniority over you) , a lot more when talking
tionships. If you are a part of company, it is uri
about things they own, especially if they are
hoesa (oo-ree-hwae-sa; our company). Koreans
talking about a thing that they use communally
will further say that their child is “ uri ai (oo-ree—
with
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