14
votes
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Difference between 되었어요 and 됐어요?
I have always considered 됐어요 to be a contraction of 되었어요. They are both equally correct forms of the past tense of the verb 되다.
In spoken Korean, I use 됐어요 almost exclusively.
In written Korean, I ...
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13
votes
Chronology of orthography before and after the separation of North and South Korea
The first orthographic descriptions of Hangul was indeed in Hunminjeongeum, 1443. But the Korean language changed a lot over the centuries, so most of the old descriptions got useless in the Modern ...
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12
votes
Accepted
What is the politest way in Korean to say that someone is 'old'?
연세 should be definitely mentioned here. 연세 is a more polite form of 나이, and if you want to be super polite, you can say 연세가 많으시다 to mean "old". It's also a very common expression.
It might seem odd ...
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12
votes
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How can a non-native Korean speaker say "Pure Korean" or "Native Korean" in Korean?
순우리말: I think this would be fine coming from a non-Korean. While being a Korean speaker or learner, you can consider it yours. Also the sense of 우리 in 순우리말 (without any spaces in it) has become ...
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10
votes
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What are the differences between 힘들다 and 어렵다?
In many cases, they are interchangeable. But 힘들다 is more focusing on the amount of effort you have to pay, especially physical effort. 등산은 힘들다(Hiking a mountain is hard) can be a proper example.
...
- 1,564
10
votes
What is the difference between 방금 and 금방?
방금 should be used with the past tense or just a short while ago.
방금 뭐 했냐? (친구들이랑 with friends)
방금 뭐 하셨어요? (polite manner)
However, 방금 뭐 해요 doesn't make sense to a native Korean.
방금 뭐 했어? 방금 뭐 했어요? ...
- 271
10
votes
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Is there a Korean word for 'Syllable Block'?
What you call "syllable block" is simply "글자" (character) to Koreans. A 자모 is almost always considered a sub-unit of a character.
(When Hangul was invented, the only "characters" most Koreans knew ...
- 7,352
10
votes
Easy Korean Poems for Beginners
Okay, while @ting-choe has my gratitude for something that may level me up (my wife says I will "never understand" 김소월의 진달래꽃 - I think some "easier" poems (for my level) are in order here (and my ...
- 3,285
10
votes
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What does 사자 in this picture mean?
Understading homonyms always requires the context. In that webtoon, I thought the word was 사자(嗣子) which means one who perpetuates the lineage. It's like an heir, although 태자 and 황태자 (For your ...
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9
votes
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Is there a special name in Korean for adverbs like '반짝반짝', '흔들흔들', '빙글빙글'?
They are mimetic words. They're called 음성상징어, and can be further classified into two categories:
의성어 are words that reflect the sound of something (phonomimes / onomatopoeia):
후루룩 (the sound of ...
- 6,004
9
votes
Easy Korean Poems for Beginners
진달래꽃 - 김소월
나 보기가 역겨워
가실 때에는
말없이 고이 보내 드리우리다
영변에 약산
진달래꽃
아름 따다 가실 길에 뿌리우리다
가시는 걸음 걸음
놓인 그 꽃을
사뿐히 즈려밟고 가시옵소서
나 보기가 역겨워
가실 때에는
죽어도 아니 눈물 흘리우리다
If someone doesn't know this poem, he or she is not ...
- 957
8
votes
Accepted
What does '여보세요' mean in the middle of a conversation?
여보세요: From 여기 (yeogi) + 보다 (boda) + 세요 (seyo), literally “look here”.
It's usually used when you are not sure who you are talking to. For example:
Starting a conversation on the phone(You pick up ...
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8
votes
Are the words 이상 and 이하 inclusive?
이상 and 이하 is always inclusive.
초과 and 미만 is always not inclusive.
Therefore,
3년 이상 is 3 years or more
3년 이하 is 3 years or less
cf.
3년 초과 is more than 3 years
3년 미만 is less than 3 years.
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8
votes
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What's the adjective for feeling intense cold pain? (while at the dentist)
The word you are looking for is 시리다, meaning chilly or achingly/painfully cold. Rather than cold pain where cold complements and characterizes the pain, this one is the other way round: it is more ...
- 1,350
8
votes
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What is the difference between 방금 and 금방?
'방금' and '금방' have same hanja behind: 方今 vs 今方. Although, '방금' is more often used for past, and '금방' is more widely used for the future, they both can mean short time preceding, or following the ...
- 1,349
8
votes
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Basic steps to take when learning Korean
Learning any language can be difficult. That being said, Korean can be quite a challenge if you are only used to reading romanized characters. Learning the Korean alphabet would be the first step ...
- 321
8
votes
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Are there any counter words that some native Koreans might not know?
고등어 한 손 - two mackerels
장작 한 가리 - twenty pieces of firewood, used for things tied together
새끼 한 고팽이 - one roll of rope, only used for rope
북어 한 쾌 - twenty dried pollacks, only used for dried pollacks
...
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8
votes
How helpful is knowing Russian vocabulary for knowing vocabulary which only occurs in North Korean?
North Korea and Russia are strategically close countries, but because North Korea uses the same language as Korea, linguistically it is not helpful to learn Russia
북한과 러시아는 친하지만, 북한과 한국만 같은 언어를 사용하기 ...
- 301
8
votes
How commonly is 풋 used in Korean, and is describing someone's height a common use of it?
In addition to Putri's answer, 풋 can also be a prefix that means immature. Some of examples are:
풋사랑 : 풋 + 사랑(love) puppy love
풋사과: 풋 + 사과(apple) unripe apple
풋내기 : rookie
풋내: idiomatically describes ...
- 321
8
votes
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Meaning of 마지노선?
This is a great example of how a historical/literary/cultural/geographical reference is picked up by another cultural sphere and takes on a life of its own.
La ligne Maginot, as the Encyclopedia ...
- 2,378
7
votes
How do you ask for someone's shoe size in Korean?
I think what you heard is "몇 신어요?", literally "What size do you wear?".
A more general phrase would be "신발 사이즈가 어떻게 되세요?" "What is your shoe size?"
In banmal, "신발 몇 신어?" / "신발 사이즈 얼마야?"
- 7,412
7
votes
기계 (gigye) ==> 機械, 器械, 奇計 (what else?)
Just answering Q1: Naver's dictionary lists six words.
However, among them, 奇計 is a very rare word. I'm not even sure if I've seen it anywhere, although I might understand the term if I saw it in ...
- 7,352
7
votes
Accepted
I started studying Korean at 32. I'm 34 and still terrible. Is it possible to learn in your 30s?
I'll start by depressing you further - I've been learning Korean on and off (and admittedly there has been a lot of 'off') for more than 10 years now, and I'm still pretty terrible! So if you really ...
- 13.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Which Korean country names originate from Japanese?
독일(獨逸) - Germany, from Japanese (ドイツ doitsu), ultimately from German Deutsch
화란(和蘭) - Netherlands, from Japanese (オランダ oranda), ultimately from Papiamento Hulanda
불란서(佛蘭西) - France, from Japanese (...
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7
votes
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How helpful is knowing Russian vocabulary for knowing vocabulary which only occurs in North Korean?
There are some words borrowed from Russian in North Korean, but not nearly as many as there are words from English in South Korean. The North Korean government has really emphasized their ...
- 6,004
7
votes
Accepted
How commonly is 풋 used in Korean, and is describing someone's height a common use of it?
It's not very common in Korea to use foot (feet) as height measurement. They usually use 센티미터 (centimeter) instead of foot. Example, 180센티/180센티미터.
풋 itself has various types of meaning . The most ...
7
votes
Accepted
진실 vs 진리: What is "the truth"?
I want to know if Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy. I want to know the truth. Am I looking for 진리 or 진실?
You're looking for 진실.
진리 is a more or less philosophical/religious/logistical term. ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible