The first hanok village I went to was Bukchon (북촌한옥마울). My friend and I walked through it on our way to a museum and it was a rainy day, so we didn’t get to see much of it. I just took some pictures (although not many of the actual houses) and left, but I definitely got to see how pretty hanoks really are.
한옥 마을 중에 처음 간 곳은 북촌 한옥 마을이였어요. 박물관에 가는 길에 지나가는 거였고 비가 와서 많이 보지는 못 했는데요. 잠깐 사진 찍고 (사실 한옥은 별로 못 찍었는데 ㅋㅋ) 갔는데도 한옥의 아름다움을 느껴졌어요.
I’ve finally worked out my study plan, although actually implementing it has been a bit rocky so far. But I’ve made some progress this week, and I think it’s going well enough to show how I’m going about my studying.
Started planning my Korean study this week. This is my first time reading a Korean book and I just picked one from my boyfriend’s bookshelf. There’s lots of vocab I don’t know but i get the jist most of the time. Also met a new language exchange partner and took the topik listening practice test, I’m planning to take the other practice tests next week to get an idea of what level I’m at and what i need to improve on.
More advanced grammar! This form actually gave me a lot of problems, especially its usage with past tense, but with some quiet thinking time and some help from some friends, I figured it out. I hope that reading this helps you as much as actually thinking about and writing it helped me!
This one is a pretty old form and it is also fairly literary as well, so you might hear it spoken by older people but you’ll probably be okay if you can just recognize and understand it when it pops up even if it doesn’t really come to mind for personal usage.
Function:
This grammar is similar to some that I already covered. Expressing a supposition or expectation in the antecedent (preceding) clause that is then offset by an opposite situation or condition in the following clause, this grammar carries a feeling of hoping for one thing but getting something else instead. In this way, it’s similar to -겠건마는/건만 for advanced grammar, -(으)ㄹ 텐데 for intermediate, and -겠지만 for a rough beginner-level equivalent. You can think of it as “but” in the context of an expectation and the reality when that expectation is not fulfilled. An important facet of this grammar is also that you not only point out that something other than the expected occurred but also express some sort of regret or feeling of dissatisfaction. To emphasize that expectation/reality divide in English we could, depending on the situation, translate it roughly as “It would be nice if… but…” or “One would think that… but…” A bit more simply, just “would… but…” will suffice in general!
Usage:
This grammar can be used with action verbs, descriptive verbs, and nouns in the past and present tenses. In all cases, it can be shortened to -(으)련만.
Action verbs:
PAST: -았/었으련마는
우리가 파티에 도착했을 때 음식이 조금만이라도 남았으면 친구들과 같이 먹었으련마는 사람들이 이미 다 먹어버렸었어요. (When we arrived at the party if there had been even a little food left we would have eaten with our friends, but they had already eaten it all.)
용기를 좀 더 냈었더라면 고백했으련마는 너무 소심해서 하지 못했어요. (If I had had a bit more courage I would have confessed, but I was too timid so I couldn’t do it.)
PRESENT: -(으)련마는
돈이 좀 더 많으면 여행 가련만
어차피 돈이 없어서 그런 생각을 안 하는 게 나아요. (If I had a bit more money I would go on a trip, but I don’t have the money anyway so not thinking about it is better.)
보통 그런 간단한 문제를 쉽게 풀련만 왠지 오늘은 잘 안 풀여요. (Normally I would easily solve that kind of simple problem, but for some reason today I can’t do it.)
Descriptive verbs:
PAST: -았/었으련마는
담배를 피우지 않았더라면 예뻤으련마는 오랫동안 담배를 피워서 얼굴이 실제 나이에 비해 더 늙어보였어요. (If she had not smoked she would have been pretty, but since she smoked for a long time, her face looked older than her true age.)
내 남동생이 좀 더 일찍 일어났더라면 공항에 가기 전에 아침을 먹을 시간이 충분했으련만 너무 늦게 일어나서 밥 먹기는커녕 물을 마실 시간도 없었어요. (If my brother had gotten up a little earlier there would have been enough time to eat breakfast before going to the airport, but since he got up too late there wasn’t even time to drink water, never mind eating a meal.)
PRESENT: -(으)련마는
1등 당첨이 되면 좋으련만 매번 아무 상도 못 받아요. (It would be nice if I won the grand prize in the lottery, but I never get anything.)
운동을 좀 했으면 건강하련만 그는 너무 오랫동안 운동을 안 해서 건강이 나빠지고 있어요. (If he exercised a bit he would be healthy, but he hasn’t exercised in a long time so his health is deteriorating.)
Nouns:
PAST: -이었/였으련마는
원래 계획한 대로 기차로 갔으면 통근 시간이 한 시간이었으련만 차로 가서 거의 두 시간이 걸렸어요. (If I had gone by train as originally planned my commute would have been one hour, but since I went by car it took almost two hours.)
좀 더 빨리 백화점에서 도착했으면 그 상품이 무료였으련만 이벤트 마감 시간 5분 뒤에 도착해서 할인을 조금밖에 못 받았어요. (If I had arrived at the department store a bit more quickly that product would have been free, but since I arrived five minutes past the event cutoff time, I only got a small discount.)
PRESENT: -이련마는
제 친구들 중에서 유빈이는 가장 외향적인 사람이련만 요즘 무슨 일이 일어났는지 갑자기 소심해졌어요. (Yubin would usually be the most extroverted person among all of my friends, but lately it seems something happened and she’s suddenly become more timid.)
저 카페는 미나 씨가 제일 좋아하는 곳이련만 요즘 돈이 없어서 못 가고 있어요.
(That cafe is [would be] Mina’s favorite place, but lately she has no money so she can’t go.)
BONUS: This form can also be used to end a sentence! When used in this way, it sounds like a wistful exclamation.
1등 단청이 되면 좋으련만…! (If only I got the lottery grand prize…!)
As always, thank you for reading! Happy studying, everyone ❤
Contoh kalimat | “Para Muslim berpuasa saat Ramadhan”. Gimana puasanya? Semoga lancar sebulan ke depan dan jadi orang yang lebih baik ya ^^
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In English, we say that one turns green with jealousy. In Korean, jealousy gives you a stomachache.
배가 아프다 is an idiomatic way to express your jealousy of someone’s success, happiness, or good luck. This expression is only used in reference to someone who is close to you such as a family member or a friend. Implied in 배가 아프다 is the notion that you feel that that person does not deserve their good fortune; in this sense, 배가 아프다 can be a bit of a petty thing to say about someone’s success, so use this expression wisely.
This might be kind of a cop out answer, but my recommendation would be to just find any book that grabs your interest and dive in! There’s a Facebook group that gives good summaries of popular novels, 책 끝을 접다. Browse through their posts and see if anything catches your eye, then buy it and start reading! It might be difficult at first, but if you keep at it, it’ll become easier.
Another option, if the thought of a novel is still intimidating, is the 외국인을 위한 한국어 읽기 graded reader series. I believe they have books running the gamut from beginner to advance, so you’re sure to find one that suits your level. Other bonuses of the series: difficult words are glossed at the bottom of each page; they’re available for download directly onto your phone or tablet via the Google Play Store! They are definitely much easier to read than actual novels, but they might help ease you into more lengthy Korean readings.
I hope this was somewhat helpful!
EDIT: Oh, and, of course, you could always find the Korean version of a book you’ve already read and enjoyed! Your familiarity with the story could be an asset in making sense of the Korean.
This blog hasn’t been very active for the past year because I’ve been so busy with my last year of uni I have barely studied Korean at all. But I just graduated, and now I’m so excited to get back to studying Korean!
I was planning to take the next TOPIK exam but couldn’t get a place, I didn’t realise there was a deadline or limited places! I might still use some TOPIK materials to study now though and take it next time.
Please check out my tags and new resources page to find things you need on my blog. Especially if you’re a beginner, it will show you how to find older posts. I’ve been self-studying for 4 years now and have collected so many great resources for learning Korean!
I also moved to Korea this year, so if you’re interested in what I’m doing here check out my instagram: nabi.day. Actually living in Korea has been so, so good for my Korean skills even though I haven’t had time to study, but I’m ready to take them to the next level!
Sutdy-Korean 