Your first two sentences¶
Dictionary
- 앨리스= Alice (name)
- 고양이 = cat
- 쓰다듬다 = to pet, stroke, caress
- 폭신하다 = to be soft, spongy, pillowy
To throw you into the deep end of the pool to start, here are your two hello world sentences:
Example
- 고양이가 폭신해요 = The cat is soft.
- 앨리스가 고양이를 쓰다듬어요 = Alice pets (the) cat.
Our goal is to understand how you could make this sentence if you had the four dictionary entries above.
Case markers on nouns¶
Korean has case markers. The rule is that, if the word ends with a constant or vowel (respectively):
- For a subject, you attach 이/가.
- For an object, you attach 을/를.
So for example, 고양이 ends with a vowel, so to add a subject marker you write 고양이가. (Actually we really should be using a topic marker rather than a subject marker here, but I'll get to that later.)
Word order¶
Korean is a SOV language. You write the subject first, the object (if any), and finally the verb at the end.
Conjugation of verbs¶
Finally, as I said earlier, every verb must be conjugated from its dictionary form. TODO: explain these
| Level name | Suffix (present tense) | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| 하십시오체 | ㅂ/습니다 | Formal |
| 해요체 | -어/아요 | Polite |
| 해체 | -어/아 | Casual |
| 해라체 | ㄴ/는다 only for verbs | Diary |
TODO: explain 하다 as a special case
TODO: mention irregulars
Putting it all together¶
TODO