To You, Who Love the Korean Language
Third Letter
안녕하세요! 벌써 6월 첫째 주네요. 저는 이 뉴스레터를 부모님 집에서 서울로 가는 기차에서 쓰고 있어요. 창밖을 보면 푸른 산이 펼쳐져 있고 몇몇 밭에는 마늘을 수확하는 사람들이 보여요. 이번에 급하게 내려온 이유는 마늘 수확철이라 일손이 부족해서 아버지께서 급하게 저에게 연락을 주셨어요. 햇빛이 뜨거웠지만 바람이 선선하게 불고 가끔 지나가던 구름이 햇빛을 가려줘서 그나마 일하기 수월했어요. 여러분이 계신 곳의 6월은 5월과 어떻게 달라요? 그리고 여러분의 6월은 어떻게 흘러가고 있나요?
✅ 진이 선생님이 직접 뽑은 자주 쓰는 단어 10개
푸르다 = To be blue / green
→ 가을 하늘이 참 푸르네요. (The autumn sky is so blue.)
이유 = Reason
→ 무슨 이유가 있어요? (Is there a reason?)
수확하다 = To harvest
→ 가을 하늘이 참 푸르네요. (The autumn sky is so blue.)
급하다 = To be urgent / In a hurry
→ 지금 마음이 너무 급해요. (I am in such a hurry right now.)
일손 = Helping hand / Labor
→ 요즘 시골은 일손이 부족해요. (The countryside is short of helping hands these days.)
햇빛 = Sunlight
→ 햇빛이 눈부셔요. (The sunlight is blinding.)
선선하다 = To be cool / Refreshing
→ 날씨가 선선해요. (The weather is cool.)
가리다 = To cover / Block
→ 손으로 얼굴을 가렸어요. (I covered my face with my hands.)
수월하다 = To be easy / Effortless
→ 이 컵은 씻기 수월해요. (This cup is easy to wash.)
흘러가다 = To flow / Pass by
→ 시간이 정말 빨리 흘러가네요. (Time really passes by so quickly.)
[ENG]
(Hello! Can you believe it’s already the first week of June? I’m actually writing this newsletter on the train coming back to Seoul from my parents’ place. Looking out the window, there are lush green mountains stretching out as far as the eye can see, and in some of the fields, you can spot people harvesting garlic. The reason I rushed down this time is that it’s garlic season. My dad called me an urgently because they were short of hands. It was pretty hot out, but there was a nice cool breeze, and every now and then the clouds would drift by and block out the sun, which made working outside so much easier. How does June feel different from May where you are? And how is June treating you so far?)
선생님, 이것이 궁금해요!
One of my students asked in the group chat, “선생님! We learned 못 and 안 for negation, but I heard ‘불편해’ in a show I was watching . What is this letter ‘불’?” Okay, no need to panic. There are only a selected number of words where we put that hanja (Sino-Korean character) for negation.
You will notice that the first set among the following words all start with 불(不). 불 is a hanja derived (한자) prefix and it carries the meaning of “not” or “un-”. Think of it like the English prefixes un-, im-, or in- just placed at the front of a word to flip its meaning. Below 불, I’ve included a few more prefixes that you might find useful to know.
Here are some common ones:
불(不): not / un-
불편하다 (uncomfortable)
불가능하다 (impossible)
불공평하다 (unfair)
불충분하다 (inadequate)
미(未): not yet
미완성 (unfinished)
미성년자 (minor; not yet an adult)
무(無): without / none
무료 (free; no cost)
무개념 (having no sense / clueless)
비(非): non-
비공개 (non-public / private)
비정규직 (non-regular / contract work)
A few things to keep in mind:
Unlike 안 and 못, these hanja prefixes are not separate words. The prefixes are attached directly to the noun or adjective.
You cannot use them freely with any word. Words pair with specific prefixes, so you need to learn them as vocabulary rather than a grammar rule.
The good news is that once you recognise the prefix, you can often guess the meaning of unfamiliar words just like in English!
So next time you come across a word starting with 불, 미, 무, or 비, you already have a clue about what it means.
이번 주의 ‘FSM’ (Frequently Seen Mistakes)
This week, a mistake that I noticed students making was future tense negation. I think I have emphasised so much on present and past tense with the rules and irregular rules. But jamsimanyo!!! we need future tense at some point! When you have to reflect the tense with the last verb of the sentence, it is easier to use method two. Why? Let’s have a look.
안 추울 거예요.
ㄴ For the one above, you have to think of the irregular rules of the present tense with that verb.
춥지 않을 거예요.
ㄴFor this one, you just drop the -다 and put -지 않다. Another tip is to make sure to remember all the tenses of 않다: 않아요, 않았어요 and 않을 거예요.
If you do remember them, you won’t feel stuck at the end of a sentence when you are speaking! Voilà! Small things save you a headache .
이번 주 뉴스레터가 여러분 한국어 공부에 도움이 됐기를 바라요. 마음 그리고 몸건강 챙기면서 한국어 공부도 계속 열심히 하길 바라요. 좋은 질문을 해준 Kelsey에게 특별히 감사 인사를 전하고, 열심히 공부하고 있는 소중한 학생들 모두에게도 감사해요. 여러분 덕분에 저도 선생님으로서 많이 발전하고 있어요. 행복한 주말 보내세요!
(I hope this week’s newsletter was helpful for your Korean studies. Take care of both your mind and body, and keep up the great work with your Korean! A special thank you to Kelsey for the great question, and to all my dear students who are working so hard. Because of you, I’m growing so much as a teacher myself. Happy weekend!)
진이 선생님