Korean grammar

This article uses a form of Yale romanization to illustrate the morphology of Korean words. The Yale system is different from the Revised Romanization of Korean seen with place names. Under the version of Yale used here, morphemes are written according to their underlying form rather than their spelling in the Korean writing system or pronunciation. Under this system, for example, the syllable which is written in Korean as is analyzed as ess even though the ss would be pronounced t before another consonant. To avoid confusion, bold type will represent the morphology (in Yale), and italics will represent Revised Romanization. == Classification of words ==

The modern standard of word classification and the one taught in public schools was chosen by South Korea's 1963 Committee on Education. This is the 9 pumsa () system, which divides words into nine categories called pumsa. The 품사(品詞) pumsa, also called 씨 ssi, are themselves grouped together according to the following outline. • Content words • Substantives • (名詞) myeongsa / ireumssi (nouns) • (代名詞) daemyeongsa / dae-ireumssi (pronouns) • (數詞) susa / semssi (number words) • Verbs (broadly speaking) • (動詞) dongsa / umjikssi (action verbs) • (形容詞) hyeongyongsa / geurimssi (descriptive verbs or adjectives) • Modifiers • (冠形詞) gwanhyeongsa / maegimssi (determiners, prenouns, or indeclinable adjectives) • (副詞) busa / eojjissi (adverbs) • Other content words • (感歎詞) gamtansa / neukkimssi (interjections or exclamations) • Function words • (助詞) josa / tossi (particles or postpositions) Both cardinal and ordinal numbers are grouped into their own part of speech. Descriptive verbs and action verbs are classified separately despite sharing essentially the same conjugation. Verb endings constitute a large and rich class of morphemes, indicating such things in a sentence as tense, mood, aspect, speech level (of which there are 7 in Korean), and honorifics. Prefixes and suffixes are numerous, partly because Korean is an agglutinative language. There are also various other important classes of words and morphemes that are not generally classified among the pumsa. 5 other major classes of words or morphemes are: • (語尾) eomi (verb endings) • (指示語) jisieo / (demonstratives) • (接續語) jeopsogeo (conjunctions) • (接頭語) jeopdueo (prefixes) • (接尾語) jeommieo (suffixes) Substantives Postpositions , josa (also called tossi) are Korean postpositions, also known as case markers. Examples include (neun, topic marker) and (reul, object marker). Postpositions come after substantives and are used to indicate the role (subject, object, complement, or topic) of a noun in a sentence or clause. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean particles. Case clitics Case clitics ( gyeok-josa) are clitics that mark the grammatical function of the word. Both nouns and pronouns take case clitics. Pronouns are somewhat irregular. As with many clitics and suffixes in Korean, for many case clitics different forms are used with nouns ending in consonants and nouns ending in vowels. The most extreme example of this is in the nominative (subject), where the historical clitic i is now restricted to appearing after consonants, and a completely unrelated (suppletive) form ga appears after vowels. • nominative – '''' i/ga for the subject, '' kkeseo'' for the subject who is respected • genitive – '''' ui'' • locative – '''' e'' "to" place or "in" place (e.g. "go to the hospital" or "I am in the hospital") :* locative 2 – '''' eseo'' "at" place or "from" place (e.g. "I work at the hospital" or "I came from Korea") :* dative – '''' ege "to" someone, '' hante "to" someone in a casual manner, '' kke'' "to" someone who is respected :* ablative – '''' egeseo "from" someone, '' hanteseo "from" someone in a casual manner, '' kkeseo'' "from" someone who is respected • accusative – '''' eul/reul'' for the direct object • lative – '''' ro/euro'' "onto" something or "with" something (e.g. "it is moving toward the city" or "I wrote with a pen") :* instrumental – '''' rosseo/eurosseo'' "with" something :* essive – '''' roseo/euroseo'' being "as" something (e.g. "as a teacher, I will help you") :* ablative 2 – '''' robuteo/eurobuteo'' something "from" source or origin (e.g. "modern cars are developed from carriages") • comitative – '''' wa/gwa, '' rang/irang, '' hago'' together "with" someone or something • vocative – '''' a/ya, '' yeo/iyeo'' "hey" someone being addressed Informational clitics Informational clitics ( bo-josa) provide additional meanings to the words that they attach to. They may override the case clitics, or be placed after other clitics. • The topic and additive markers mark the noun phrase with case markers. They override the nominative and accusative case markers rather than being attached after those case markers. Nouns Korean nouns myeongsa (also called ireumssi) do not have grammatical gender, and though they can be made plural by adding the suffix deul to the end of the word, in general the suffix is not used when the plurality of the noun is clear from context. For example, while the English sentence "There are three apples" would use the plural "apples" instead of the singular "apple", the Korean sentence Sagwaga se gae itseumnida "(lit.) apple three (things) exist" keeps the word sagwa "apple" in its unmarked form, as the numeral makes the plural marker redundant. As Korean is a language with no grammatical gender, nouns do not have to agree with verbs. The only agreement needed for Korean nouns would be the object and subject particles (이/가, 을/를, 은/는) added depending on if the noun ends in a vowel or consonant. The most basic, fundamental Korean vocabulary is native to the Korean language, e.g. nara "country", nal "day". However, a large body of Korean nouns stem from the Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters e.g. san "mountain", yeok "station", munhwa "culture", etc. Many Sino-Korean words have native Korean equivalents and vice versa, but not all. The choice of whether to use a Sino-Korean noun or a native Korean word is a delicate one, with the Sino-Korean alternative often sounding more profound or refined. It is in much the same way that Latin- or French-derived words in English are used in higher-level vocabulary sets (e.g. the sciences), thus sounding more refined – for example, the native Germanic "ask" versus Romance "inquire". Pronouns Korean pronouns daemyeongsa (also called dae-ireumssi) are highly influenced by the honorifics in the language. Pronouns change forms depending on the social status of the person or persons spoken to, e.g. for the first person singular pronoun "I" there are both the informal na and the honorific/humble jeo. In general, second-person singular pronouns are avoided, especially when using honorific forms. Third-person pronouns are not well developed, and in most cases, a demonstrative geu "that" in combination with a noun such as saram "person" or geot "thing" is used to fill the gap. Also, only for translation and creative writing, a newly coined term, geu-nyeo (literally, "that woman"), is used aphoristically to refer to a female third person. A gender-neutral third person is covered by the demonstrative geu (originally "that"). For a larger list of Korean pronouns, see wikt:Category:Korean pronouns. Numerals Korean numerals susa (also called semssi) include two regularly used sets: a native Korean set and a Sino-Korean set. The Sino-Korean system is nearly entirely based on the Chinese numerals. The distinction between the two numeral systems is very important. Everything that can be counted will use one of the two systems, but seldom both. The grouping of large numbers in Korean follows the Chinese tradition of myriads (10,000) rather than thousands (1,000) as is common in Europe and North America. Verbs (broadly speaking) Processual verbs Korean dongsa (also called umjikssi) which include sseuda "to use" and gada "to go", are usually called, simply, "verbs". However, they can also be called "action verbs" or "dynamic verbs", because they describe an action, process, or movement. This distinguishes them from hyeongyongsa. Korean verb conjugation depends upon the tense, aspect, mood, and the social relation between the speaker, the subject(s), and the listener(s). Different endings are used depending on the speaker's relation with their subject or audience. Politeness is a critical part of the Korean language and Korean culture; the correct verb ending must be chosen to indicate the proper degree of respect or familiarity for the situation. Descriptive verbs hyeongyongsa (also called geurimssi), sometimes translated as "adjectives" but also known as "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs", are verbs such as yeppeuda, "to be pretty" or bukda, "to be red". English does not have an identical grammatical category, and the English translation of a Korean hyeongyongsa is usually a linking verb + an English adjective. However, some Korean words which do not match that formula, such as aswipda, a transitive verb which means "to lack" or "to want for", are still considered hyeongyongsa in Korean because they match the conjugation pattern for adjectives. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean adjectives. Copulative and existential verbs The predicate marker (i-ta, ida, "to be") serves as the copula, which links the subject with its complement, that is, the role 'to be' plays in English. For example, (Taynamwu-nun phwul-i-ta, Daenamuneun purida, "A bamboo is a grass") When the complement, which is suffixed by i-ta, ends in a vowel, i-ta contracts into -ta quite often as in following example, (Wuli-nun chinkwu-ta, Urineun chinguda, "We are friends.") The past tense of 이다 is 이었다 (i-eoss-ta, ieotda, "was"). However, if it is attached after a vowel, it is always contracted into 였다 (yess-ta, yeotda, "was"). If not, it cannot be contracted. To negate, a special adjective (ani-ta, anida, "to not be") is used, being one of the two cases that take complement, the other being (toy-ta, doeda). Two nouns take the nominative clitic (i/ka, i/ga) before the negative copula; one is the subject, and the other is the complement. For instance, in (Taynamwu-nun namwu-ka ani-ta, Daenamuneun namuga anida, "A bamboo is not a tree."), (taynamwu-nun, daenamuneun) is the subject and (namwu-ka, namuga) is the complement. The derived form (aniyo, aniyo) is the word for "no" when answering a positive question. and become (i-ya, iya), often (ya, ya) after a vowel and 아니야/아냐 (ani-ya/anya, aniya/anya) at the end of the sentence in 해체 (haeche, "informal, non-polite speech level") form. In 해요체 (haeyoche. "informal, polite speech level") form, they become (i-ey-yo, ieyo), often (yey-yo, yeyo) after a vowel and 아니에요/아녜요 (ani-ey-yo/anyey-yo, anieyo/anyeyo) as well as the less common forms (i-e-yo/ye-yo, ieoyo/yeoyo) and 아니어요/아녀요 (ani-e-yo/anye-yo, anieoyo/anyeoyo). The copula is only for "to be" in the sense of "A is B". For existence, Korean uses the existential verbs (or adjectives) (iss-ta, itda, "there is") and (eps-ta, eopda, "there isn't"). The honorific existential verb for is (kyeysi-ta, gyesida). Supporting verbs/adjectives Sometimes, just using an adverb is insufficient to express the exact meaning the speaker has in mind. The composition of a main verb (or adjective) and a supporting verb (or adjective) can be used in this case, alongside some grammatical features. Suffixes including -a/eo, -ge, -ji, and -go are taken by the main verb (or adjective), and the supporting verb (or adjective) follows it and is conjugated. Examples using -eo/a • -a/eo gada/oda: to continue to do, while getting away/closer • -a/eo beolida: to end up doing (and feel sad, or distressed, to see the result) • -a/eo boda: to try doing • -a/eo jida (written without a space): to be done; to become adj. • -a/eo hada (written without a space): to feel adj. Examples using -ge • -ge doeda: to be done; to end up doing • -ge hada: to make someone do Examples using -ji • -ji anta, ( -ji anihada, -janta): not to do; not to be [adjective] • -ji malda: not to do (in imperative, e.g. "Don't do that!") • -ji motada: to be unable to do Examples using -go • -go boda: to do before realizing something • -go sipda: to want to do • -go itda: to be doing Examples using other suffixes • -aya/eoya hada/doeda: to have to do • -ado/eodo doeda: to be permitted to do • -(eu)myeon hada: to hope to do • -(eu)myeon doeda: to be okay or desirable to do Modifiers Determinatives Korean gwanhyeongsa (also called maegimssi) are known in English as "determiners," "determinatives," "pre-nouns," "adnouns," "attributives," "unconjugated adjectives," and "indeclinable adjectives." Gwanhyeongsa come before and modify or specify nouns, much like attributive adjectives or articles in English. Examples include gak, "each." Determiners also negate the use of pronouns in day-to-day sentences which also makes Korean a more ambiguous and context driven language. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean determiners. Adverbs Korean adverbs busa (also called eojjissi) include tto "again" and gadeuk "fully". Busa, like adverbs in English, modify verbs. For a longer list, see wikt:Category:Korean adverbs. Other content words Exclamations Korean interjections gamtansa (also called neukkimssi) as are also known in English as "exclamations". Examples include ani "not". For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean interjections. ==Sentence structure==

Korean is typical of languages with verb-final word order, such as Japanese, in that most affixes are suffixes and clitics are enclitics, modifiers precede the words they modify, and most elements of a phrase or clause are optional. Compound sentence A compound sentence is a sentence where two or more independent clauses are equally connected. The verb endings used for connecting the clauses include -go "and", -(eu)myeo "and", -(eu)na "but", and -jiman "but". • "The winter is now gone and the spring has come back, but the weather here still remained cold." Complex sentence A complex sentence is a sentence where one or more dependent clauses are subordinatedly connected to the independent clause. A lot of endings are used to indicate a wide variety of meanings, making the clause suffixed by one of them subordinate to the other clause. The difference from an adverb clause is not very apparent. • "I was walking along the street when I suddenly stopped to look up at the sky; the moon was there which was truly beautiful." Noun clauses Followed by noun clause marker -(eu)m or -gi, a sentence can serve as a noun. The markers are attached to the last verb of the sentence. For example, if you want to include a sentence (Ku-ka kapcaki ttena-ss-ta., Geuga gapjagi tteonatda., "He left all of a sudden.") into another sentence ('''Mwuenka-lul chinkwu-ka na-eykey ally-e cwu-e-ss-ta.', Mueongareul chinguga na-ege allyeo jueotda., "My friend informed me of something."), then the verb (ttena-ss-ta, tteonatda) combines with (-(u)m, -(eu)m) to make a noun clause (ttena-ss-um, tteonasseum): the resulting sentence is ('Ku-ka kapcaki ttena-ss-um-ul chinkwu-ka na-eykey ally-e cwu-e-ss-ta.', Geuga gapjagi tteonasseumeul chinguga na-ege allyeo jueotda., "My friend informed me that he left all of a sudden''."). Note that -(eu)m is used in more formal settings, meanwhile -gi is used casually. • "I didn't know that he was already dead." • "That she is the criminal is clear." • "I don't feel like working." • "vegetables chopped for the convenience of eating" Adjective clauses This is the most widely used subordinate clause, even substituting the aforementioned noun clause by taking part in the form -neun geot "the thing which". -neun marks the present tense, -(eu)l stands for the future tense, and -(eu)n and -deon are for the past tense, though -(eu)l also acts without meaning any tense as in (-l ttae "when"). See Korean verbs. • "Do you remember where we had chicken when we were in Seoul?" • "My homeland where I lived was a mountain town in which flowers bloomed." Accompanied by several dependent nouns, adjective clauses can comprise idiomatic expressions, such as -l kkeos-ida for the future conjugation, -l kkeot gatda, "I suppose...", -l ssu(ga) itda/eopda "It is possible/impossible...", -l liga eopda "It makes no sense that..." • 것이다. "He has never been late so far. Today, as usual, he'll be on time." Adverb clauses Endings like -i, -ge, -dorok, and so forth derive adverbial clauses. -i is not commonly used in making clauses except for eops-i "without"; -ge is in common use in this sense instead. • "He looked at me without a word." • "Please bring a cup for me; I need some water." • "children playing with fun" • "See gold as if seeing a stone." A lot of caution is needed when faced with -ge hada and -ge doeda, which may mean just "do -ly" and "become something -ly", but also can make causative and passive verbs, respectively, which consist of main and supportive verbs. • (causative) ↔ (adverbial; causative if intended) • (passive) ↔ (adverbial; passive if intended) Verbal clauses Usually in the form , the whole clause serves as one adjective predicate. • "A rabbit has big ears and a giraffe has a long neck", or word-for-word, "A rabbit is big-eared, and a giraffe is long-necked." • "Instant ramen is cheap and tasty but not healthy." • "I like pears, but my friend appeared with apples." It is also important to note that these examples use the dictionary form of verbs. In natural conversation speakers will use the appropriate honorific forms in order to show respect. Quotation clauses Although the example above might be used in a novel, it is unbearably awkward to say in more-general situations. Quotation clauses as in (direct quotation) or in (indirect quotation) are used instead. The particle (i)rago is for direct quotation, and the verb endings like -dago, -(neu)nyago, -rago, and -jago are used for indirect quotation, for declarative, interrogative, imperative, and suggesting sentences respectively. Exceptionally, sentences employing a verbal particle ida and an adjective anida are suffixed with -rago in place of -dago for declarative ones. • "What?" or "What did you say?" • "The police announced that they are investigating the details." The last syllable -go is often dropped. Furthermore, if the verb hada means 'to say' and is right next to the syllable -go, then -go hada is abridged, becoming -da, which of course can conjugate. • • "Do you remember what I said? You only got tired for nothing." Subordinate clauses Verbs can take conjunctive suffixes. These suffixes make subordinate clauses. One very common suffix, -ko -go, can be interpreted as a gerund if used by itself, or, with a subject of its own, as a subordinating conjunction. That is, mek.ko meokgo means approximately "eating," koki lul mek.ko gogireul meokgo means "eating meat," and nay ka koki lul mek.ko nae-ga gogi-reul meog-go means "I eat meat and..." or "My eating meat." Another suffix, somewhat similar in meaning, is se -seo which is, however, attached to long stem of a verb. The long stem of a verb is the one that is formed by attaching - -eo/-a after a consonant. Both sometimes called gerunds, the verb form that ends in se and the one that ends in -ko juxtapose two actions, the action in the subclause and the action in the main clause. The difference between them is that with se the action in the subclause necessarily came first, while -ko conveys more of an unordered juxtaposition. se is frequently used to imply causation, and is used in many common expressions like manna se pan.kapsupnita Manna-seo bangapseumnida (literally, "Since I met you, I'm happy" -or- "Having met you, I'm happy"). If -ko was used instead, the meaning would be closer to "I meet you and I'm happy," that is, without any implied logical connection. These are both subordinating conjunctive suffixes and cannot (in the more formal registers, at least) derive complete sentences of their own without the addition of a main verb, by default the verb iss . (Nay ka koki lul mek.ko issta, naega gogireul meoggo issda) therefore means "I am eating meat." The difference between this and the simple sentence (nay ka koki lul meknun ta, naega gogileul meogneunda, "I eat meat") is similar to the difference in Spanish between "Estoy almorzando" and "Almuerzo," in that the compound form emphasizes the continuity of the action. The -se form is used with the existential verb iss for the perfect. (Mwuni yellye issta, mun-i yeollyeo issda, "the door has been opened") can be the example, although it would convey different meaning if the very syllable se were visible, 'because the door is opened, it exist', meaning of which is not clear, though. ==Questions==

Questions in Korean are formed using interrogatory verb endings such as -(seu)mnikka. The verb ending usage varies according to the speech level. ==Imperatives==

Imperatives in Korean are formed using imperative verb endings such as -(eu)sipsio. The verb ending usage varies according to the speech level. ==Suggestions==

Suggestions in Korean are formed using suggestion verb endings such as -(eu)psida. The verb ending usage varies according to the speech level. ==Exclamations==

Exclamations in Korean are formed using exclamatory verb endings such as -guna. The verb ending usage varies according to the speech level. ==Negation==

The negation in Korean can be expressed in the following three forms. • Negation using an, ani, -ji anta, and -ji anihada • This form of negation signifies the absence of volition. It may imply that the agent did not act even though the situation allowed to do so. • Negation using mot and -ji motada • This form of negation signifies the absence of ability. It may imply that the agent could not act even if the agent intended to do so. • Negation using -ji malda • This form of negation is used for imperatives and suggestions. In addition, the negation can be achieved through the use of verbs with negative meaning, such as anida, eopda, and moreuda. ==Tense and aspect==

The tense and aspect can be expressed using a variety of non-terminal suffixes and special constructions. The tense is expressed differently when the verb is used at the end of the sentence and when it is used to modify other phrases. In addition, the progressive aspect can be expressed using -go itda and -(neu)n jung-ida forms for procedural verbs. The perfect aspect can be expressed using -a/eo itda form. ==Number==

Korean has general number. That is, a noun on its own is neither singular nor plural. It also has an optional plural marker - -deul, which is most likely to be used for definite and highly animate nouns (primarily first- and second-person pronouns, to a lesser extent nouns and third-person pronouns referring to humans, etc.) This is similar to several other languages with optional number, such as Japanese. However, Korean -deul may also be found on the predicate, on the verb, object of the verb, or modifier of the object, in which case it forces a distributive plural reading (as opposed to a collective reading) and indicates that the word is attached to expresses new information. For instance: {{fs interlinear|lang=ko|number=ex:|glossing4=yes In this case, the information that the subject is plural is expressed. To add a distributive meaning on a numeral, ssik is used. {{fs interlinear|lang=ko|number=ex:|glossing4=yes Now "balloon" is specified as a distributive plural. == Subject–verb agreement ==

While it is usually stated that Korean does not have subject–verb agreement, the conjugated verbs do, in fact, show agreement with the logical subject (not necessarily the grammatical subject) in several ways. However, agreement in Korean usually only narrows down the range of subjects. Personal agreement is shown partly on the verb stem before the tense-aspect-mood suffixes, and partly on the sentence-final endings. Korean distinguishes: • Honorific subjects from non-honorific subjects in the second or third person via a verb suffix. See Korean honorifics. • Korean distinguishes first person from non-first in emotion verbs, in that the form "" A dislikes B for example is hardly used for 3rd-person subjects in most registers, and only used inside questions in case of 2nd-person subjects. (A prominent exception is in novels or stories, where it is understood that the narrator is omniscient and can authoritatively describe what's going on inside A's mind.) On the contrary, the form "" can be used freely for 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person subjects. • first person from third person, partially, in the future and the past tense. • inclusive first person from exclusive first person, and first person from third person, in the jussive mood Korean does not distinguish: • singular from plural on the verb (though this is systematically marked on pronouns) • second person from third person in statements • second person from first person in questions The following table is meant to indicate how the verb stem and/or the sentence ending can vary depending on the subject. The column labeled "jussive ending" contains the various jussive sentences endings in the plain style. ==Valency==

Valency in Korean • An intransitive verb, an adjective, or a noun plus the predicate particle 이다 -ida requests one argument, the subject, though it may be omitted. • : "It is raining." • : "The sky is blue." • : "It is morning now." • A transitive verb needs two arguments; one is the subjects, and the other can either be an object, a complement, or an essential adverb. • : "A cat catches a mouse." (object) • : "He came to me and became a flower." (adverb, then complement) • A ditransitive verb carries three arguments, which always include an essential adverb. • : "I got 3 boxes of kimchi from my mom." • : "My brother told me "Everything's gonna be okay."" ==See also==