Remember, 이다 can be used to say am/is/are. So, if we want to say this:
That person is a doctor
– We can start by putting those words into the Korean structure:
That person는 doctor is
– And then change the English words to the appropriate Korean words:
그 사람은 + 의사 + 이다
그 사람은 의사이다
(그 사람은 의사예요)
More examples:
그 사람은 선생님이다 = that person is a teacher
(그 사람은 선생님이야 / 그 사람은 선생님이에요)
이 것은 탁자이다 = this thing is a table
(이 것은 탁자야 / 이 것은 탁자예요)
저 것은 침대이다 = that thing is a bed
(저 것은 침대야 / 저 것은 침대예요)
그 사람은 남자이다 = that person is a man
(그 사람은 남자야 / 그 사람은 남자예요)
그 사람은 여자이다 = that person is a woman
(그 사람은 여자야 / 그 사람은 여자예요)
그 것은 차이다 = that thing is a car
(그 것은 차야 / 그 것은 차예요)
이 것은 나무이다 = this thing is a tree
(이 것은 나무야 / 이 것은 나무예요)
Wow! That was an extremely difficult lesson. If you were to pick up another Korean text book, I am sure the first chapter would be much easier than this. Trust me though; learning this at the start will be very useful to you later on. When I was learning how to speak Korean, it took me months to realize some of these things (not because they were hard, but because I was using a text book that never taught me the reason why things are the way they are in Korean).
Before you move on, make sure you understand the simple Korean sentence structure presented in this first lesson. Also, remember that the sentences not in parentheses are technically incorrect (or very very uncommon) because they have not been conjugated.
Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,
Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.
If you have any questions or comments
