KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 61

Korean Lesson: Lessons 61

To make: ~시키다
You can replace some words in Korean that end in ~하다 with ~시키다 to create the meaning of "to make somebody." Three easy examples I can show you are:
감동하다 = to be impressed
감동시키다 = to impress (to make somebody impressed)
흥분하다 = to be aroused/excited
흥분시키다 = to arouse/excite (to make somebody aroused/excited)
실망하다 = to be disappointed
실망시키다 = to disappoint (to make somebody disappointed)
Some examples:
나는 시험을 못 봐서 부모님들을 실망시켰어 = Because I didn't do well on the test, I disappointed my parents
여자친구를 감동시키는 가장 좋은 방법은 뭐에요? = What is the best way to impress one's girlfriend?
그 뉴스는 시민들을 흥분시켰어요 = That news excited the public/citizens
There are other examples of when 시키다 can be attached to words like that in order to create the meaning of "to make somebody..." but knowing these three examples are good for now. The importance of this lesson isn't for you to know every word that ~시키다 can attach to. Rather, it is important for you to know at this point that by adding ~시키다 to a word changes it from a word that cannot act on an object (i.e. an adjective):
저는 감동했어요 = I am impressed
저는 흥분했어요 = I am aroused
저는 실망했어요 = I am disappointed
(all three of those are rarely used in the present tense)
...to a word that can act on an object:
저는 저의 친구를 감동시켰어요 = I impressed my friend
저는 저의 친구를 흥분시켰어요 = I aroused my friend
저는 저의 친구를 실망시켰어요 = I disappointed my friend
Also (as you can see from the previous examples), most of the words that ~시키다 can be added to end in -ed in English when presented in their -하다 forms:
감동하다 = impressed
흥분하다 = aroused
실망하다 = disappointed
It addition to changing words into those that can act on objects (감동하다 to 감동시키다) it can also be used to replace ~게 하다 in situations with other verbs. Again, the goal of this lesson is not to show you every single example of when this can be done, but rather show you examples of when it is done so you can infer the meaning when you do come across 시키다 again. Some examples of when you can use ~시키다 instead of ~하게 하다:
저는 그 사람을 일하게 했어요 = I made that person work
저는 그 사람에게 일을 시켰어요 = I made that person work
To remind somebody of something: 상기 시키다
One weird verb that doesn't really fit within the rules that I described earlier is "상기시키다." Though 상기하다 is a word as well, it is rarely used in that form. Rather, it is used in the 상기시키다 form. The rarely used "상기하다" means "to recall/to remember" - therefore, by saying "상기시키다," the meaning changes to "to make somebody recall/remind." This is usually more naturally translated to "remind."
If you are talking about something reminding you of something, you do not need to include yourself in the sentence, as the meaning is inferred from context. For example:
한국은 캐나다를 상기시켜요 = Korean reminds me of Canada
그 남자는 저의 옛날 남자 친구를 상기시켜요 = That man reminds me of my boyfriend from a long time ago
Notice, that you can also use "생각하게 하다" (or 생각나게 하다 - to make somebody think) to express the same meaning as these types of sentences:
한국은 제가 캐나다를 생각나게 해요 = Korea makes me think (reminds me) of Canada
그 여자는 저의 옛날 여자 친구를 생각나게 해요 = That girl makes me think (reminds me) of my girlfriend from a long time ago
If you are talking about "reminding" somebody else, you can attach the particle 에게 to the person you are reminding:
저는 매일 저의 여자친구에게 제가 그녀를 사랑하는 것을 상기시켜요 = I remind my girlfriend that I love her every day
선생님은 학생들에게 숙제를 해 야 하는 것을 상기시켰어요 = The teacher reminded the students that they have to do their homework
시키다 as a Stand-Alone Verb
In addition to the usages I have shown you so far, you can also use 시키다 as a stand-alone verb. The most common usage of 시키다 when it is used by itself is when you talk about ordering food.

For example:
밥을 시켰어요? Did you order food?
뭐 시키고 싶어요? What do you want to order?
저는 삼겹살을 시켰어요 = I ordered 삼겹살