KOREAN

45

ocabulary

Nouns:

정장 = suit/formal dress

기한 = time limit/deadline/time period

윤리 = ethics/morals

온몸 = entire body

독 = poison

물길 = a waterway/watercourse

체험 = personal experience

공석 = vacancy

인권 = human rights

교과 = curriculum

지점 = point (a place)

현장 = scene of the _______ "field"

선거 = election

세탁 = laundry

Verbs:

자습하다 = self teaching

생기다=occurred/happened/come up

미끄러지다 = slip

비켜서다 =move aside/step out of the way

비켜주다 = move/step aside for someone

참고하다 = refer to/consult

돌아서다 = turn around

Passive Verbs:

들리다 = to be able to hear/hear

고립되다 = isolated

Adjectives:

미끄럽다 = slippery

시급하다 = urgent

동일하다 = same/identical to

Adverbs and Other Words:

술술 = smoothly

첫눈에 = at first sight

등 = etc...

장기 = long term

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn how to say "I can" and "I can't" in Korean by using ~ㄹ/을 수 있다/없다. This grammatical principle is incredibly important in Korean, as it is used all the time in conversation. Let's get started.

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I can do: ~ㄹ/을 수 있다

By adding ~ㄹ 수 있다 to the end of a clause/sentence (attached to verbs/adjectives), you can create the meaning of "I can...." '~ㄹ 수 있다' gets added to stems ending in a vowel, and '~을 수 있다' gets added to words ending in a consonant.

"수" is what I like to call a 'pseudo-noun.' You have already learned a few of these pseudo-nouns in other lessons. For example, "지" in both of the following examples are pseudo-nouns:

제가 언제 먹을 지 몰라요 = I don't know when I will eat

제가 한국에서 산 지 1년 됐어요 = I have been living in Korea for 2 years

In both examples, "지" follows a descriptive verb, and thus, must be a noun. However, these 'pseudo-nouns' cannot be placed anywhere but these specific locations, and therefore, are not true nouns.

'수' in '~ㄹ 수 있다' is also a pseudo-noun. If you look up "수" in the dictionary, you will see that its meaning is "ability." However, it is never used as a stand-alone noun, and it always used after a describing verb/adjective. For example:

공부할 수: the ability to study

However, it is never written like that, and is always followed by 있다/없다:

공부할 수 있다 = I have the ability to study (I can study)

Better examples:

저도 그것을 할 수 있어요 = I can to that too

저는 몇몇 한국사람들보다 한국어를 더 잘 말할 수 있어요 = I can speak Korean better than some Korean people

오늘 밤에 만날 수 있어요? = Can you meet tonight?

I can't do: ~ㄹ/을 수 없다

The exact same thing can be done to express "I can't..." by changing 있다 to 없다. By using "없다," you are essentially saying that one "does not have the ability to do something." For example:

여기가 너무 시끄러워서 저는 집중할 수 없어요 = I can't concentrate here because it is too loud

제가 너무 아파서 많이 먹을 수 없어요 = I can't eat much because I am very sick

저 사람은 한국어를 말할 수 없어요 = The person can't speak Korean

Both ~ㄹ/을 수 있다 and ~ㄹ/을 수 없다 can be expressed in the past and future tenses. Note that the verb/adjective before 있다 or 없다 does not get conjugated. For example:

저는 그 여자를 볼 수 없었어요 = I couldn't see that girl

저는 다음 번에 더 잘 할 수 있을 거에요 = I will be able to do better next time

Adding particles to 수

Because 수 is a noun, some particles can be attached to it. The two most common particles that are attached to "수" are ~가 and ~도.

In both cases, adding 가 or 도 doesn't change the meaning of the sentence significantly.

Explaining why '~가' is sometimes added is fairly simple. If I were to say:

아무거나 선택할 수 있다 = You can choose anything

Remember, '수' is a noun. I'm sure you are also very comfortable with the meaning of '있다' and how it is used. Remember that when using '있다' the particles ~이/가 should be added to the noun that you have. In this case, '수' is actually the noun that you have, so you can add 가 to it if you like:

아무거나 선택할 수가 있다 = You can choose anything

I personally never use '수가' when I speak/write in Korean, but I hear it often. Determining whether or not you need to use ~가 or not is one of those things that you have to get used to. If you asked any Korean person why they used '~가' instead of omitting it, their answer will always be "it just sounds better that way."

Adding 도 is equally as ambiguous. Technically, you could also say:

아무거나 선택할 수도 있다 = You can choose anything

Similar to what I described earlier, determining when you should use ~도 or not is something that you can only learn from practice. However, remember what the meaning of the particle ~도 is. Adding ~도 gives the meaning of "too/as well" to the noun that it is attached to. Therefore, you can insert this meaning to 수 by attaching ~도 to it. For example, I could say:

이렇게 하면 죽을 수 있어요 = If you do it like that, you could die

However, by describing another scenario/situation in the same sentence:

이렇게 하면 위험하고 죽을 수도 있어요 = If you do it like that, it is dangerous, and you could die (as well/too)

In both situations, adding ~도 isn't necessary, but it gives the sentence a little bit more complexity.

However, as I described earlier, the meaning doesn't change that much, and understanding it completely is something that can only be done when you get used to hearing it from Korean people.

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