LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

DIFFERENT/SIMILAR/SAME IN KOREAN (다르다/비슷하다/같다)

Three words that you have learned are:

다르다 - different
비슷하다 - similar
같다 - same

Using these words isn't as straight forward as it would seem, so I wanted to spend some time teaching you how to deal with them. Of course, in simple sentences, they can be used just like any other adjectives. For example:

그것은 비슷해요 - That is similar
우리는 매우 달라요 - We are so different
우리는 같아요 - We are the same

The sentence above sounds unnatural in Korean. Although "같다" translates to "the same," in most cases (especially in cases like this where nothing is being compared), it is more natural to use the word "똑같다," which usually translates to "exactly the same."

For example:
우리는 똑같아요 - We are exactly the same

When comparing things like this in English, we use a different preposition for each word. For example:

I am similar to my friend
That building is different from yesterday
Canadian people are the same as Korean people

In Korean, the particle ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 can be used to represent all of these meanings. For example:

저는 친구와 비슷해요 - I am similar to my friend
그 건물은 어제와 달라요 - That building is different from yesterday
캐나다 사람들은 한국 사람들과 같아요 - Canadian people are the same as Korean people

The ability of ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 to be used in all of these cases creates confusion for Korean people when they learn English. You will often hear mistakes from Korean people like:

"This school is the same to our school"

Notice in the sentence above that the particle ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 is used to denote that something is different from, similar to, or the same as something else. In theory, you could change the order of the sentences (to make the sentence structure similar to what you learned) to indicate that two things (this and that) are different, similar or the same. For example:

우리 학교와 이 학교는 똑같아요 - Our school and this school are exactly the same

As you can see with the English translation – this doesn't create any difference in meaning. It merely changes the wording of the sentences and the function of the particles slightly.

I talk about the usage of 같다 later. Specifically, I talk about how 같다 is more commonly used to say "something is like something." I don't want to get into this too much, because the purpose of this section was for me to introduce you to the grammar within these sentences so you could apply it to what I am about to introduce next.

Check this grammar out. This is probably an easy sentence to you now:
나는 잘생긴 남자를 만났어 - I met a handsome man
Subject – adjective (describing an) – object – verb

What about these next sentences?
나는 비슷한 남자를 만났어 - I met a similar man, or
나는 같은 남자를 만났어 - I met the same man

These sentences have the same structure as before:
Subject – adjective (describing an) – object – verb

That should be easy for you too. But what about if you wanted to say "I met a man who is similar to your boyfriend." Seems too complicated, but let's break it down:

너의 남자친구와 비슷하다 - similar to your boyfriend
비슷하다 is an adjective – which means it can modify a noun:
비슷한 남자 - similar man

너의 남자친구와 비슷한 남자 - A man (that is) similar to your boyfriend
나는 ( — )를 만났어 - I met —

나는 (너의 남자친구와 비슷한 남자)를 만났어 - I met a man that is similar to your boyfriend

This structure is very complex and is an introduction to describing nouns with phrases instead of simply using one adjective. You will learn more about how to describe nouns with things other than simple adjectives – such as verbs and complex phrases.

The meaning of "different" in English has more than one nuance, which are possessed by "다르다" as well. Although the meaning of "different" in the two sentences below is similar, try to see that they are slightly different:

I am different than him
I saw a different movie

The first one describes that something is not the same as something else.

The second one has a meaning similar to "other" or "another," where (in this case) the person did not see the movie that was originally planned, but instead saw "another" or a "different" movie.

다르다 can be used in both situations. For example:

저는 그와 달라요 - I am different from him
저는 다른 영화를 봤어요 - I saw a different (another) movie

"또 다르다" usually translates to "another," while "다르다" translates to "other." However, in the example above, replacing "another" with "other" makes it sound weird.

The function of "또 다르다" is hard to explain, but it is easier to explain (and understand) if you think of it as two separate words (which it actually is). It is a combination of the adjective "다르다" and the adverb "또", which is used when something happens again.

"또 다르다" is used when one particular thing has already been described, and you are explaining another thing. For example, imagine you are sitting in a meeting with your coworkers discussing potential problems for a plan. People are all discussing the problems they see, and you can point out:

또 다른 문제는 그것이 비싸요 - Another problem is it (that thing) is expensive

In this same respect, you can say the following sentence, and although the translation in English is similar, try to understand the difference in adding "또":

저는 또 다른 영화를 봤어요 - I saw ANother movie
In this, maybe the person saw one movie, and then again saw a different movie.