LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

KOREAN IRREGULAR: ㅎ

You learned all about the Korean irregulars in previous lesson. On top of all of those irregulars, there is one more that you should be aware of.
Usually, if the last consonant of a word stem ends in ㅎ, the word is not conjugated in any special way. For example:

좋다 = 좋아
많다 = 많아

However, a lot of colors in Korean end with the final syllable ㅎ. When conjugating these words (which are adjectives) to allow them to describe an upcoming noun, we can add ~ㄴ/은, just like it is done with other adjectives. However, in some words (mostly colors) the ㅎ gets dropped and ㄴ gets added directly to the word stem. For example:

You can use those color words to describe objects in sentences where appropriate. For example:

저 노란 집이 예뻐요 - That yellow house is pretty
빨간 사과는 가장 맛있어요 - Red apples are the most delicious
나는 하얀 차를 사고 싶어 - I want to buy a white car
저는 보통 까만 양복을 입어요 - I usually wear black suits
파란 불이 제일 뜨거워요 - The blue flame is the hottest

If you want to use these words as nouns (as in, "the color white" or "the color red"), you can add "색" after the adjective form of the color (색 means 'color'):

노란색 - the color yellow
빨간색 - the color red
하얀색 - the color white
까만색 - the color black
파란색 - the color blue

Though these words are nouns, they are often placed before another noun to describe it. For example

저 노란색 집이 예뻐요 - That yellow (colored) house is pretty
그녀는 빨간색 셔츠를 입고 있어요 - She is wearing a red (colored) shirt
나는 하얀색 차를 사고 싶어 - I want to buy a white (colored) car
저는 보통 까만색 양복을 입어요 - I usually wear black (colored) suits
파란색 불이 제일 뜨거워요 - The blue (colored) flame is the hottest

Here, each of these "color" nouns is describing an upcoming noun without being an adjective.

This is a good time to teach you about another usage of the particle "~의". "~의" can be attached to words that commonly describe nouns (like adjectives) but are inherently not adjectives. What I mean by this, is that you will often find words that are always (or very commonly) placed before nouns to describe them, but are technically classified as adverbs or nouns (and hence, don't end with "~다" like a typical adjective). It is acceptable to attach the particle "~의" to these adjective-like adverbs or nouns when they describe an upcoming noun. The meaning is the same when using "~의" or not using it, but in speech it is more common to not use it.

For example, all of the above could be written as:

저 노란색의 집이 예뻐요 - That yellow (colored) house is pretty
그녀는 빨간색의 셔츠를 입고 있다 - She is wearing a red (colored) shirt
나는 하얀색의 차를 사고 싶어 - I want to buy a white (colored) car
저는 보통 까만색의 양복을 입어요 - I usually wear black (colored) suits
파란색의 불이 제일 뜨거워요 - The blue (colored) flame is the hottest