LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

이렇다

이렇다 means "like this," but (along with 그렇다 and 저렇다) is rarely used in its dictionary form. It is generally used in two ways: as an adjective and as an adverb:

As an Adjective: 이런
By adding ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of 이렇다 we get 이런, which means "this sort of/this kind of/this type of." For example:

이런 일은 위험하다 - This type of work is dangerous
이런 차는 너무 커요 - This type of car is too big

As an Adverb: 이렇게
By adding ~게 to the stem of 이렇다 we get 이렇게, which means "like this."

저는 이렇게 하고 싶어요 - I want to do it like this
왜 이렇게 일찍 가요? - Why are you going so early (like this)?
이 일은 왜 이렇게 어려워요? - Why is this so hard (like this)?

You'll notice that in the last two examples, the words "like this" in English don't necessarily need to be in the sentence. It is hard to fully explain in words, as this is something that you really just pick up after a while when learning Korean. When Korean people ask a "why" question, they often stress "why" by using 이렇게.

*Also notice the usage of "일" in the sentence above. Although the best translation of the word "일" is "work" (in noun form), it is very common for Korean people to use "일" to represent some sort of task or thing that somebody has to do (regardless of if we would call it "work" in English). I am reluctant to show you the most common example of this being used because you haven't learned the grammar within it yet. Nonetheless, you will often see "저는 할 일이 있어요" which translates to "I have something to do." As of now, you haven't learned how "할" is being used, but try to focus on the usage of "일" in this sentence. The sentence is essentially saying "I have a task that I will do." The sentence above could also be written as "이것은 왜 이렇게 어려워요."