LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

이렇다, 그렇다 AND 저렇다 AS PREDICATING WORDS

이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 can also be used as the predicating word (i.e. the end) of a sentence. These are usually only seen in relatively simple sentences asking or indicating if something is "like this/like that." For example:

이 학교도 그렇지 않습니까? - Is this school not like that as well?
네, 그렇습니다 - Yes, that is correct (that is the way it is)

The most common way that you will see any of these words being used, especially for a beginner, is in the following form:

왜 이래?
왜 그래?
왜 저래?

Notice that the sameㅎ irregular applies to the words above. That is, when adding ~아/어 (or one of its derivatives), the ㅎ is dropped and the ㅓ changes to ㅐ.

In each case, the speaker is asking "Why are you like this/that?" This is very common in Korean conversation, as it essentially is like saying "what's wrong?" or "what's the matter" or "what the **** are you doing?"

그렇다 specifically is also commonly used by people to express their content/agreement with some sort of statement or situation. For example:

Person 1: 내일 공원에 같이 가고 싶어요? - Do you want to go to the park together tomorrow?
Person 2: 그래요. 같이 가요 - Sure (like that is fine). Let's go together.

Person 1: 제가 지금 갈 거예요 - I'm going to go now
Person 2: 그래요! - Sure (like that is fine)

Person 1: 저는 내일 회사에 못 와요 - Tomorrow, I can't come to work
Person 2: 그래요! 월요일에 봐요! - Sure (like that is fine). See you on Monday!

In this same respect, it is often used as a question to express one's "disbelief" or "shock." In reality, the speaker isn't actually "shocked" or "in disbelief" but is merely showing his/her interest in the conversation. This would be akin to using the word "Really?!" in English. For example:

Person 1: 저는 지난 주에 캐나다에 있었어요 - I was in Canada last week
Person 2: 그래요? 어디에 갔어요? - Really!? (It's like that?) Where did you go?

Person 1: 나는 보통 고기를 안 먹어 - I usually don't eat meat
Person 2: 그래? 왜 안 먹어? - Really? (It's like that?) Why don't you eat it?

Person 1: 이 물이 맛이 없어 - This water doesn't taste good
Person 2: 그래? - Really? (It's like that?)

Many other grammatical principles can be added to 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 but these haven't been introduced yet.

Specifically, you will find that many grammatical principles can attach to 그렇다 to have their respective meaning combined with the meaning of 그렇다. These will all be introduced in future lessons (where the grammatical principle is introduced), but here is a quick taste of what I am referring to. I suggest browsing through this list just to get an idea of:

a) How versatile 그렇다 is
b) The general meaning of 그렇다
c) How this meaning can be applied to many, many other grammatical principles.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but rather a small taste of some of the concepts that you will be learning in the next next lessons.

그렇다 + ㅁ/음
그럼 - "Yes, like that."

그렇다 + ~ㄴ/은지
왜 그런지 몰라요 - "I don't know why it is like that"

그렇다 + ~ㄹ/을 것 같다
그럴 것 같아요 - "It is probably like that"

그렇다 + ~아/어서
그래서 - "It is like that, so..." (Therefore)