Gangnam is downtown Korea, the heart of Korean nightlife, and hottest place to be in Seoul, Korea. And that’s where our Korean high school student is hanging out in this lesson. He’s in high school, so there’s no way he can be hanging out with Seoul’s hippest crowds… right? Well, as you learn Korean, you’ll find out how to say just that in Korean! “There’s no way” is our grammar point in this lesson, and you’ll be expressing doubt in Korean in no time!
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Lower Intermediate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
19 Responses to “Lower Intermediate #12 - That Can’t Be My Son”
KoreanClass101.com says:
September 8th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
여러분, 최근에 믿을 수 없는 일이 있었나요?
(Everyone, did anything happen recently that you couldn’t believe?)
제임스 says:
September 18th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
hey guys, great lesson. Small problem and that is that the lesson notes are not coming up. I was wondering are you guys working on it as i listen to the lesson or is it something you need to fix? well thanx for the help
Jeremy says:
September 19th, 2008 at 4:05 am
I became fluent in Chinese before studying Korean. It is interesting to see how much Chinese has influence Korean. So I want to ask. You used 최근 above which is Chinese. I learned 요즘 before. Which is more common? Which is more formal? Is there any other difference? 
선현우 says:
September 19th, 2008 at 8:36 am
구봉이 
네, Keith 정말 열심히 해요 ^^!!
Jeremy
최근 and 요즘 are equally very common, but 최근 is a little bit more formal. So you’ll hear 최근 and 요즘 (or 최근에 and 요즘에) in BOTH everyday conversations and formal speeches, but you’ll see 최근 a little bit more often in formal speeches.
And yes, it’s always very interesting to see how the three languages of Chinese, Korean and Japanese are very closely intertwined, while being very different at the same time
Daniel K says:
September 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
다시 한 번 재미있고 유용한 문법점을 레슨에 포함하셨어요.
최근에 저희 어머니가 항공 회사의 콘테스트에 이기셨어요. 미국에서 언젠가 탈 수 있는 비행기표 두 장을 받으셨어요. 처음에는 미들 수가 없었는데요. “그런 훌륭한 상품에 이겼을 리가 없네!”라고 생각했어요. 하지만 조심스럽게 “이기셨다!”는 이메일을 읽어서 결국에 진짜 거라고 알았어요. 엄마: 축하해요! 
선현우 says:
September 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Daniel
Thanks for the comment.
코멘트 고마워요!
Congrats for your mother! 잘 됐네요 Very lucky!! 정말 운이 좋으셨네요. So she can go anywhere in the US with those tickets??? 대단해요 ㅎㅎㅎㅎ!
And nice use of the grammar point! : )
win a contest = 콘테스트에서 1등을 하다 (not 이기다)
win a prize = 상품을 타다 (not 이기다 either as in English)이메일을 읽어서 –> 이메일을 읽고 ^^
Marcus says:
September 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
could one say “그럴 리가 없다” even if he had witnessed the event he’s referring to? What I am talking about is the english expression “I see it, but I don’t beleive it…” For example a few weeks ago I was playing golf with friends, and one person in our group actually made a hole in one! (For those who don’t play golf, that means he got the ball in the hole with only one swing of the club from the starting point.) In that situation could I say “그럴 리가 없어…” to mean “what I just witnessed could not have possibly happened…” ? Or is there another expression for that?
선현우 says:
September 19th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Marcus Great question! 좋은 질문이에요!
그럴 리가 없다 is only when you’re judging on a piece of info that you heard or read, and when you want to say you can’t believe your eyes, you can say ‘이럴 수가 (없다 is understood)’ so “아니! 이럴 수가….” or “아니 이런 일이… (있을 수 없는데, 일어났어)” are very commonly used phrases for situations like the one you described
Daniel K says:
September 20th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Thanks for the corrections, 현우. It’s interesting, how in almost every language the way you say “win a contest” and “win a prize” uses a slightly different grammatical structure. I’m thinking that in Hebrew, you say something like “I came into / merited into a prize,” which when translated into English, of course, sounds very strange.
And that was a really good question, Marcus. I hadn’t even thought of it, but thanks for bringing it up!
chamisul says:
September 20th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Hi, another great lesson. I really love to learn these grammar patterns which are more commonly used in daily life. Some situation which I often encounter and think, “oh how should I say this in korean?”
I’m wondering if I can use 리가 없다 in the following scenario:
A: 어? 그걸 모라?
B: 알 리가 있어?
or
B: 알 리가 없어!?
In English:
A: I thought you knew… / Oh you didn’t know?
B: How the xxxx would I know?
or
B: How is it possible that I knew?!
Thank you.
선현우 says:
September 20th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Daniel
I agree, hehe. In really casual conversations you can also say “나 일등 먹었어” to say “I won the first place” - then it would sound very strange in English if you translate that literally haha (”I ate the first place.”)
선현우 says:
September 20th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Chamisul (what a nice/addictive nickname!)
It’s really great that you’re trying to think “how should I say this in Korean?” - I think that’s reallllllllllly important in learning a new language ^^!
Your scenario is very good and almost perfect ! Let me add a few words and help make it more natural
A: 어? 그걸 몰라?
B: 내가 알 리가 있어? (아무도 말 안 해 줬는데!)
or
B: 내가 알 리가 없지! (아무도 말 안 해 줬으니까.)
선현우 says:
September 21st, 2008 at 2:56 am
Sarah
The verb stem in “그럴 리가” is “그렇다”, which means “to be so”
그렇다 conjugates a bit irregularly
그렇다
그런
그렇게
그럴
그러면
…
:)
선현우 says:
September 26th, 2008 at 4:44 am
하하하하 진짜요? Really? ㅎㅎ
I like 동동주, but I wouldn’t be able to drink it everyday if I had to. 맨날은 못 마실 것 같아요. ㅎㅎ
동동주 gives me a headache the next morning for some reason… 왜 그런지 모르겠어요 ^^;;;
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Category: Lower Intermediate |
Grammar: ㄹ/을 리가 없다, past tense | Function: expressing a doubt | Topic: family, son | Politeness Level: intimate, standard
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