Learn Korean with KoreanClass101.com! You look over at your friend, who is intently looking up at the sky in Korea. You watch your friend for a moment, then scour the sky, but you still can’t tell what has captured your Korean friend’s attention. You ask your friend in Korean, “Why are you looking up at the sky? Are you waiting for aliens to abduct you?” Your friend responds in Korean, “Haha, you’re very funny. I’m just looking at these clouds and making shapes with them.” You pause to look at the clouds, and then you ask your friend in Korean, “Why are you doing this?” Your friend responds in Korean, “Because it’s entertaining to me. See that cloud over there? I think it looks like my uncle. See this one over here? I think it looks like a flower.” You get ready to ask your friend in Korean why this is a good use of his time, but you bite your tongue. Instead, you say in Korean, “Why don’t we go get some lunch when you’re done with your cloud artwork?”
Learning Korean with KoreanClass101.com is the most fun and effective way to learn Korean! This Korean Absolute Beginner lesson will show you how to ask someone questions that begin with the Korean word meaning “why.” Sometimes, though, even when you’re in Korea, you’ll need to recognize that it’s better to accept things as they are than wonder why they are that way. Visit us at KoreanClass101.com where you will find many more fantastic Korean lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Absolute Beginner Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
20 Responses to “Absolute Beginner #8 - Why Are You Studying Korean?”
Monday at 6:30 pm
Let’s practice this conversation!
A: “왜 가만 있어요?”
B: “그냥”
This is really useful!!
Wednesday at 4:10 am
안녕하세요.
This lesson was very nice.
고맙습니다
I have a question, would you please help me?
Cry=울다
왜 울어요? = why are you crying?
We use 어요 to make it polite.
나는 울고 있습니다= I am crying
What does 고 mean?
Wednesday at 2:48 pm
“고” : In this sentence, “- 고 있다 ” is the progressive form.
I am crying. :
나는 울고 있다.(basic form)/
나는 울고 있어.(casual,unformal form)/
나는 울고 있어요.(intimate,formal form)/
나는 울고 있습니다.(Formal Form)
why are you crying? : 왜 울고 있어요?
** The meaning of “-고” depends on the sentence. sometimes, it means “and”
Wednesday at 3:57 pm
Hello
I’m so grateful for your lessons.
Last year all your lessons came with nice picture and every day I put these pictures in my desktop computer and I practiced new lessons.
These pictures help me learned new lessons better.
I don’t know why you don’t do that these days.
If I ask you 왜?
Maybe you answer me: 그냥
Wednesday at 4:17 pm
안녕하세요.
Now, I am not crying because you answer my question.
감사합니다.
나는 웃고 있습니다. 나는 울고 있지 않습니다
Wednesday at 4:38 pm
Hello
I am new in this site.
I like this lesson.
I have a question:
Is it ok if a young person says “geunyang” to a elder person.
Is it polite?
Thank you for your attention.
Thursday at 8:13 am
안녕하세요!!
왜 한국어 공부하고 있어요? did it’s same as “왜 한국어 공부해요?” in meaning??
저 한국 드라마와 노래 좋아해요. 한국어도 재미 있어요.
우리 어머니도 한국 드라마 팬이에요. 많이 울는 갓 봐요… ㅋㅋㅋ
저도 슬펐지만 안 울고 있었어요. 사실 없어요. 그냥 이야기예요… ㅋㅋㅋ
한국어 가르쳐 주세요!! 감사합니다!! 좋은 하루 보내세요!!
Thursday at 3:43 pm
저는 심각하게 읽고 있었어요.
잠시 후 깨달았죠… 그냥 하시는 말씀이라는 것을…
죄송합니다.
“그냥” is casual and informal form. “그냥요”[casual and formal form] is better. BUT you should be careful when using it. It sounds like insincere.
여러분 주의해 주세요.. “그냥” sounds you don’t want to say or don’t consider the question.
왜 한국어 공부하고 있어요?
왜 한국어 공부해요?
The meaning is almost same but difference is the former is the progressive form. and sounds the latter is stronger talking.
Sunday at 12:52 pm
if someone asks you “why are you doing this?”, and you just say, “no reason 그냥”, you just simply end up the conversation. Therefore, I would not recomned anyone (Korean learners) to simply say “그냥”.
Try to respond accordingly, that would help you improve your Korean skill.
If someone asks you, “why are you sleeping 왜 자요?” then respond like “because I am sleepy 졸려서 or because I am tired 피곤해서”.
If someone asks you, “why are you eating 왜 먹어요?” then respond like “because I am hungry 배 고파서”
If you simply respond “그냥” no one would ask you further question, which means no more conversation. Therefore, the expression “그냥” is very useful to end conversation when someone annoys you by keeping asking questions.
Thanks for the lesson.
Monday at 3:06 pm
Itotally agree with Tim’s opinion. lol
Thank you for your further explaination.
Sunday at 11:10 am
안녕하세요
저는 사가입니다.만나서 반갑습나다.
저는 한국어를 6 닽 전에 겅부했어요.한국어는 아주 재미있어요.좋아해요.
Monday at 10:33 am
반가워요 사가씨,
한국어 공부 재밌나요?
한국어 공부 재밌게 하세요…
cheers,
Tim
Monday at 11:19 am
이름은 시가여요.^^cyka
베트늠사람이예요.17살이예요.는요?
Tuesday at 2:44 pm
Friday at 1:52 pm
.. wow!! i lovE thiS lessOn..~
thAnk yOu..
Monday at 6:42 am
help me pleaasee… what is the meaning by 그냥? does it mean ‘just’? or is there other meanings…??? i’m dying right now
+
Monday at 9:25 am
I think normally it always means ‘just’. There may be some special combinations with other words where it has a somewhat different meaning. You can find some sentences where ‘just’ doesn’t appear in the translation (although you can usually see/understand why the word is in the sentence) at the bottom of the naver dictionary. I’m not allowed to post links but if you just go to endic.naver.com and enter 그냥, they have many examples
If these sentences are too difficult and you want to stick to beginner level, I think always taking ‘그냥’ to mean ‘just’ would be a good assumption. Maybe the only interesting one is ‘그냥 그래’ which doesn’t mean ‘it’s just like that’ but instead means ‘I’m just so-so’ as a reply to a question of how you are doing
Tuesday at 8:14 am
OMG Jeroen, thank you very much!!!! you’ve helped me sooo much, i’m happy right now!! haha, well, i’m doing good, just fine n thankssss
Thursday at 6:46 pm
아빠 왜 울어요?
우리 딸 어늘 힘들어, that is why I’m crying.
How could I say this?
Monday at 5:14 pm
Hello Miki,
You can say ‘ 오늘 힘들어서 울고 있어.’to mean ‘I’m crying because I had a tough day’
Verb Stem+ 어서 means ‘because’. You can use this particle to connect two sentences ‘오늘 힘들다’ and ‘울고 있다.’ to describe the reason.
If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you.
- Jaehwi / Koreanclass101.com
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