Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Keith: I was Speaking Korean, So I Impressed Her. In this lesson, you will learn how to do what?
Misun: To give excuses using 아-서. / 아서
Keith: This conversation takes place where?
Misun: At the office in the morning.
Keith: All right. That’s a good time and good place for a lot of excuses. The conversation is between who?
Misun: Anne and her boss.
Keith: And they’re at the workplace, so of course, they'll be speaking formal Korean.
Misun: 네 존댓말이요.
Keith: Let’s listen in to today’s conversation.
Misun: 네.

Lesson conversation

사장님:앤 씨…안녕하세요.
Ann: 늦어서 죄송합니다.
사장님음…
Ann: 비가 와서…
사장님:네…
Ann: 교통이 막혀서…
사장님:음…
Ann: 죄송합니다!
English Host: One more time, with the English.
사장님:앤 씨…안녕하세요.
Keith: Ann...hello.
Ann: 늦어서 죄송합니다.
Keith: I'm late, so I'm sorry.
사장님:음…
Keith: Hmm...
Ann: 비가 와서…
Keith: It was raining, so...
사장님:네…
Keith: Yeah....
Ann: 교통이 막혀서…
Keith: There was traffic, so...
사장님:음…
Keith: Hmm...
Ann: 죄송합니다!
Keith: I'm sorry!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Misun: And being late to work.
Keith: Misun…
Misun: I do sometimes often.
Keith: Yeah, I know what you mean. It happens with everyone at some point, right?
Misun: 네, 그렇죠.
Keith: But Misun, instead of making up excuses as to why we might be late to work... in Korea, are there a lot of delays on the subway?
Misun: Not really. For the most part the subways are very consistent. They're almost always on time.
Keith: But many people take the bus to work too, right?
Misun: Right, that's where you might be late.
Keith: For the most part, the bus is efficient and reliable, but there can always be traffic on the streets, right?
Misun: Yup. So sometimes you might be waiting 30 minutes to an hour for a bus, and then all of a sudden, there will be 4 or 5 buses, one right after another.
Keith: Yeah. And I hate it when that happens!
Misun: I know. It’s just frustrating. When that happens, and the bus drivers know that there's a few buses right behind, he might just pass by your stop.
Keith: Right. So if you’re waiting a long time and you finally see the bus, and you wave it down but it just passes by, he’s doing it on purpose because he knows there’s a couple of buses behind.
Misun: I know, but still…well, what if all the buses think the same thing and they all pass by?
Keith: Well, that means you’re in trouble.
Misun: I know.
Keith: Well, there's always taxis.
Misun: It happens a lot to me, that’s why I’m so upset.
Keith: Well, there’s taxis, right?
Misun: Right.
VOCAB LIST
Keith: All right. Well, take a look at the vocab for this lesson.
Misun: Okay.
Keith: The first word we have is…
Misun: 늦다 [natural native speed]
Keith: To be late
Misun: 늦다 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 늦다 [natural native speed].
Keith: Next is…
Misun: 죄송합니다 [natural native speed]
Keith: I'm sorry. (polite)
Misun: 죄송합니다 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 죄송합니다 [natural native speed]
Keith: Next is…
Misun: 비 [natural native speed]
Keith: Rain.
Misun: 비 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 비 [natural native speed]
Keith: After that…
Misun: 오다 [natural native speed]
Keith: To come.
Misun: 오다 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 오다 [natural native speed].
Keith: Next…
Misun: 교통
Keith: Transportation.
Misun: 교통 [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 교통[natural native speed].
Keith: And finally…
Misun: 막히다 [natural native speed]
Keith: To be clogged, to be blocked (with traffic).
Misun: 막히다 [slowly - broken down by syllable] 막히다 [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Keith: All right. Well, let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Misun: The first word we’ll look at is....
Misun: 죄송합니다.
Keith: I'm sorry.
Misun: This is "I'm sorry" in the politest form.
Keith: Yeah, there's a few other ways to say sorry, but this is the most polite.
Misun: 네. But if you're with your close friend, this is too polite to use.
Keith: That's right. In that case you would use the informal version, which sounds different than 죄송합니다
Misun: Right.The informal version is 미안해.
Keith: Okay. And again, this should be used with very close friends.
Misun: And in other situations, you can use 미안해요.
Keith: Yup, you can add 요 at the end to make it a little more polite.
Misun: But 죄송합니다 is the most polite, as we said.
Keith: And usually, when you're sorry, you want to be the most polite, right?
Misun: So using 죄송합니다 would be the safest to use unless it's someone very close to you.
Keith: All right. Well, let’s take a look at our next phrase.
Misun: 네. Well, in Korean it's a phrase 비가 오다.
Keith: Right. And that means “it's raining.”
Misun: But literally, it means “rain is coming.”
Keith: Okay. The first part?
Misun: 비
Keith: Means “rain”. And the second part...
Misun: 오다.
Keith: Means “comes”. So literally, it's “rain is coming.”
Misun: Yes. So whenever you say it's raining, you have to say that the raining is coming.
Keith: You can also say that rain is falling as well.
Misun: Sure 비가 내리다 versus 비가 오다.
Keith: But "rain is coming" 비가 오다 is more general and commonly used.
Misun: 네 맞아요.

Lesson focus

Keith: Okay. Well, let’s move on to the focus of this lesson.
Misun: The focus of this lesson is either 아서, 어서, 여서.
Keith: And this grammatical structure gives a cause or reason for a something.
Misun: Yea, So just like in this lesson's dialog, if you're late and what to give a reason, you use this.
Keith: So naturally, it's translated as "so" or "because" in English.
Misun: 네. And usually, you need two things, the reason or the cause, right? And then a statement after that. For example, you can 늦어서 죄송홥니다.
Keith: Okay. And that's literally, “I'm late, so I'm sorry.”
Misun: The first part is 늦어서....
Keith: I'm late so...
Misun: And after that is 죄송합니다.
Keith: “I'm sorry.” So altogether it's “I'm late so I'm sorry.” / And of course, we translated it as ‘I’m sorry. I’m late.”
Misun: But a lot of times, you don't need the second line.
Keith: Right, many times you can infer from context what the speaker is trying to say.
Misun: 네. For example, if you're at a birthday party, and I’m really quiet and I look really tired, I can say, 늦게 자서.
Keith: I slept late so...
Misun: And you don't have to say anything after that.
Keith: Right you can infer from context, “I slept late so...” the thing you’re inferring is “I’m tired.”
Misun: Right. If someone asks me, “why do you look so sick?”
Keith: Well I can give them a reason, "I drank alcohol yesterday so..."
Misun: 술 마셔서...
Keith: And the rest of the sentence is open ended. It's okay because a lot of times, you're answering questions.
Misun: 좋아요! How about, 피곤해서...
Keith: I'm tired so..." And again, I'm giving you the reason. “I'm tired so....”
Misun: How about we take a look at some examples from this dialogue?
Keith: Sure! First Anne said, “I'm sorry I'm late,” but more literally it can be translated as "I'm late so I'm sorry."
Misun: 늦어서 죄송합니다.
Keith: And now she's just giving some excuses, giving her boss some reasons. For example, "It was raining so..."
Misun: 비가 와서…
Keith: Next, “There was traffic so...”
Misun: 교통이 막혀서…
Keith: And for myself, 저는 졸려서...
Misun: Aw, you're tired?
Keith: Yeah. So…
Misun: Me, too.
Keith: So I guess we’re going to have to leave.
Misun: Okay.
Keith: I hope our listeners don't mind if we end over here.
Misun: Right.

Outro

Keith: Well, that just about does it for today. Bye-bye!
Misun: 안녕히 계세요, 여러분.

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