Dialogue - Korean

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Vocabulary

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날씨 nalssi weather
덥다 deopda to be hot
내일 naeil tomorrow
많이 manhi very, a lot
ssi Mr., Ms., Mrs.
오늘 oneul today
춥다 chupda to be cold
비가 오다 bi-ga oda to rain, to be raining

Lesson Notes

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Lesson Focus

The Focus Of This Lesson Is Discussing Weather Conditions
민호 씨, 오늘 날씨가 어때요?
minhossi, oneul nalssiga eottaeyo?

"Minho, how's the weather today?"


 

The weather and the temperature are always the safest topics for making small talk!

In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe the day's weather and temperature using the pattern A 이/가 B ("A is B") or A 은/는 B ("A is B") or sentence structure.

 

Asking about the Weather


 

A common phrase for asking about the weather in Korean is 오늘 날씨가 어때요? (oneul nalssiga eottaeyo?). It literally means "Today's weather is how?" or "How's today's weather?"


Korean

English

Romanization

Word 1

오늘

today

oneul

Word 2

날씨

weather

nalssi

Word 3

subject-marking particle

ga

Word 4

어때요?

"how is" as in question

eottaeyo?

 

You can put different nouns such as 내일 (naeil, "tomorrow)" or  이번 주말 (ibeon jumal, "this weekend" instead of the word 오늘 (oneul "today")

 

Answering a Question about the Weather


 

 

In Korean, you can use the following form to answer a question about the weather or describe the weather:

Usage:

오늘은+ [Adjective]

oneureun + [Adjective]

"Today is" + [Adjective] ("The weather today is..")

오늘 날씨 (oneul nalssi) is the word that literally means "today's weather," and you can use it for many cases, but not with phrases that have a verb in them, such as 비가 온다 (biga onda, "raining"). This phrase has the verb 오다 (oda "to come") in it, so you can only use it with 오늘은 (oneureun) and not with 오늘 날씨는 (oneul nalssineun)

For example:

"It's sunny today."

오늘은 맑다 (oneureun maktta) - Correct

오늘 날씨는 맑다 (oneul nalssineul maktta) - Correct

Note - 맑다 (maktta) is the adjective meaning "sunny" and it doesn't have a verb inside.

 

"It's rainy today."

오늘은 비가 온다. (oneureun biga onda) - Correct

오늘 날씨는 비가 온다. (oneul nalssineul biga onda) - Incorrect

Note: 비가 온다 (biga onda) has the verb 온다 (biga onda) inside the phrase, so you cannot use it with the noun 오늘 날씨 (oneul nalssi, "Today's weather.")

 

 

 

Various Expressions Used To Talk About the Weather


 

 

Here is the list of adjectives and expressions you can to describe the weather in Korean.

Korean (Dictionary form)

Korean w/ ending

English meaning

Notes

맑다
(maktta)

맑아요
(malgayo)

sunny

-

비가 온다
(biga onda)

비가 와요
(biga wayo)

raining (lit. "rain is coming")

Has verb 온다 (onda) meaning "to come"

번개가 친다
(beongaega chinda)

번개가 쳐요
(beongaega chyeoyo)

lightning (lit. "lightning is striking")

Has verb 친다 (chinda) meaning "to strike"

눈이 온다
(nuni onda)

눈이 와요
(nuni wayo)

snowing (lit. "snow is coming."

Has a verb 온다 (onda) meaning "to come"

태풍이 온다
(taepung-i onda)

태풍이 와요
(taepung-i wayo)

typhoon is coming

Has a verb 온다 (onda) meaning "to come"

흐리다
(heurida)

흐려요
(heuryeyo)

cloudy

-

 

 

 

 

Expressions For Talking About How you Feel about the Weather


 

 

Korean (dictionary form)

Korean Ending w/ 요(yo)

"English"

덥다 (deoptta)

더워요 (deowoyo)

"hot"

춥다 (chuptta)

추워요 (chuwoyo)

"cold"

따뜻하다 (ttatteut-hada)

따뜻해요 (ttatteut-haeyo)

"warm"

시원하다 (siwon-hada)

시원해요 (siwonhaeyo)

"cool"

 

추워 (chuwo) means "to be cold" as in temperature or weather. 추워 is in the intimate politeness level and comes from the verb 춥다 (chupda), which means "to be cold." You can add -요 (yo) and say 추워요 to be more polite. This is different from 차가워 (chagaowo), which also means to be "cold to the touch." So, for example, you can say 추워 about the weather or a heavily air conditioned room and 차가워 about a cold piece of ice or a cold river after you have just jumped into it.

더워 (deowo) means, "to be hot" as in temperature or weather. 더워 is in the intimate politeness level and comes from the verb 덥다 (deopda), which means "to be hot." You can add -요 (yo) and say 더워요 to be more polite. This is different from 뜨거워 (tteugeowo), which also means to be "hot to the touch." So, for example, you can say 더워 about the weather and 뜨거워 about a hot bowl of rice.

Examples from the dialogue:

  1. 오늘은 날씨가 더워요.
    oneureun nalssiga deowoyo.
    "It's hot today."
  2. 내일 날씨는 추워요. 그리고 비가 와요.
    naeil nalssineun chuwoyo. geurigo biga wayo.
    "Tomorrow's weather will be cold. And it will rain."

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

오늘 oneul "today"

오늘 (oneul) is the pure Korean word meaning "today." As well as being used as a noun, it can sometimes be used with other nouns that refer to time, such as 아침 (achim) meaning "morning" and 저녁 (jeonyeok "evening") as in 오늘 아침 (oneul achim, "this morning" or literally "today morning") and 오늘 저녁 (oneul jeonyeok meaning "this evening" or literally "today evening").

In English, "yesterday," "today," and "tomorrow" are combined to describe other days such as the day before yesterday and two days after tomorrow. In Korean, there are individual words to describe from three days ago to four days from now. In addition to 어제 (eoje meaning "yesterday"), 오늘 (oneul, "today"), and 내일 (naeil, "tomorrow," there are words such as 그저께 (geujeokke, "two days ago"), and 그끄저께(geukkeujeokke, "three days ago."). There is also the word 모레 (more, "the day after tomorrow") and  글피 (geulpi, "two days after tomorrow"). These are commonly used in Korean, so be sure to remember them!

It's still possible to say 이일 전 (il-il jeon, "two days ago") or 삼일 후 (samil hu) "three days from now," but it would sound strange to directly translate phrases such as "the day before yesterday" into Korean.

For example:

  1. 오늘은 월급날입니다.
    oneureun wolgeupnal-imnida
    "Today is a payday."

 

 

ssi "Mr. Ms. Mrs."

The honorific suffix 씨 (ssi) is one the most commonly used among people of relatively equal speech level. In Korean, this suffix is usually added after someone's first name, for example, 철수 씨 (cheolsu ssi) to refer to someone whose first name is 철수 (cheolsu) honorifically. It's added to the end of the full name or the first name.

Unlike English, Korean doesn't use this honorific suffix with a person's surname. 씨 (ssi) is never used when referring to oneself or one's superior, but usually with someone who's at the same level as you, or below. If someone has a job title such as 선생 (seonsaeng) meaning "teacher" or 의사 (uisa, "doctor") it is appropriate to attach the honorific suffix 님 at the end as in 선생님 to show your respect.

For example:

  1. 지수 씨는 여름휴가를 어디로 가세요?
    jisu ssineun yeorum-hyugareul eodiro gaseyo?
    "Jisu, where are you going for summer vacation?"

 

Cultural Insights

Beating the Heat in Korea


 

Koreans celebrate some traditionally designated days that are on the lunar calendar (or in Korean 음력 (eumryok) and in summer, there are three special days for marking the beginning, the middle, and the end of the season. These are called 초복 (chobok), 중복 (jungbok) and 말복 (malbok). They take place between June and July in the lunar calendar, or July to August in the solar calendar.

중복 (jungbok) is considered the hottest day of the Summer in Korea, so people try to eat hot dishes, such as 삼계탕 (samgyetang, meaning "chicken soup with ginseng") Korean people believe that the smartest way to beat summer is to eat nutritious and hot soups, so on these three days, you will see long lines in front of restaurants that sell chicken soup.

 

Lesson Transcript

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INTRODUCTION
Michael: Talking About the Korean Weather. Michael Here.
Suhyun: 안녕하세요. (Annyeonghaseyo.) I'm Suhyun.
Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about weather conditions in Korean. The conversation takes place in a coffee shop.
Suhyun: It's between Sujin and Minho.
Michael: The speakers are acquaintances, so they’ll be using honorific Korean. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

수진: 민호 씨, 오늘 날씨가 어때요?
민호: 오늘은 날씨가 더워요.
수진: 날씨가 많이 더워요?
민호: 아니요. 많이 안 더워요.
수진: 내일 날씨는요?
민호: 내일 날씨는 추워요. 그리고 비가 와요.
Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
수진: 민호 씨, 오늘 날씨가 어때요?
민호: 오늘은 날씨가 더워요.
수진: 날씨가 많이 더워요?
민호: 아니요. 많이 안 더워요.
수진: 내일 날씨는요?
민호: 내일 날씨는 추워요. 그리고 비가 와요.
Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Sujin: Minho, how's the weather today?
Minho: It's hot today.
Sujin: Is the weather really hot?
Minho: No, the weather isn't that hot.
Sujin: What about tomorrow's weather?
Minho: Tomorrow's weather will be cold. And it will rain.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Michael: Suhyun, I've heard that there are three special days that mark the beginning, middle, and end of summer. What are they called?
Suhyun: Well, we have 초복 (chobok), 중복(jungbok) and 말복(malbok). They literally mean “the beginning of the summer, “the middle of the summer” and “the end of the summer” respectively.
Michael: And they are following the lunar calendar, right?
Suhyun: That’s right. That’s why the dates change every year. They usually take place between June and July in the lunar calendar, or July to August in the solar calendar.
Michael: Listeners, Korean people believe that the best way to fight against the summer heat is to have hot, nutritious soup, so you’ll see long lines in front of restaurants that sell chicken soup on these three holidays.
Suhyun: That’s right. And since we believe hot foods are so beneficial, we make the dishes even hotter by adding spicy ingredients, as in 삼계탕 or, “chicken soup with ginseng.”
Michael: Eating hot soup in the hot summer with hot spices...that sounds interesting!
VOCAB LIST
Michael: Okay! Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Suhyun: 씨 [natural native speed]
Michael: Mr. Ms. Mrs.
Suhyun: 씨[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 씨 [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Suhyun: 오늘 [natural native speed]
Michael: today
Suhyun: 오늘[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 오늘 [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Suhyun: 날씨 [natural native speed]
Michael: weather
Suhyun: 날씨[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 날씨 [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Suhyun: 덥다 [natural native speed]
Michael: to be hot
Suhyun: 덥다[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 덥다 [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Suhyun: 많이 [natural native speed]
Michael: a lot
Suhyun: 많이[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 많이 [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Suhyun: 내일 [natural native speed]
Michael: tomorrow
Suhyun: 내일[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 내일 [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Suhyun: 춥다 [natural native speed]
Michael: to be cold
Suhyun: 춥다[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 춥다 [natural native speed]
Michael: And last..
Suhyun: 비가 오다 [natural native speed]
Michael: to rain, to be raining
Suhyun: 비가 오다[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Suhyun: 비가 오다 [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Michael: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Suhyun: 오늘
Michael: meaning "today”.
Suhyun: This word can be used alone, as in 오늘은 일요일이다.
Michael: “Today is Sunday.”
Suhyun: ...or with other nouns indicating times, such as 아침 and 저녁, which mean “morning” and “evening”.
Michael: Using these, you can say “this morning” and “this evening” in Korean, right?
Suhyun: That’s right. 오늘 아침 literally means “today morning” and you can use it to mean “this morning”.
Michael: And what is “this evening” in Korean?
Suhyun: It’s 오늘 저녁. 오늘 is the word that means “today” and 저녁 means “evening”, so altogether it means “this evening”.
Michael: Talking about days, in Korean, there are individual words to describe “two days ago” or “two days after today.” Can you explain them, Suhyun?
Suhyun: Sure! In addition to 어제 meaning “yesterday” and 내일 meaning “tomorrow”, there are words like 그저께
Michael: meaning “two days ago”.
Suhyun: 그끄저께
Michael: meaning “three days ago”.
Suhyun: 모레
Michael: meaning “the day after tomorrow”.
Suhyun: And.. finally 글피
Michael: “two days after tomorrow”. Listeners, These are commonly used in Korean, so be sure to remember them well. And what’s the next word?
Suhyun: Next, we have 씨.
Michael: This is the honorific suffix that means something like "Mr. Ms. Mrs." This honorific suffix is one the most commonly used among people of relatively equal speech level.
Suhyun: That’s right. Koreans usually add this suffix after someone’s first name or full name. What’s your full name, Michael?
Michael: Michael Porter. Michael is my first name, and Porter is my family name.
Suhyun: Okay, so Korean people would call you 마이클 씨, using your first name, and then the suffix 씨. Unlike English, you don’t use someone’s family name to address the other person politely.
Michael: I see. So people will never call me like Porter then the suffix.
Suhyun: That’s right. But if they want to be more polite, they will call you by your full name with the suffix. In Korean that would be 마이클 포터씨.
Michael: Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to describe the weather in Korean. The weather and the temperature are always safe topics for making small talk, aren't they!
Suhyun: Definitely!
Michael: Okay, so let’s take a look at how to ask about the weather in Korean first.
Suhyun: A common phrase for asking about weather in Korean is 오늘 날씨가 어때요? (oneul nalssiga eottaeyo?)
Michael: This literally means “Today’s weather is how?” or “How’s today’s weather?”.
Suhyun: Let’s break it down. First, we have 오늘 날씨, which means “today’s weather”.
Michael: Although it literally means “today weather” you can assume that there’s a possessive pronoun
Suhyun: 의
Michael: ... hidden between the two words.
Suhyun: So 오늘의 날씨 and 오늘 날씨 mean the same thing - “today’s weather”.
Michael: And next?
Suhyun: Next we have the subject-marking particle 가, then we have the verb 어때요, which is like “how is”, as in a question.
Michael: So the full phrase is..?
Suhyun: 오늘 날씨가 어때요?
Michael: which means “How is today’s weather?”. Okay, if the weather is sunny today, how can you answer the question in Korean?
Suhyun: It’s simple - 오늘 날씨는 맑아요. 오늘 날씨is the word meaning “today’s weather”, 는 is the topic marking particle.
Michael: You need to use the topic particle as you’re talking about a topic that someone already mentioned.
Suhyun: Then we have the adjective 맑아요 meaning “sunny.”
Michael: So altogether, it’s..?
Suhyun: 오늘 날씨는 맑아요.
Michael: Which means “It’s sunny.” or literally “Today’s weather is sunny.”
Suhyun: Or you can simply say 오늘은 맑아요 without saying the noun 날씨 which means “weather.”
Michael: How would you say “it’s raining”?
Suhyun: You can replace 맑아요 meaning “sunny” with the phrase 비가 와요 which means “it’s raining.” or literally “Rain is coming”- 오늘은 비가 와요.
Michael: “It’s raining today.” or literally “Today, rain is coming.”
Suhyun: Here, we used the phrase 비가 와요 instead of just one word. In the phrase, it has the verb 와요 meaning “to come”. In that case, you cannot say 오늘 날씨는 비가 와요, using the word 날씨 meaning “weather.”
Michael: I see. Does the same rule apply to “it’s snowing”?
Suhyun: It does. 눈이 와요 is the phrase meaning “snowing” in Korean. It literally means “snow is coming” with the verb 와요 which means “to come”. Therefore, you can only say 오늘은 눈이 와요 to mean “Today it’s snowing.”
Michael: What if you want to talk about tomorrow?
Suhyun: You can replace the word 오늘 meaning “today” with the noun 내일 meaning “tomorrow”. 내일은 눈이 와요.
Michael: Which means “It’s snowing tomorrow.” Listeners, make sure to check the PDF lesson notes to learn more expressions for describing the weather in Korean.

Outro

Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Suhyun: 안녕히 계세요. (Annyeonghi gyeseyo.)