Learn Korean

Vocabulary

만나서 반갑습니다 -Nice to meet you (Formal)

사람 - Person
여자 - Woman
남자 - Man
책 - Book
친구 - Friend
것 - Thing
이것 - This (thing)
그것 - That (thing)
저것 - That (thing)

이 - This
그 - That
저 - That

~입니다 - to be (Formal)

~입니다
Currently, in the beginning, I am slowly incorporating all the levels of formality's respective versions of "to be" so when it comes to verbs and adjectives, it won't be hard for you to understand what's going on. So for the next few lessons expect more.

~입니다, just like ~이에요/예요 is attached directly to what is being described. ~입니다 is used for both consonant and vowel ending words:

저는 롤라입니다.
I am Lola.

저의 이름은 지민입니다
My name is Jimin.

~입니다 is always pronounced as 임니다 solely because it's easier to pronounce.

이/그/저
이, 그, and 저 are used just like "this" and "that". 이, 그, and 저 and determiners which means it has to be followed by a word to describe. For example:

이 사람
This person

그 여자
That woman

저 남자
That man

Before we get further, I'll explain the difference between 그 and 저.

그 - Something closer to the listener, or something already mentioned before.

저 - Something far a from the listener and speaker. Like saying "That (over there)".

So 그 여자 would mean: The woman is closer to the person you are talking to OR someone has already brought up that woman in the conversation so you are referring to them. (그 doesn't have to describe something that you can see/in your presence)

And 저 남자 would mean: a man that is far away from you and the listener. So he could be like across the room or across the street from you. (저 has to describe something you can see/that is in your presence) Including "over there" when you think about it might help.

Now that you have that, let's learn how to say "this" and "that" as nouns. What you just learned above was "this" and "that" as determiners, which means they have to be followed by a noun. Using 이것, 그것, and 저것, you can say "this" and "that" as nouns.

These are actually a couple of many compound words in Korean. Because 이, 그, and 저 have to be followed by something, they followed it with the word "thing"(것):
이 + 것 = 이것 |This (thing)|
그 + 것 = 그것 |That (thing)|
저 + 것 = 저것 |That (thing)(over there)|

Let's see how 이것, 그것, 저것, 이, 그, and 저 would look in sentences:

이것은 저의 책입니다.
This is my book.

그 여자는 저의 친구예요
That girl is my friend.

그것은 그 남자의 것이에요.
That is that man's. (That is that man's thing.)

이 책은 저의 책이에요.
The book is mine. (This book is my book.)

그 사람의 이름은 존입니다 .
That person's name is John.

저것은 책이에요.
That's a book. (That's a book over there)

그 남자는 지민입니다.
That guy is Jimin.

Closing
Remember if you have any questions please ask. As always, practice what you learned. Here is a practice conversation I put together (translation below):

- 안녕하세요, 만나서 반가워요. 저는 롤라예요. 이름이 뭐예요?
• 안녕하세요, 네, 만나서 반갑습니다. 저는 존입니다.
- 그 사람의 이름이 뭐예요?
•이 사람의 이름은 지민입니다.
— 네, 저는 지민입니다, 만나서 반갑습니다.
- 네.

- Hello, nice to meet you. Im Lola. What's your name?
- Hello, nice to meet you too. I am John.
- What is that person's name?
- This person's name is Jimin.
- Yes, I am Jimin. Nice to meet you.
- Yes. (Me too)

(If you look at the conversation, Lola is using a lower level of informality because she is either older, or is socially higher than them)

Quick clear examples of what I mean by higher social status:

Teacher>Student
Boss>Worker
Adult>Child
King>Peasant
Old>Young

That's all. Remember to not give up! The 3rd lesson will be out shortly, if it is up, please continue!