There are top 4 basic Korean sentence structures to memorize. I did some research from online resources and summarize them in four ways. Although learning a new language is complicated somehow, these four structures can be used for daily conversation or specific description. The reference grammar can be very useful for beginners since it gives readers a reference tool for looking up details of the language. Sometimes the reference also contain explanation plus one or two examples of every point mentioned.
The top 4 Korean sentence structures can be described as following:
- S+N. Subject + Noun
Sometimes in Korean, there is an ending -ida- which is translated as verb "to be". For example, if we want to say "I am a student", it will be "Naneun haksaeng-ida-." So this "to be" can be seen as an affirmative copula that links the subject of sentence to a noun or adjective.
2. S+V. Subject + Verb
3. S+A. Subject + Adjective
For example, if the sentence is "He is very stupid." In Korean, we can say it 그는 정말 멍청해. 그는 means he, 정말means very, 멍청해 means stupid. Also notice, Korean sentences must end with a verb (verb copula) or adjective.
4. S+O+V. Subject + Object + Verb
No.4 is different from English language system. In English, people use subject+verb+object. But in Korean, we need to end sentences with a verb or verb copula. I water drink, I food eat, I Korean learn, etc. For example I drink water, in Korean, it should be 나는 물을 마신다. 나는 means I, 물을 means water and 마신다 means drink.
There are other structures as well. This/That sentence structure in Korean is very similar to the system in English. Korean uses "this" to indicate something that is within touching distance, so 이 means this in Korean. There are two words to say that, 그 and 저. We can use 그 for something from a previous sentence or from previous context regardless if you could see it or not. And we use 저 for something that we can see but it is too far away so we can't touch.
Here are some examples:
이 사람 = This person
저 남자 = That man
이 탁자 = This table
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