Connecting sentences and contrasting between them is essential in any language. Like English there are a few ways to do it in Korean.
To Connect and Contrast
Now that my series on Korean irregular verbs are nearing its end, I thought it is time to select a new topic. I picked connecting and contrasting sentences as my next topic since this is a very important thing to know how to do in any language.
When we talk in any language we do not limit ourselves to short and simple sentences. Those short sentences would become very dull and repetitive to listen to. That is why we often make one large sentence out of two or even more sentences. One way to achieve this is the use of conjunction words.
Conjunction words are essential words in any language. What would the English language be without words such as: and, but, or, etc.? I would guess that it would become a whole lot more annoying to listen or read anything in English without those tiny, but useful words. Korean, of course, has ways to connect or contrast between sentences as well. In Korean there are two major ways to connect two sentences together:
- Verb endings
- Conjunctive adverbs
Conjunctive Adverbs
One way to connect or contrast sentences is the use of conjunctive adverbs. These are quite a few of these in Korean so let us just keep to the most important one. For some Korean conjunctive adverbs the difference might be very slight and this can cause some confusion. Nonetheless, if you practice them you will get the hang of it.
However, there is a slight different in their use. In English using those words makes 1 sentence out of 2 sentences by connecting them. In Korean these words do not make 1 larger sentences, but instead keeps 2 sentences.
- 학생은 대학교에 가요. 그리고 영어를 공부해요.
- 어제 맥주 많이 마셨어요. 그래서 머리가 아파요.
These are a handful of interesting Korean connective adverbs: 그리고, 하지만, 아니면, 그러나, 그렇지만, 그래서, 그러니까, 그러면, 그런데, 그래도.
Connecting and Contrasting through Verb Endings
Another way to connect sentences in Korean is through the use of various verb endings. Unlike the previous conjunctive adverbs, this method will make 1 larger sentence out of 2 sentences. Connecting and contrasting through verb endings is a pretty straightforward method, but like the conjunctive adverbs there might be some confusion for verb endings with a similar use. I will be focusing on 4 connecting and contrasting verb endings coming weeks:
If you know any other conjunctive adverb or verb ending, let me know in the comments. I always love to learn new things. Next week we will start with the -고 form. Hope to see you then.
