The first way to connect two sentences in Korean we’ll discuss is the verb ending -고 and its conjunctive adverb equivalent 그리고.
Connecting sentences with -고
I have already introduced the ways to connect sentences in Korean in a broad manner. Today and coming weeks I want to look at them in more detail. I want to start off with how to use the Korean equivalent of ‘and’. There are two ways to do that. The first way is by using a verb ending which is -고. The second method is a conjunctive adverb 그리고.
You can use -고 to list one or more actions, states or facts.I will begin with the verb ending method -고. Since it is a verb ending one simply has to add it to the verb stem. Lucky for us there are no irregularities that can occur when doing this. As mentioned when you use this verb ending you are planning to connect two sentences. It can be used in two quite similar, but still different ways.
You can also use this to tell that one action happened before another. In this case the action in the first part of the sentences happens before the action in second part. If you want to highlight this situation you could also use the verb ending -고 나서. I will come back to this verb ending later.
그리고, the Conjunctive Adverb
Besides the verb ending -고, you can also use 그리고, a conjunctive adverb, to express ‘and’ in Korean. However, unlike the verb ending, the conjunctive adverb 그리고 does not turn 2 sentences into 1 sentence. It keeps the two sentences separate in general. However, the conjunctive adverb points out to the listener or reader that you are either listing something or creating a sequence of actions.
You can use either forms as there is little difference in meaning between the two of them. However, many grammatical constructions employ the verb ending -고 and thus you have to use it instead of the conjunctive adverb 그리고.
