It’s just about spring time so we are finishing our season series with some spring vocabulary in Korean! We may do a part 2 like we did for some of the others as well.
Spring is one of the best times to visit Korea as the freezing Korean winter has passed yet, the humidity of summer hasn’t arrived yet. You can also check out the many cherry blossom festivals across the country throughout April.
It looks like it will be warmer than usual this year, so the cherry blossoms may bloom sooner than usual.
Up next in our family series is learning how to say sister in Korean. Like the words for brother, how you address your sister would depend on your age in relation to her. Also like the words for brother, whether you are male or female which dictate how you address her as well.
Let’s start with the first one:
언니 (eon-ni) = This is used by women to refer to their older sister. It would also be used if you are close friends with a woman who is older than you. Remember that 친구 (friend) is only used towards people who are the same age.
(여)동생 ([yeo] dong-saeng) = 동생 is used to refer to your younger siblings. Sometimes people add 여 (woman) or 남 (man) to make a distinction as to whether their younger sibling is their sister or brother. However most times, these are left out, and people simply say 동생.
누나 (nu-na) = This is used by men to refer to their older sister or a woman who is a close friend and also older than them.
And that’s it! Very simple. Check out some of our other posts on family vocabulary below:
Today, we’re talking about a commonly used word, mother. Like other words for family members, I find this one to be easy as well since the casual form sounds a bit like ‘Mama’ in English.
Let’s start with the first form:
어머님 (eo-meo-nim) = This is the formal form of the word mother, and should only be used when you’re addressing someone else’s mother. You would never use this to address your own mother.
This is also used to address your mother in law as well. I always use this to address Hyo’s mom and it is similar to the formal form of father, 아버님. Adding ‘님’ to a title for a person makes it formal. You may also hear this a lot in dramas (especially ones dealing with and focusing on family issues).
어머니 (eo-meo-ni) = This is more casual than the first one, and would be used to address your own mother. Most people will use this to address their own mother.
엄마 (eom-ma) = This is the most casual way to say mother in Korean. This should also only be used to address your own mother. Kids especially like to use this one.
If you want to say ‘My mother’ in Korean, you wouldn’t use the commonly used ‘내’ for my, but ‘우리’. For example:
우리 엄마 (u-ri eom-ma)
우리 어머니 (u-ri eo-meo-ni)
You may think that 우리 is only used for ‘we’, but it can mean ‘my’ in many cases.
Now you may ask, is their a mother’s day or father’s day in Korea. The answer is yes and no. Both mothers and fathers share a special holiday called Parent’s Day (어버의날) in May. It’s a pretty big day for parents, and they are usually given flowers, taken out to dinner, and given money.
Easy right? Now go practice and confuse your own mother with your new vocabulary!
Hey whatsup everyone! February has almost come to a close. This year is already passing by quickly. Hope you’re ready for another quick lesson today!
Today, we’re gonna talk about two words that get beginner Korean learners confused.
You will often hear Koreans refer to rice as “밥”. But did you know, that this only refers to the cooked version? The word “밥” can also refer to a meal as well. So you’ll often hear Koreans say:
밥 먹었어요?
The literal meaning for this phrase means “Have you eaten?”. This phrase on the surface may seem like someone is just asking have you eaten, but it also doubles as a way of checking up on someone or just a casual greeting (Kind of like how people always ask how’s the weather”.
The other word “쌀” refers to uncooked rice you find in the bags in stores or out in the fields.
As you know, rice is a huge part of the Korean diet and it’s now become a big part of mine as well since I’ve been here for so long now.
When you go to restaurants here in Korea, you will typically find that they give you standard white rice, however, there are many kinds of rice:
보리밥 (bo-ri-bap) = barley rice
콩밥 (kong-bap) = bean rice
메밀밥 (me-mil-bap) = buckwheat rice
녹두밥 (nok-du-bap) = mung bean rice
옥수수밥 (ok-su-su-bap) = corn rice
팥밥 (pat-bap) = red bean rice
There are also several dishes with rice as the main ingredient. Usually, if a food has “밥” at the end, it is easy to know that rice is it’s main ingredient. Here are some popular dishes:
비빔밤 (bi-bim-bap) = Rice mixed with various vegetables and red pepper paste
볶음밥 = (bo-kkeum-bap) = Fried rice. Can include other ingredients like various veggies, shrimp, pork, or beef
김밥 (kim-bap) = Rolled rice wrapped in seaweed and cut into individual pieces. Includes a variety of styles and ingredients.
국밥 = (guk-bap) = Rice mixed with hot soup
주먹밥 (ju-meok-bap) = Rice balls which may be filled with fermented radish, tuna, and dried seaweed
쌈밥 (ssam-bap) = Cooked rice wrapped in lettuce or perilla leaves along with pork or beef.
And there you have it! You should definitely try some of the dished above. Most Korean restaurants will sell bibimbap and ssambap, however, you may have to look a little harder for the others, or try making them yourself.
Whatsup everyone hope everyone is ready for the weekend! If you haven’t check it out, go check out our recent infographic on Korean ramen. We got a good response from it and glad everyone liked it.
For today, we’re going back to some Korean family vocabulary. Learning family vocab is one of those things that can get very confusing very fast. To be honest, you probably will not use these often unless you marry into a Korean family. I’ve made it a point to know which terms to use for different family members in Hyo’s family and still get confused.
It’s still good to know them however for future reference.
큰아버지 (keun-a-beo-ji) = Father’s older brother (married or unmarried). 큰 means big and 아버지 means father, so this term for uncle literally means “big father”.
작은아버지 (ja-geun-a-beo-ji) = Father’s married younger brother. “작은” means small and 아버지 means father, so this term for uncle literally means “small father”.
고모부 (go-mo-bu) = Father’s sister’s husband. “고모” is a term used to refer to your father’s sister, and “부” is used to refer to a wife or husband of someone else.
Now let’s move on to the mother’s side of the family:
외삼촌 (woe-sam-chon) = Mother’s brother (married or unmarried). “외” (sounds similar to 왜) is used when referring to family members on the mother’s side of the family.
이모부 (i-mo-bu) = Mother’s sister’s husband. “이모” refers to your mother’s sister and “부” is used to refer to a wife or husband of someone else.
And there you have it! We also made a chart of Korean family terms if you want to find out more. Like I said, it can be a bit confusing for some since most people use simply aunt or uncle. I have no idea why the Korean language added terms for every single person in the family, but it would be a good research project to find out. Even Hyo gets confused.
Hey everyone! Today, we’re gonna teach you how to say girlfriend in Korean and some related vocabulary.
Learning this word is very easy. For example, take 여자친구 which is the standard word for girlfriend.
Like the English word, if we break it down, we get:
여자 ( yeo-ja) = girl/woman
친구 (chin-gu) = friend
Put them together, and you get girlfriend! If you want to shorten it (slang), you would simply use the first syllables of each word:
여친 (yeo-chin)
This would be the equivalent of “gf” in English.
And that’s pretty much it. However, you wouldn’t use this word for a girl who is simply a friend. You would use 여성 친구 which is basically “female friend”.
Here are some sentences/questions you can use:
여자친구 있어요? (yeo-ja-chin-gu i-sseo-yo) = Do you have a girlfriend?
내 여자친구가 되어줄래? (nae yeo-ja-chin-gu-ga doe-eo-jul-lae) Will you be my girlfriend?
네 여자친구가 되고 싶어. (ne yeo-ja-chin-gu-ga doe-go ship-eo) I want to be your girlfriend.
And for more romance related words like pet names/nicknames, check out our other post on this subject!
