Pattern –(으)ㄴ/는 바람에: because of, as a result

–(으)ㄴ/는 바람에 can be translated as “because of, as a result.” Usually, the phrase before 바람에 indicates an ‘unexpected event’ that leads to a negative effect in the following clause.

Reference: Yeon, J., & Brown, L. (2011). Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar: Routledge.

The Airport & Traveling by Plane

Learn some vocabulary about the airport, flying, and all the steps in between! The words in the list below are often heard during boarding announcements at the airport, onboard the plane, and can be seen on airline websites. If you 

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Review the flashcards for this lesson! Click on the buttons or use the keyboard to review the cards. Once you get a card right five times, the card is moved to the known cards stack, and a new card will be added to your working cards stack. Try to learn them all!

Pattern –는 길(에): on the way to

–는 길(에) can be translated as “on the way to” and is used with a verb indicating movement to/from a destination.

Reference: Yeon, J., & Brown, L. (2011). Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar: Routledge.

Pattern (을/를) 통해(서): through, by way of

(을/를) 통해(서) / (을/를) 통하여(서) can be translated as “through, by way of” and is used with nouns to indicate “sources of information” such as persons, institutions, activities, etc.

Reference: King, R., Yeon, J., & Lee, I. (2015). Continuing Korean (Second ed.): Tuttle Publishing.

Ending –거든(요): it’s because, you see

–거든(요) can be translated as “it’s because, you see.” It follows a verb and, in this form, is always ending a sentence (another pattern exists with –거든 in the middle of a sentence, with a different meaning). It is commonly used to add information to what was previously said, provide justification for one’s actions, or referring to something that was said in the past.

Reference: Yeon, J., & Brown, L. (2011). Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar: Routledge.

Book Review: Continuing Korean, Second Edition

Continuing Korean, Second Edition by Ross King, Jaehoon Yeon, and Insun Lee is a great textbook for upper beginner/lower intermediate learners of the Korean language. The book is composed of 12 lessons that walk readers through one or two dialogues and a reading passage, vocabulary relevant to the readings, and various grammar points.

The good points about this book:
– The progression in difficulty is very gradual, so it is hard to feel lost or overwhelmed if the lessons are studied in the right order.
– The book comes with an audio CD containing all the spoken dialogues, words and phrases, making the book a great investment for autodidacts.
– For the most part, the dialogues are relatable, making it easier to understand the context of use of specific words.
– The grammar points are well redacted and easy to understand.

Book Review - Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar

Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar by Jaehoon Yeon and Lucien Brown is one of the most useful, if not the only, comprehensive Korean grammar books available in English. The book starts with a very complete refresher on honorifics and the complex pronunciation rules of the Korean language. The rest of the book has one chapter per class of words in the Korean language. The structure of the book goes as follow:

Academics - University Topics

This lesson introduces words to talk about university subjects, the different university degrees, and some examples using these words together in a sentence.

You can review this lesson using these flashcards, and you can also download a PDF of this lesson to take it to go.

Review this lesson

Review the flashcards for this lesson! Click on the buttons or use the keyboard to review the cards. Once you get a card right five times, the card is moved to the known cards stack, and a new card will be added to your working cards stack. Try to learn them all!

Particle: Usage of –에

Using the Internet in Korean

Always wondered how to use Korean websites? While some technology-related words are borrowed from English, a lot of words are proper to Korean, and are sometimes hard to find in dictionary. This lesson includes common Internet nouns and verbs to help you use the Internet.

You can review this lesson using these flashcards, and you can also download a PDF of this lesson to take it to go.

Review this lesson

Review the flashcards for this lesson! Click on the buttons or use the keyboard to review the cards. Once you get a card right five times, the card is moved to the known cards stack, and a new card will be added to your working cards stack. Try to learn them all!