6.5 Asking the Way — Epoché
What you will be able to do Ask where something is, in the two shapes the corpus records: 화장실이 어디죠? and 그 은행은 어디에 있어요? Ask how to get somewhere, with one frame that takes any destination: 공항에 어떻게 가요? Understand an answer given in directions, because the answer will be three words long and will not repeat itself: 앞으로 쭉 가세요. Ask how far and how long, which are different questions with different words. Say how you travelled and how you will travel: 걸어서 왔어요. and 버스로 갈 거예요 . Prerequisites : 6.4, and the places and position nouns of 5.5 Vocabulary . The direction ending and the two location endings are from lesson 3.3, and the question words from lesson 3.15. Asking the way is the one conversation in this phase where you are guaranteed not to understand the answer, and the lesson is arranged around that. The questions are easy and there are only four of them. The answers are short, fast and full of direction endings, and the useful skill is not translating them but recognising three or four fixed shapes: go straight, turn left, turn right, it is over there. This lesson gives the questions, then the answers you will actually hear, then the means of transport. Dialogue A A visitor stopping somebody in the street. The visitor uses the word for excuse me, which is what makes the interruption acceptable, and then asks two questions. 실례합니다, 화장실이 어디에요? [1] Excuse me, where is the restroom? 앞으로 쭉 가세요. [13] Go straight. 왼쪽으로 돌아주세요. [14] Please turn to the left. 얼마나 멀어요? [11] How far is it? 얼마나 걸리나요? [12] How much time does it take? 이쪽으로 오세요. [16] Please come this way. 실례합니다. 출구가 어디인가요? [2] Excuse me, where is the exit? 오른쪽으로 돌아주세요. [15] Please turn to the right. Three of the answers are the whole of giving directions in Korean: forward, left, right. All three use the direction ending of lesson 3.3 and none of them uses a preposition, a noun of place or anything you have not met. If you learn to hear those three, the rest of an answer can wash over you and you will still arrive. The fourth and fifth lines are two different questions that English runs together under "how far". One asks about distance and one about duration, and a Korean will answer whichever you asked. Asking both, as the visitor does here, is normal. Dialogue B A traveller working out how to reach the airport, first on foot and then by public transport. 공항에 어떻게 가요? [8] How do I get to the airport? 공항까지 가는 버스가 있나요? [22] Is there bus service to the airport? 버스가 다니나요? [21] Is there a bus service? 역에 어떻게 가요? [9] How do I get to the train station? 걸어서 왔어요. [18] I came on foot. 차로 몇 시간이나 걸려요? [33] About how many hours does it take by car? 버스로 갈 거예요 [20] I will go by bus. 버스를 놓쳤어요. [25] I missed the bus. 택시를 불러주세요. [23] Call a taxi. 어디로 가실 건가요? [30] Where will you go? The first and fourth lines are the same sentence with one block changed, which is the frame to memorise. A destination, the destination ending, the word for how, and the verb for going: four blocks, and every place name in lesson 5.5 slots into the first. The last line uses the direction ending rather than the destination one, which is the distinction lesson 3.3 made. Asked with the destination ending it would be a question about where you are going; asked this way it is a question about which way you are heading, and it is what a taxi driver says. Saying It Another Way Asking where something is has two shapes, and both are common. With the copula With the verb for existence 화장실이 어디죠? [3] Where is the toilet? 그 은행은 어디에 있어요? [6] Where is the bank? 환전소가 어디에요? [5] Where can I find a place to change money? 경찰서는 어디있어요? [4] Where is the police station? 실례합니다. 출구가 어디인가요? [2] Excuse me, where is the exit? 내 안경은 어디 있어요? [29] Where are my glasses? The left column treats the place as the answer and uses the copula of lesson 3.5; the right column asks whether the thing exists somewhere and uses the verb of lesson 3.6. They are interchangeable in practice, and the left one is shorter, which is why it is what you will hear most in a hurry. A third shape asks whether something is nearby rather than where it is, and it is the politer of the two openings because it does not assume the other person knows. Korean English 이 근처에 약국 있어요? [7] Is there a pharmacy nearby? 공항까지 가는 버스가 있나요? [22] Is there bus service to the airport? 버스가 다니나요? [21] Is there a bus service? And the means of travel takes one ending or one verb, and the two are not synonyms. Korean How the means is expressed English 버스로 갈 거예요 [20] the instrumental ending I will go by bus. 지하철로 갈게. [19] the same I'll go by subway. 차로 몇 시간이나 걸려요? [33] the same About how many hours does it take by car? 그들은 지하철을 타고 갔어요. [26] the verb for riding, with the connector of lesson 3.14 They went by subway. 걸어서 왔어요. [18] the verb for walking, with the causal connector I came on foot. The ending is the shorter and more written of the two; the verb is commoner in speech and is obligatory when the means is walking, because there is no noun for "foot" to put the ending on. Lesson 3.14 made the same point from the other direction. Two more lines round out what you will need. 이 버스는 보스턴으로 가요. [27] is the shape of a sign or an announcement, with the direction ending on a destination. And 몇 번을 반복해야 하나요? [32] is worth having for a different reason: when you have not understood, asking how many times something has to be repeated is a gentler way of asking for a repetition than saying that you did not understand. New words Ten words. Read them cold. Cover the meanings and read these aloud: 경찰서 , 환전소 , 안경 , 칠판 , 차 , 타다 , 놓치다 , 돌다 , 쭉 , 반복하다 . Word Meaning Notes 경찰서 ko gyeongchalseo a police station Note for English speakers The word for police plus an element meaning office, which also ends the words for a tax office and a fire station. 환전소 ko a currency exchange Note for English speakers Built from the elements for exchange and money plus one meaning place, which ends a great many small businesses. 안경 ko an'gyeong glasses, spectacles Note for English speakers Singular