3.14 Connecting Clauses — Epoché
What you will be able to do Join two clauses with the neutral connector, which lists or sequences: 기차를 타고 왔어요. Join two clauses so that the first causes or enables the second: 여기 앉아서 기다려 주세요. Set one clause against another: 죄송하지만 못하겠어요. Put the connector at the end of the first clause rather than between the two, which is where English puts it, and say why the difference matters when you are listening. See that the progressive of lesson 3.6 is the neutral connector plus the verb for existing, so that nothing in it was ever new. Prerequisites : 3.13, which finished the adjectives. All three connectors below attach to a verb stem, so the stem has to be automatic; if it is not, redo the second task of 3.7 Grammar before going on. Everything you have written so far has been one clause. English joins clauses with a word standing between them: I came and I sat down . Korean has no such word. It attaches an ending to the verb of the first clause, and that ending both ends the first clause and says how it relates to the second. The consequence is that the connector arrives at the end of the first clause and not at the beginning of the second, so that a listener knows the relation between two clauses before hearing the second one at all. The pattern The neutral connector attaches directly to the stem, with no vowel harmony and no contraction, which makes it the easiest ending in the language. It corresponds to English "and", and covers both listing two facts and putting two actions in order. Korean Block by block English 기차를 타고 왔어요. [1] 기차를 a train · 타고 riding and · 왔어요 came I came by train. 연락하고 지내요. [2] 연락하고 keeping in touch and · 지내요 let's get on Let's keep in touch. The first is worth reading twice, because it is how Korean says "by train". There is no preposition: the train is the object of the verb for riding, that verb takes the neutral connector, and the verb for coming closes the sentence. Two actions in order, where English has one action and a prepositional phrase. The same ending, followed by the verb for existing, is the progressive you learned in lesson 3.6. Nothing in that construction was new; it was this connector before you had met it. Korean English 나는 사과를 먹고 있어요. [3] I'm eating an apple. 한국어를 배우고 있어요. [4] I'm learning Korean. 비가 오고 있어요. [5] It's raining. 도쿄에 살고 있어요. [6] I live in Tokyo. 영화를 보고 있어요. [7] I'm watching a movie. 사무실에서 일하고 있어요. [8] I am working in my office. 저는 한국에서 살고 있어요. [20] I live in Korea. 우리는 저녁을 먹고 있어요. [23] We're having dinner. 식당 가고 있었어요. [22] I was going to the restaurant. The causal connector attaches to the stem with the vowel harmony of lesson 3.7 and the same contractions, so its shape is the polite form with the ending replaced. It says that the first clause caused, enabled or preceded the second, and it is much commoner in Korean than "because" is in English. Korean What the connector says English 여기 앉아서 기다려 주세요. [9] sit, and from that position wait Please sit here and wait. 걸어서 왔어요. [10] walked, and by that means came I came on foot. 나도 만나서 반가워요. [11] met, and because of that am glad It's nice to meet you too. 조심해서 운전 하세요. [12] take care, and in that state drive Please drive carefully. 그는 나를 만나서 왔어요. [13] in order to meet, came He came to see me. Look at the English column of that table: "and", "on", "to meet", "carefully", "to see". One Korean ending, five English constructions. This is the commonest ending in ordinary Korean speech and the hardest to translate, because English distributes its work across conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs and infinitives. The contrastive connector attaches directly to the stem, like the neutral one, and corresponds to English "but" or "although". Korean English 죄송하지만 못하겠어요. [14] I'm sorry, but I can't. 죄송하지만, 이해하지 못하겠어요. [15] I'm sorry, but I don't understand. 죄송하지만, 무슨 말인지 모르겠어요. [16] I'm sorry, but I don't understand. All three begin the same way, and that opening is worth learning as a unit. The verb for being sorry, with the contrastive ending, is the standard polite way to introduce bad news, a refusal or a request in Korean, exactly as "I'm sorry, but" is in English. It is the most immediately usable thing in this lesson. A fourth connector appears once in the corpus sentences above and is included because you will meet it constantly: the one meaning "while", which puts two actions in the same stretch of time rather than in order. Korean English 저는 일하면서 통화했어요. [17] I talked on the phone while working. How This Differs from English The connector is at the end of the first clause. English announces the relation at the start of the second clause, so a listener hears the whole of the first clause, then "but", and then knows that a contrast is coming. Korean marks the first clause as it closes, so the listener knows the relation one clause earlier. This is the same principle as the verb at the end: Korean finishes a unit by saying what kind of unit it was. For a learner the practical consequence is about production rather than comprehension. You cannot begin a Korean sentence with "I'm sorry" and then decide to add a contrast, because the contrast has to be marked on the verb of the first clause, which you have already said. You have to decide before you open your mouth what relation the two clauses stand in. Beginners who plan in English and translate as they go get caught here more than anywhere else. The clauses are not equal. Only the last verb in a Korean sentence carries the tense and the politeness level. Every clause before it ends in a connector and is tenseless: in 기차를 타고 왔어요. only the last verb is past, and the riding is past because the coming is. English marks the tense on every verb, so an English speaker writes a past marker on the first verb too, which is not merely redundant but wrong. Korean Where the tense is English 기차를 타고 왔어요. [1] on the last verb only I came by train. 걸어서 왔어요. [10] on the last verb only I came on foot. 저는 일하면서 통화했어요. [17] on the last verb only I talked on the phone while w