5.2 Family and People — Epoché
What you will be able to do Name the members of a family, and choose the right word for an older brother or sister according to your own sex: 형이 나갔다. against 오빠가 나갔다. Say why English "my brother is out" has three Korean translations and why none of them is more correct than the others. Use the honorific suffix with the words for parents and grandparents, which is obligatory rather than optional: 이거 부모님께도 보여드렸어요? Ask whether somebody has siblings or children: 자녀가 있어요? Name a dozen occupations built on the same pattern as the nationalities of lesson 5.1. Prerequisites : 5.1, which gave you the pronouns and the words for people in general. This lesson is where the general words run out, because Korean kinship terms split at points where English has one word, and two of the splits depend on who is speaking rather than on who is being spoken about. Korean kinship vocabulary is larger and more precise than English, and the precision is not a nicety: there is no neutral word for "brother" that can be used in ordinary speech, so a learner who does not know the distinctions cannot talk about their own family at all. The corpus this course draws on shows the problem directly. Three different Korean sentences are translated "my brother is out", and the three are not synonyms; each says something the other two do not. Word list The family Word Meaning Notes 가족 ko gajok a family Note for English speakers The group. It usually appears with the word for "our" rather than "my", by the rule of lesson 5.1. 부모님 ko bumonim parents Note for English speakers Carries the honorific suffix as part of the word. The bare form exists but is used only in writing about families in general. 어머니 ko eomeoni mother Note for English speakers The neutral word, used to and about one's own mother and about anybody else's. The affectionate word came in lesson 5.1. 할아버지 ko harabeoji grandfather Note for English speakers Also used to address any elderly man, which English cannot do with "grandfather". 할머니 ko halmeoni grandmother Note for English speakers The same, of elderly women. Using it to a stranger in her seventies is friendly rather than familiar. 형제 ko hyeongje siblings, brothers Note for English speakers The collective word, used when asking whether somebody has any. It is not used to refer to one particular brother. 자녀 ko janyeo children, offspring Note for English speakers Used of somebody's children as a category, and mostly in polite questions. It is not the word for a child. 아이 ko ai a child Note for English speakers A child by age. Its plural with the suffix is the ordinary word for children in a group. The four words English calls brother and sister This is the part to learn properly. Korean has four words where English has two, because the word depends on the sex of the speaker as well as on the sex and the seniority of the person spoken about. Word Who uses it, and of whom English 형 a man, of his older brother older brother 오빠 a woman, of her older brother older brother 누나 a man, of his older sister older sister 언니 a woman, of her older sister older sister 동생 anybody, of a younger sibling younger brother or sister 남동생 anybody, of a younger brother younger brother 여동생 anybody, of a younger sister younger sister Two things follow. The younger siblings are simple: one word, with a syllable in front if you need to say which sex. The older siblings are not, and there is no way to avoid the choice, because there is no word meaning "older brother" that does not specify who is speaking. And all four of the older words are used outside the family as well, to and about friends a few years older, which is why the word for "friend" in lesson 5.1 was restricted to people of one's own age. People and occupations Word Meaning Notes 여자 ko yeoja a woman Note for English speakers The counterpart of the word for man in lesson 3.1. Neither is used to address somebody present. 어른 ko eoreun an adult, a grown-up Note for English speakers Also means a senior person whose age entitles them to deference, which English "adult" does not carry. 나이 ko nai age Note for English speakers Asked about with the counter of lesson 3.11, and asked about far more readily than in English, because the answer decides which words both speakers use. 교수 ko gyosu a professor Note for English speakers Normally used with the honorific suffix when addressing one. Without it, it names the rank rather than the person. 교사 ko gyosa a teacher (as an occupation) Note for English speakers The word for the job. The respectful word of lesson 3.5 is what you call a teacher to their face; this one goes on a form. 과학자 ko gwahakja a scientist Note for English speakers The last syllable makes an agent noun, as in the words for realist, artist and journalist. Once you have it, a dozen occupations are free. 남자친구 ko namjachin'gu a boyfriend Note for English speakers The word for man plus the word for friend, written as one block. It is not simply a male friend. 여자친구 ko yeojachin'gu a girlfriend Note for English speakers The same shape, and the same warning. Verbs and adverbs that go with them Word Meaning Notes 친하다 ko chinhada to be close (of people) Note for English speakers An adjective, so the people are its subject. English needs "to be close to somebody"; Korean can leave the other person out. 돌아가시다 ko doragasida to pass away Note for English speakers The respectful verb for dying, used of anybody one respects. The plain verb exists and is not used of one's own grandparents. 일어나다 ko ireonada to get up; to happen Note for English speakers Both senses are live. Getting out of bed and an event occurring take the same verb. 일찍 ko iljjik early Note for English speakers An adverb of time and therefore stands before the verb, unlike English "early", which usually follows it. 자주 ko jaju often Note for English speakers Stands before the verb. With a negative it means "not often", not "often not", which is the English trap in reverse. 함께 ko hamkke together Note for English speaker