3.15 Asking — Question Words — Epoché
What you will be able to do Ask a question with any of the seven question words, leaving the word order of a statement untouched: 어디에 가요? and 언제 도착했어요? Say where a question word goes, which is exactly where its answer would go. Ask a yes-or-no question with no question word and no change to the sentence at all: 차 좋아해요? Give the question word the ending its answer would carry: 어디에서 오셨어요? against 어디에 가요? Say what English does to a question that Korean does not do, and why that is the whole of this lesson. Prerequisites : 3.5, the copula, because four of the questions below are built on it, and 3.3 Grammar , because a question word takes the same endings as the noun that answers it. Nothing in this lesson is a new construction; it is a set of words and one negative fact about word order. English does three things to make a question. It moves the question word to the front, it inserts a helping verb, and it inverts the subject and that verb: you went where becomes where did you go . Korean does none of the three. The question word stands where the answer would stand, the verb stays at the end, nothing is inserted, and the only difference between a statement and a question is the rise you learned in lesson 1.7. That is the entire lesson, and it is worth a lesson because the English habit is so strong that learners move the question word anyway. The pattern Seven words cover almost all questions. Each behaves like an ordinary noun or adverb: it takes the endings its answer would take, and it sits where its answer would sit. Korean Asks about English 이름이 뭐예요? [1] a thing, with the copula What is your name? 전화번호가 뭐예요? [2] the same What is your phone number? 뭐 해요? [3] a thing, as object What are you doing? 어제 뭐 했어요? [4] the same, in the past What did you do yesterday? 뭐라고 했어요? [5] reported words What did you say? 뭘 원해요? [6] a thing, with the object ending attached What do you want? 이건 누구 거예요? [7] a person, as owner Whose is this? 이 가방 누구 거예요? [8] the same Whose is this bag? The sixth of those shows the principle at its clearest. The word for "what" has taken the object ending, contracted onto it, because the answer would be an object. English cannot do this: "what" has one form wherever it stands, and its role is shown by where it has been moved from. Korean Asks about English 어디에 가요? [9] a destination Where are you going to? 어디에서 오셨어요? [10] an origin Where are you from? 왜 여기 있어요? [11] a reason How come you're here? 왜 왔어요? [12] a reason Why did you come? 왜 울어요? [13] a reason Why are you crying? 언제 도착했어요? [14] a time When did you arrive? 어떻게 지내요? [15] a manner How are you? 어떻게 왔어요? [16] a means What brings you here? 이 단어를 어떻게 발음해요? [17] a manner How is this word pronounced? 여기에서 시내까지 어떻게 가요? [18] a route How do you get downtown from here? 외국어는 어떻게 배워요? [19] a method How do you learn foreign languages? Compare the first two rows. The word is the same; the ending is different, and it is the ending the answer would carry, the destination ending of lesson 3.3 in one and the origin ending in the other. English uses "where" for both and adds "to" or "from" at the end of the sentence, or leaves it out and lets the verb decide. Two more ask about quantity, and both were met in lesson 3.11. Korean Asks about English 몇 시예요? [20] a number with a counter What time is it? 몇 살이세요? [21] the same How old are you? 몇 시에 떠나요? [22] the same, with the time ending What time are you leaving? 컴퓨터는 몇 층에 있어요? [23] the same, with the place ending What floor is the computer on? 이게 얼마예요? [24] a price How much is this? 버스 요금은 얼마예요? [25] a price How much is the bus fare? And one modifies a noun rather than standing on its own, which is why it has a shape of its own. Korean How it is used English 어떤 종류의 일을 하세요? [26] before a noun, like an adjective What kind of work do you do? Yes-or-no questions have no question word at all. Nothing is added, nothing moves, and the sentence is identical to the statement. Only the contour differs, which is the whole content of lesson 1.7 applied here. Korean English 차 좋아해요? [27] Do you like tea? 방 있어요? [28] Do you have a room? How This Differs from English Nothing moves. English pulls the question word to the front of the clause and leaves a gap where it came from. This is the single most conspicuous thing English grammar does, and Korean does not do it. In 이 단어를 어떻게 발음해요? the word for "how" stands in the middle of the sentence, between the object and the verb, which is where an adverb of manner belongs. Moving it to the front would not be ungrammatical, since order before the verb is free, but it would put an emphasis on the manner that the speaker did not intend, and it is not what a Korean would say. Nothing is inserted. English needs a helping verb and invents one when the sentence has none: you came becomes did you come . Korean adds no word of any kind. 왜 왔어요? is the same verb form as a statement, with a question word in front and a rising voice. The question word carries an ending. Because Korean marks the role of a noun with an ending rather than with position, a question word carries the ending its answer would carry, and choosing the right one is how you make the question specific. This is the part learners find genuinely new, since English has no equivalent at all. Question The ending on the question word What it asks 어디에 가요? [9] destination where you are going to 어디에서 오셨어요? [10] origin where you have come from 뭘 원해요? [6] object what you want 몇 시에 떠나요? [22] time at what time you leave 컴퓨터는 몇 층에 있어요? [23] place on what floor it is The same words mean "some" and "any". Without the rising contour, several of these words stop being questions and become indefinites. The word for "what" can mean "something", the word for "where" can mean "somewhere", and the word for "how many" means "a few", as you saw in lesson 3.11. Korean distinguishes the two readings by intonation, and a written sentence can be genuinely ambiguous. English uses different words, so an English speaker does not expect th