Korean Reading 300 - 001

Hi, everyone. This is the first lecture of Korean Reading 300. There are three segments in Korean Reading 300. Each segment has 100 lectures respectively. From no. 1 to no. 100, the paragraphs will consist of basic forms of easy and short sentences, and no. 101 to 200 will be intermediate course, and no. 201 to 300 will be advanced level. I will upload the videos consecutively at each segment so that you guys can see the videos of your own level, Okay?

 

All right, let’s start with the first sentence of this paragraph.

어떤 학교 선생님이 자신의 차를 몰고 있었다. A school teacher was driving her car.

The first word is 어떤, this is placed in front of a noun, and is used in order to indicate an unspecified object or person. And the second word is 학교, which means ‘school’, and the third word, 선생님 is ‘a teacher’. So, 어떤 학교 선생님 is ‘A school teacher’, right? And 이 is the subjective case. 자신의 is a genitive case, and 차 is ‘a car’, and 를 is the objective case. And 몰고 있었다 is the past progressive form of 몰다, or 몰고가다, which means ‘to drive’. So, 어떤 학교 선생님이 자신의 차를 몰고 있었다 is ‘A school teacher was driving her car.’

 

The second sentence is 그녀는 급해서 빨간 불을 멈추지 않고 지나갔다. She was in a hurry, so she passed the red light without stopping.

그녀는 is ‘she’, and 급해서 is an adverb, and its meaning is ‘in a hurry’. And the next word, 빨간 is ‘red’, and 불 is actually ‘fire’, but in this context, its meaning is ‘light’, so 빨간 불 is the traffic light, ‘red light’. 멈추지 않고 came from 멈추다, which means ‘to stop’, and if we replace 다 with 지 않고, this means ‘not to do’, the negation of the verb, so 멈추지 않고 is ‘without stopping’, right? And the final word, 지나갔다 is the same as ‘passed’. The original form is 지나가다, which means ‘to pass’, and as you can see the final sound double ㅅ, which is called 쌍시옷 in Korean, represents the past tense form. So, 지나가다 is ‘pass’, and 지나갔다 is ‘passed’, right? So, 그녀는 급해서 빨간 불을 멈추지 않고 지나갔다 is ‘She was in a hurry, so she passed the red light without stopping.’

 

The third sentence is 경찰이 그녀를 보았고 판사 앞에 그녀를 데리고 갔다. A policeman saw her and brought her before a judge.

경찰 is ‘a policeman’, and 이 is the subjective case. And 그녀를 is ‘her’, the objective case of she. 보았고 came from 보다, which means ‘to see’, and 았 represents the past tense form, and 고 means ‘and’. The next word, 판사 is ‘a judge’, and 앞에 is ‘in front of, or before’, and 데리고 갔다 came from 데리고 가다, which means ‘to take, or bring somebody’. And as I said in the previous sentence, 갔다 is the past tense form of 가다.

So, 경찰이 그녀를 보았고 판사 앞에 그녀를 데리고 갔다 is ‘A policeman saw her and brought her before a judge.’

 

The fourth sentence is 판사는 그녀가 법을 어긴 대가로 무슨 벌을 받아야 할지 결정해야 했다. The judge had to decide what she should pay for breaking the law.

As I said, 판사 is ‘a judge’, and 는 is the subjective case. 그녀가 is ‘she’, and 법 is ‘law’, and 을 is the objective case. And 어긴 came from 어기다, which means ‘to break the law, or rule’, and the reason why 어기다 is changed into 어긴 is the final sound ㄴ is used to modify the noun behind, 대가, which means ‘the price’, and 로 is a kind of postposition indicating the cause. So, 법을 어긴 대가로 is the same as ‘in exchange of breaking the law’, or ‘for breaking the law’. And 무슨 is ‘what’, and 벌 is ‘punishment’, and 받아야 할지 came from 받다, which means ‘to get, or receive’, and if 받다 is changed into 받아야한다, this is ‘should get’, and 한다 is changed into 할지 in order to make a noun phrase. That is to say, 받아야 할지 is the object of 결정해야 했다, which means ‘had to decide’. 결정하다 is ‘to decide’, and 결정해야 한다 is ‘have to decide’, and 했다 is the past tense form of 한다 as in 갔다 at the previous sentence. So, 그녀가 법을 어긴 대가로 무슨 벌을 받아야 할지 is ‘what she should pay for breaking the law’

So, 판사는 그녀가 법을 어긴 대가로 무슨 벌을 받아야 할지 결정해야 했다 is ‘The judge had to decide what she should pay for breaking the law.’

 

The fifth sentence is 그녀는 판사에게 자신이 교사이고 학교에 지각하게 되었다고 말했다. She told the judge that she was a teacher and was late for school.

자신 is ‘oneself’, and 교사 is another noun of teacher, so 선생님 and 교사, both are the same meaning, teacher, right? Each letter of 이고 has its own meaning, which means 이 is a predicate of being, and 고 is ‘and’. And the next word, 학교 is ‘school’, and 에 is a kind of postposition indicating the place as well as the direction. 지각하게 되었다 came from 지각하다, which means ‘to be late’, and 지각하게 되었다 is the past tense form. 고 말했다 is the same as ‘told somebody that’, 말하다 is ‘to tell’, and 말했다 is the past tense form, and the letter in front of it, 고 is the same as the conjunction, that.

So, 그녀는 판사에게 자신이 교사이고 학교에 지각하게 되었다고 말했다 is ‘She told the judge that she was a teacher and was late for school.’

 

The sixth sentence is 그러고는 그에게 서둘러 달라고 부탁했다. Then she asked him to hurry.

그러고는 is the same as ‘then’, and 그에게 is ‘him’, and 서둘러 달라고 came from 서두르다, which means ‘to hurry’, and the reason why this is changed into 서둘러 달라고 is this is the expression of the objective complement of requiring verbs, such as ask, require, or tell someone to blablabla. And 부탁했다 is the past tense form of 부탁하다, which means ‘to ask’, this is one of the requiring verbs I said just before, right?

So, 그러고는 그에게 서둘러 달라고 부탁했다 is ‘Then she asked him to hurry.’

 

The seventh sentence is 판사는 그녀를 보고 미소 지었다. The judge looked at her and smiled.

We went over 판사는 and 그녀를, right? 보고 came from 보다, which means ‘to see, or look at’, but when 다 is replaced with 고, this 고 represents ‘and’, and 미소 지었다 is the past tense form of 미소 짓다, which means ‘to smile’.

So, 판사는 그녀를 보고 미소 지었다 is ‘The judge looked at her and smiled.’

 

The eighth sentence is “학교 선생님이라고 했죠?” 라고 그가 말했다. "You're a school teacher?" said he.

We also learned 학교 선생님, right? 이라고 했죠 is one of interrogative sentence, that is to say, a question. So, 학교 선생님이라고 했죠? is You’re a school teacher? And 라고 is a kind of postposition functioning like ‘as’ in English. And 그가 is ‘he’, and 말했다 is the past tense form of 말하다, which means ‘to say’.

So, “학교 선생님이라고 했죠?” 라고 그가 말했다 is "You're a school teacher?" said he.

 

The ninth sentence is 부인, 이제 나는 내가 늘 하고 싶어 했던 일을 할 수 있겠군요. Madam, now I can do something I have always wanted to do.

부인 is one of a vocative case, and is used as calling a married woman, so its meaning is ‘madam’. 이제 is an adverb, and its meaning is ‘now’. 나는 is ‘I’, and 내가 is also ‘I’. By the way, I guess you guys would wonder why these same words are used side by side. That’s because 내가 늘 하고 싶어 했던 일 is a noun phrase, and is the object of the verb, 할 수 있겠군요. So, 나는 is the subject of 할 수 있겠군요, and 내가 is the subject of the verb, 하고 싶어 했던, which means ‘have wanted to do’. 하고 싶다 is ‘to want to do’, and 늘 is an adverb meaning ‘always’, and 일 is actually ‘work’, but by the context, in this sentence 내가 하고 싶어 했던 일 is ‘something I have wanted to do’ And 할 수 있겠군요 is ‘can do’. 하다 is ‘to do’, and 할 수 있다 is ‘can do’, but when we replace 있다 with 있겠군요, this is used to express honorific predicate.

So, 부인. 이제 나는 내가 늘 하고 싶어 했던 일을 할 수 있겠군요 is ‘Madam, now I can do something I have always wanted to do.’

 

The tenth sentence is 그 탁자에 앉아서 ‘나는 빨간 불일 때 지나가지 않겠습니다’라고 오백 번 쓰세요. Sit down at that table and write 'I should not go through a red light' five hundred times.

This sentence is an imperative sentence, which can be identified in Korean language when you see the last part of the sentence, which means Korean language has descriptive section at the end of the sentences. As you can see 쓰세요, the final word, right? This represents this is the imperative sentence. 쓰세요 came from 쓰다, which means ‘to write’, And when you replace 다 with 세요, this represents the imperative sentence. And as I said, 고 means ‘and’, 서 also means ‘and’, so 앉아서 쓰세요 is ‘Sit down, and write’. All right, let’s go over the words. 그 is ‘the, or that’, and 탁자 is ‘table’. And we learned 나는, 빨간 불, right? And 지나가지 않겠습니다 came from 지나가지 않다, which is the negation of 지나가다, which means ‘to go through’. 지나가지 않겠습니다 is an honorific predicate of 지나가지 않다, so 지나가지 않겠습니다 is the same as ‘I will not go through’. And I said 라고 is a kind of postposition at the eighth sentence, right? And 오백 번 is ‘five hundred times’. Each letter has its own meaning. 오 means ‘five’, and 백 means ‘hundred’, and 번 means the number of times, so 오백번 is ‘five hundred times’, right?

So, 그 탁자에 앉아서 ‘나는 빨간 불일 때 지나가지 않겠습니다’라고 오백 번 쓰세요 is Sit down at that table and write 'I will not go through a red light' five hundred times.

 

A school teacher was driving her car. She was in a hurry, so she passed the red light without stopping. A policeman saw her and brought her before a judge. The judge had to decide what she should pay for breaking the law. She told the judge that she was a teacher and was late for school. Then she asked him to hurry. The judge looked at her and smiled. "You're a schoolteacher?" said he. "Madam, now I can do something I have always wanted to do. Sit down at that table and write 'I will not go through a red light' five hundred times."

어떤 학교 선생님이 자신의 차를 몰고 있었다. 그녀는 급해서 빨간 불을 멈추지 않고 지나갔다. 경찰이 그녀를 보았고 판사 앞에 그녀를 데리고 갔다. 판사는 그녀가 법을 어긴 대가로 무슨 벌을 받아야 할지 결정해야 했다. 그녀는 판사에게 자신이 교사이고 학교에 지각하게 되었다고 말했다. 그러고는 그에게 서둘러 달라고 부탁했다. 판사는 그녀를 보고 미소 지었다. “학교 선생님이라고 했죠?” 라고 그가 말했다. “부인. 이제 나는 내가 늘 하고 싶어 했던 일을 할 수 있겠군요. 그 탁자에 앉아서 ‘나는 빨간 불일 때 지나가지 않겠습니다’라고 오백 번 쓰세요.”