Korean 101: To Be, To Exist Trivia Quiz

Answer: It's a chair.

Here you ask specifically "What is this?". In this case, "i-geo" (this) refers to items that are close to you. We also use the shortened version "mwo", which means "what". The answer uses the "ye-yo" ending instead of the "i-e-yo" ending because chair (ui-ja) ends with a vowel.

Answer: Are you Korean?

The power of deduction is rather useful in this instance. This question is pretty straightforward, using colloquial phrasing (hanguk saram) rather than formal (hanguk-in). In Korean, when asking about nationality, you are asking in a literal sense something close to "Are you a Korean person?" We must use the "i-e-yo" ending as "saram" ends in a consonant.

Answer: Yes, I am a student.

This question is: "Are you a student?". In such situations, it is unnecessary to strictly use personal pronouns (you) when it is obvious who the question is directed toward. The same is true when answering a question, and it is obvious that you are talking about yourself.

Answer: That's my father.

The instructor has asked you "Who is that?". There are more complicated ways to answer with possessive particles, but in Korean, saying literally "It is father" with this context could easily be understood to mean that it is your father.

Answer: Yes

Here we have begun to use the verb "itda", which can mean many things, but in this instance it means "to have" or "to exist". In essence, the question asked is "Is there a test?". Here we use a subject particle (-i) as test is the subject of the sentence.

Answer: What is that?

Since the cat is distant from everyone in the conversation, we use "jeo-geo" to ask "What is that?". Notice that we don't use the subject particle in this sentence, as we have gone back to using the verb "ida". The word for cat (koyangi) can be confusing sometimes with subject particles since the "-i" at the end is part of the word and not a particle.

Answer: The cat is on the desk.

This sentence has more complexity than earlier sentences. The phrase "chaeksang wi-e" describes location, so we have the particle (-e). In this case, the cat is the subject, so we have a subject particle (-ga). The word "isseoyo" means "there is" or "it exists". So in a literal sense, we are saying something like "On the desk, the cat exists."

Answer: It's in my car.

The instructor's response tells you that the cat is in the car (jadongcha). The word car is also now often abbreviated as simply "cha". We use "an-e" as the location (in) with the location particle.

Answer: No

This question is quite difficult as apple (sagwa) appears first in the sentence. However, when using this formation, the noun with the subject particle is the thing that is "to the right of (left of)" the other thing. This sentence says, "The banana is to the right of the apple."

Perhaps an easier way to read sentences using this construction would be, "To the right of the apple, the banana is."

Answer: There's ice cream!

This sentence is pretty basic: "There's ice cream!" Again, we have the subject particle for the subject "ice cream", but this is very often left out in everyday speech.

In this case, "ice cream" is a cognate, which are rare in Korean since the languages developed separately. Most cognates between English and Korean are words borrowed from newly invented concepts, such as those in technology, business, and science.