Lesson 23
In Level 4 Lesson 17, you learned one aspect of common word contractions in Korean: how the subject markers are contracted to shorter forms and attached to the previous words.
Ex)
저는 → 전
이것은 → 이건
Now that you see it, you remember, right? Perfect! Now you are ready to learn more word contractions in Korean!
First off, do you remember how to say “this”, “that”, and “it” in Korean?
For “this/the/that + noun”, the words 이, 그, and 저 are used respectively.
이 책 = this book
그 가방 = the/that bag
저 자동차 = that car over there
When “this/it/that” are used as pronouns, the words 이것, 그것, and 저것 are used. The following are some expressions related to these words:
이렇다 = to be like this; to be this way
그렇다 = to be like that; to be that way
저렇다 = to be like that (over there); to be that way (over there)
If you want to use these as adverbs and say “like this”, “in this way”, or “in that way”, use:
이렇게 = like this, in this way
그렇게 = like that, in such a way
저렇게 = like that (over there)
Do you remember how to say “if” in Korean? It is “verb + -(으)면”. If you want to review, go back to Level 2 Lesson 23, Level 3 Lesson 15, or Level 4 Lesson 1.
So, how do you say “if you do it like this” in Korean?
이렇게 하면 = if you do it like this
그렇게 하면 = if you do it in such a way
저렇게 하면 = if you do it like that
When combining “이렇다” (to be like this) with -(으)면 (if) to say “if it is like this”, it creates 이러면 (the consonant ㅎ is dropped).
이렇다면 → 이러면
그렇다면 → 그러면
저렇다면 → 저러면
However, even when saying things such as “if you do it like this” using the verb 하다, it is also contracted to the same form.
이렇게 하면 → 이러면
그렇게 하면 → 그러면
저렇게 하면 → 저러면
Now you are ready to move on to something that is similar, but different in meaning. Do you remember how to say “how” in Korean? (We introduced this in Level 1 Lesson 24.)
어떻게
When 어떻게 is combined with the 하다 verb, a contraction happens that is similar to the previous structure.
어떻게 하다 → 어떡하다 (more common in spoken Korean)
Ex)
어떻게 해요?
= 어떡해요?
= What are we supposed to do?
= How should we deal with this?
어떻게 할 거예요?
= 어떡할 거예요?
= What are you going to do?
= How are you going to take care of this?
어떡할 거예요? can be contracted down even further into 어쩔 거예요?
Ex)
이거 어떡할 거예요?
= 이거 어쩔 거예요?
= How are you going to take care of this?
= What are you going to do about this?
이제 어떡할 거예요?
= 이제 어쩔 거예요?
= Now what?
= How are you going to take care of it now?