Lesson 1
In this lesson, let us take a look at how to say, “How about...?” in Korean. There are many ways to say this, but the most basic and common way is, “어때요?”.
How about...?
= Noun + 어때요?
Ex)
사과 어때요? = How about an apple?
커피 어때요? = How about some coffee?
= Verb stem + -는 거 어때요?
Ex)
먹다 + -는 거 어때요? → 먹는 거 어때요? = How about eating?
보다 + -는 거 어때요? → 보는 거 어때요? = How about watching?
어때요? comes from the verb 어떻다, which literally means “to be how”. Therefore, when you want to say phrases such as, “How about this one?”, “How about that one?”, “How about eating here?”, etc., you can use the verb 어떻다.
When speaking with friends, you can use 반말 and drop the 요 at the end.
Ex)
어때? = How is it?
이거 어때? = How about this?
커피 어때? = How about some coffee?
Examples with Nouns
1. 이거 어때요? = How about this?
2. 생일 선물로 카메라 어때요? = How about a camera for your/his/their birthday present?
3. 내일 어때요? = How about tomorrow?
Examples with Verbs
1. 다시 하는 거 어때요? = How about doing it again?
2. 다른 사람한테* 물어보는 거 어때요? = How about asking other people?
* If you want to say “to” other people, you have to add the particle, -한테. -한테 indicates that you are asking those people a question and not asking about those people.
Ex)
주연 씨한테 물어보는 거 어때요? = How about asking Jooyeon?
3. 안으로 들어가는 거 어때요? = How about going inside?
Sample Sentences
이거 싫어요? 이거(는) 어때요?
= You do not like this? How about this one?
* “이거 어때요?” is the plain form. Therefore, you can add the topic marker 는 when you are comparing a number of items and have already asked the person, “How about this one?”.
내일 만나서 이야기하는 거 어때요?
= How about meeting and talking about it tomorrow?
이렇게 하는 거 어때요?
= How about doing it this way?
* You can say this when you want to make a suggestion while doing something or trying to solve a problem. It can almost be interchangeable with, “I have an idea!”
Word Contractions
When you want to make a verb into a noun, you add -는 거. The original form is -는 것.
-는 거 + Subject Marker (이/가) → -는 것 + 이 → -는 것이 → -는 게
-는 거 + Topic Marker (은/는) → -는 거 + 는 → -는 건
이렇게 하는 거 어때요? [ Neutral ]
= How about doing it this way?
이렇게 하는 게 어때요? [ + Subject Marker ]
= How about doing it this way?
* The meaning is almost the same as the neutral sentence.
이렇게 하는 건 어때요? [ + Topic Marker ]
= (Since you are not too sure about the other ideas,) How about doing it THIS way (then)?
If you want to ask in the past tense you can say:
어땠어요? = How was it?