Lesson 4

Unit 10. 어떻게 vs. 어떡해?

Translations:
어떻게 = how
어떡해? = What should I do?

Many people mix up these two expressions because they sound almost identical, but they are totally different expressions. 어떡해 is basically a contraction of the phrase 어떻게 해, which means "what should I do?" or "what am I supposed to do?" whereas 어떻게 is a single word that just means "how".

Example #1
이제 어떡해요? = What now?
이제 어떻게요? (incorrect)

Example #2
거기에 어떻게 가요? = How do we get there?
거기에 어떡해 가요? (incorrect)

Example #3
진짜요? 어떻게요? (Really? How?)
진짜요? 어떡해요? (Really? What should we do?)

Unit 11. 선생님 vs. 스승님

Translations:
선생님 = teacher
스승님 = teacher, master

선생님 is someone who teaches you knowledge or skill, especially at schools or private institutes. (e.g. 수학 선생님 = math teacher, 피아노 선생님 = piano teacher) 스승님 is more of a bigger word for someone who leads you in the right direction of life as well as teaches you knowledge or skill. In that sense, the word 스승 is not often used in everyday conversations, especially amongst younger generations, unless when they talk about teachers' day, which is 스승의 날 in Korean. For both 선생님 and 스승님, when you use the words to address someone, you must always keep the -님 at the end, because otherwise you might end up sounding impolite.

Example #1
우리 학교 수학 선생님 = my math teacher at school
우리 학교 수학 스승님 (incorrect)

Example #2
이 분은 저의 스승님이에요. = He is my master, teacher, or someone that I consider as the most important teacher.
이 분은 저의 선생님이에요. = He is my teacher/instructor/professor.

Example #3
스승(님)으로 모시겠습니다. = I will consider/treat you as my teacher. (You can either add or remove 님 in this case.)
선생으로 모시겠습니다. (incorrect) (선생 is never used without the suffix -님 to address someone directly.)
선생님으로 모시겠습니다. = I will consider/treat you as my teacher (but not quite at the ‘스승님’ level).

Unit 12. 장난 vs. 농담

Translations:
장난 = joke, prank
농담 = joke

장난 is something you do to pick on or taunt someone, and 농담 is a joke or lie that you tell someone. When you want to say “I’m just kidding,” however, either 장난이에요 or 농담이에요 (장난이야 and 농담이야 in casual language) can be used, because the fact that you didn’t really mean anything serious is still the same. 농담 is often used together with the verb 하다, and 장난 is often used with either 하다 or 치다.

Example #1
장난 치다가 다쳤어요. = I got injured while being mischievous.
농담 하다가 다쳤어요. (incorrect) (You can’t get injured while just kidding.)

Example #2
장난으로 한 말이에요. = I just said it as a joke. / I was just kidding.
농담으로 한 말이에요. = I just said it as a joke. / I was just kidding.

Example #3
그 사람은 농담을 많이 해요. = He often jokes.
그 사람은 장난을 많이 쳐요. = He often does pranks or tells jokes.