Do You Know??

The keyword for today is: VERB CONJUGATIONS

Yeah.. almost like a nightmare...

Did you know...?? That there are about 23 ways to ask this same question in Korean? Man.. i thought i was seeing things but when i read the book, yeah there really are 23 different ways to say the same thing in Korean as opposed to English and these variations are called VERB CONJUGATIONS. The verb in question here is (al-da 알다) or "to know". The question asked is, "Do you know?"

Check this out:

1. 알고 계십니까? (al-go kyae-sheem-nee-ka?) Situation Used: formal, honorific (xtremely polite, common)

2. 알고 계세요? (al-go kyae-sae-yo?) Situation Used: formal, honorific (xtremely polite, common)

3. 알고 계시나요? (al-go kyae-shee-na-yo?) Situation Used: formal, honorific (common)

4. 알고 계신가요? (al-go kyae-sheen-ka-yo?) Situation Used: honorific (common)

5. 아십니까? (a-sheem-nee-ka?) Situation Used: formal, very polite (not common)

6. 압니까? (am-nee-ka?) Situation Used: formal, very polite (not common)

7. 아세요? (a-sae-yo?) Situation Used: formal, very polite (very common)

8. 아시죠? (a-shee-jyo?) Situation Used: formal, very polite (very common)

9. 아시나요? (a-shee-na-yo?) Situation Used: formal, very polite (not common)

10. 알고 있으세요? (al-go ees-seu-sae-yo?) Situation Used: formal, very polite ( common)

11. 알고 있으신가요? (al-go ees-seu-sheen-ka-yo?) Situation Used: polite (somewhat common)

12. 알고 있어요? (al-go ees-saw-yo?) Situation Used: very polite (common)

13. 알고 있나요? (al-go eet-na-yo?) Situation Used: very polite (not common)

14. 알고 있죠? (al-go eet-jyo?) Situation Used: polite (common)

15. 알아요? (a-ra-yo?) Situation Used: polite (common)

16. 알잖아요? (al-jan-a-yo?) Situation Used: polite (not common)

17. 아나요? (a-na-yo?) Situation Used: polite (not common)

18. 알죠? (al-jyo?) Situation Used: casual, between friends (common)

19. 알지? (al-jee?) Situation Used: casual (very common)

20. 알아? (a-ra?) Situation Used: casual (very common)

21. 알잖아? (al-jan-a?) Situation Used: casual (not common)

22. 아나? (a-na?) Situation Used: casual (not common)

23. 아니? (a-nee?) Situation Used: casual (not common)

And these verbs are done only in the Second Person in present tense! So in actual fact, there are even more verb conjugations using the first person in another tense and so forth.

And this is probably the most haemorrhage-inducing part of the language. But as what the author (Richard Harris) says, verb conjugation separates the men from the boys when it comes to mastering this language. Why conjugate verbs at all? Well, this is due to Korean history, culture, customs and tradition. Alot of it has to do with Confucianism and its ideas of respecting others etc. It has alot to do with 5 basic relationships which Confucius outlined in his teachings:

1. Ruler and Subject
2. Father and Son
3. Elder Brother and Younger Brother
4. Husband and Wife
5. Friend and Friend

That is why there are so many ways of saying the same thing! So by understanding these basic relationships, one can understand how and why Korean has so many types of conjugations.

I guess in English, we tend to take for granted the way certain things are expressed in the language and it is when you see examples like the above, that you start to understand whole new dimensions in people relations :)

Interesting.. so now you know? ;)