If you have ever tried to count things in Korean, you may have noticed something unusual. Koreans often do not just say a number and a noun. They use a counter, a small counting word that matches the type of thing being counted. That means “two coffees,” “three people,” and “four times” all use different … 더 읽기
One of the first surprises in Korean is that there is not just one way to count. There are two number systems: Native Korean numbers and Sino-Korean numbers. At first, that sounds like terrible news for beginners. Two systems? Really? But once you know when each one is used, it becomes much easier than it … 더 읽기
If you have started learning Korean, chances are you have already met one of the biggest beginner headaches: 은/는 and 이/가. They are both very common particles, and they can both appear after nouns, which makes them look almost interchangeable. But they are not the same. In simple terms, 은/는 often marks the topic, while … 더 읽기
If you are learning Korean, one of the first big questions is this: how do Koreans sound polite? The short answer is through honorifics and polite speech endings. In everyday life, you do not speak the same way to a close friend, your teacher, your boss, and your grandmother. Korean changes depending on the relationship, … 더 읽기