Episode 41: Indirect Speech with Adjectives ~다고
안녕ㅇㅇㅇㅇ 여러분~!!!!
I am such a happy little bunny today because I got to pre film FOUR ~Weekly Korean~ episodes for the upcoming weeks! I never really pre film my videos but this time around I have so many deadlines coming up in December and I am planning a trip with my boyfriend and our friends so December is going to be busy busy! That's why I feel so productive and ahead of the game now that I've prepared our ~WK~ episodes in advance. I mean, it wouldn't be fair if I just left you guys with no Korean learning videos for like a month, right?! ^^
As for what we'll be discussing today, it actually has direct correlation to the basics we learned in the last week's episode about indirect speech. However, if last week we leaned how to quote actions (clauses which include verbs basically), this week we will be looking at how to make a quote clause with adjectives.
Plain form of Adjectives
As we all should know, most of the time adjectives in Korean have verb-like qualities, which means they can be conjugated and played around with just like verbs. Therefore, it is possible to talk about someone's quote (He said this... or She is saying that...) that involves an adjective, because it can be easily modified (conjugated) to fit the sentence.
We know from the previous episode that when it comes to indirect speech, or basically quoting others or yourself, the most important thing to know is plain/diary form of verb, and in this case, adjective conjugation. So do adjectives conjugate in the same way in the plain form in Korean or no? Well, if they would, I would not have the need to make this episode, would I?
The only difference between verbs in the plain form and adjectives in the plain form is the present tense. With verbs we add ㄴ or 는 to the stem of and that's about it-
가다 --> 간다
먹다 --> 먹는다
However, with adjectives we do not do anything. At all! In present tense plain form of conjugation we just leave the adjectives be. We keep them in their un-conjugated form-
슬프다 --> 슬프다 (NOT 슬픈다)
날씬하다 --> 날씬하다 (NOT 월등한다)
맛있다 --> 맛있다 (NOT 맛있는다)
The rules of the rest of the tenses (past and future) stay the same in adjectives as they are with verbs-
Past: 가다 --> 갔다 (verb)
행복하다 --> 행벅했다 (adjective)
맛있다 --> 맛있었다 (adjective)
Future: 가다 --> 가겠다 (verb)
행복하다 --> 행복하겠다 (adjective)
맛있다 --> 맛있겠다 (adjective)
Examples:
배고프다고 했어요- I said I am not hungry
우리 어머니는 나를 태오났을 때 아주 기뻤다고 말했어요- My mother said she was very excited when I was born
있다, 없다, 싶다
Those of you who have seen our previous episode, will probably wonder why didn't I mention verbs like 있다, 없다 and 싶다. I mean, these are verbs right? RIGHT?!?!
Interestingly, in Korean, these three verbs behave like adjectives so their forms do not change in present tense when used in indirect speech. That applies to instances like ~ㄹ 수 있다/없다 as well. For example:
의사가 수술을 할 수 있다고 말했어요- The doctor said he/she can do the surgery
저는 오늘 수영장에 갈 수 없다고 했어요- I said I can not go to the swimming pool today
나는 남자친구에게 같이 하고 싶은 것이 있다고 했어요- I told my boyfriend that there is something I want us to do together
제 노트북을 팔고 싶다고 했어요- I said I want to sell my laptop
That's it guys! Today's lesson was not as extensive as the last one. I am trying to break the concept of indirect speech into very small pieces for you guys so it'll be easier to comprehend.
Let me know if you have any questions! ^^
Much love,
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