What are your new year’s (or new semester’s) resolutions? How about your classmates?

Now let’s read these two dialogues. What are they talking about?

In this lesson, you will learn how to express your wishes and sequential events.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use -고 싶다 to mean “want to,’ where -고 connects a main verb to the helping verb 싶다. Adjectives cannot be used with -고 싶다, only verbs.  -고 싶어요 expresses a long-standing desire, wish or hope.

저는 새 친구를 사귀고 싶어요.             I want to make new friends.

새해에는 새 외국어를 배우고 싶어요.    I want to learn a new foreign language in the new year.

In the Korean language, talking about someone else’s feelings or desire is NOT possible.  To describe someone else’s desire, another phrase (-고 싶어하다) should be used instead of –고 싶다.

언니는 한국 회사에서 인턴십하고 싶어해요.      My older sister wants to do an internship at a Korean company.

-아서/어서

You learned to how to connect two sentences using the connectors -고 and -지만. 그래서 also corresponds to the connector -서, which can be attached to the 어/아 form of a verb or adjective to indicate a logical precedent for the following action.

다음 주 월요일에 시험을 봐요. 그래서 주말에 공부를 많이 해요.

다음 주 월요일에 시험을 봐서 주말에 공부를 많이 해요.

There is a test next Monday, so I am studying a lot this weekend.

-어서 is often used to provide reasons to answer “왜” questions.

가: 왜 한국어를 공부해요?                           Why do you study Korean?

나: 한국에서 일하고 싶어서 공부해요.       Because I want to work in Korea, I study Korean.

Remember to conjugate the verb in the -어 form to add the connector (어)서!

어/아서 PAST TENSE

When sentences are connected with the shortened marker -아서/어서, the past tense/perfective marker ㅆ can only be used in the sentence-final verb or adjective.  That is, a verb can’t be in the past tense with -아서/어서.

어제는 시험이 두 개 있었어요. 그래서 바빴어요.

어제는 시험이 두개 있어서 바빴어요.

I was busy because I had two tests yesterday.

세영은 운동을 매일 했어요.  그래서 건강해졌어요.

세영은 운동을 매일 해서 건강해졌어요.

Seyoung worked out every day, so she became healthy.

–기 a Nominalizer

We learned that the suffix -기 makes verbs and adjectives function like nouns.

자전거 타기는 어려워요.          Riding a bicycle is difficult.

요리하기는 쉬워요.         Cooking is easy.

저는 말하기는 잘 하지만 쓰기는 잘 못 해요.         I am good at speaking but not very good at writing.

Can you change the following expressions into -기 forms?

새 친구를 사귀다	외국어를 배우다	음악을 듣다	한국에서 유학하다	열심히 공부하다

–기 전에 BEFORE

기 전에 is a phrase that attaches to a verb stem to mean before VERB-ing. Add -기 전에 to the root of the verb (without 어/아!) whether it ends in a consonant or a vowel.

밖에 나가기 전에 점심 먹어요.          Before going outside, I eat lunch.

점심 먹기 전에 숙제를 해요.          Before eating lunch, I do my homework.

한국에 유학가기 전에 한국어를 열심히 연습할 거예요.         Before going to study abroad in Korea, I will work hard to practice Korean.

When a whole sentence with its own subject is used, -기 전에 means ‘before (someone/something) VERBs’:

수업이 끝나기 전에 숙제 내세요!         Before class ends, turn in your homework!

Wei and Alyssa are talking about their upcoming break. Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions in Korean.

1) What will Alyssa do during the break?

2) What does Wei want to do during the break?

3) How did Alyssa and Wei solve the problem?

4) What did Alyssa and Wei plan to do together? Be specific.

Read Seyoung’s New Year’s resolution on her blog post and answer the questions.

새해 계획

벌써 2021년이 됐어요. 나는 새해에 열심히 살고 싶어요! 새 외국어도 배우고 싶어요! 그리고 운동도 매일 해서 건강해지고 싶어요!

봄 방학하고 여름 방학 계획도 벌써 다 있어요. 봄 방학에는 케이팝 콘서트에 갈 거예요. 내가 좋아하는 케이팝 그룹이 콘서트하러 와요. 그래서 벌써 표도 샀어요. 콘서트에 가기 전에 노래를 열심히 듣고 춤도 연습할 거예요. 그리고 여름 방학에는 한국에 갈 거예요. 한국에 여행가고 싶어서 아르바이트도 많이 했어요. 여행 가기 전에 비행기 표를 사고 한국어 연습도 더 열심히 할 거예요. 올해는 아주 재미있는 한 해가 될 거예요!

1) What are two of Seyoung’s New Year’s resolutions?

2) Why did Seyoung do a lot of part-time jobs?

3) When is Seyoung planning to go to Korea?

4) What will Seyoung do before going to Korea?

Helpful Vocabulary: 춤 (dance), 해 (year)

Read the text messages below between Alyssa and her roommate Sarah. Then, answer the following questions.

*갈게요 I will go (I promise)

1) Alyssa will work before going to the performance.               T                  F

2) Alyssa’s friends want to meet Sarah.                                       T                  F

3) Alyssa and Sarah will meet after the performance.              T                  F

Helpful Vocabulary: 오랜만에 (after a long time), 공연 (performance), 강당 (auditorium), 연습실 (practice room)

Snow Day Plans

Due to the severe weather conditions, your work/school will be closed for three days starting tomorrow. Now you don’t have any internet connection or electricity. What would you like to do during those three days and why? Talk with your classmates first and then present your step-by-step plans to the class.

되다

You will see idiomatic uses of 되다 far more frequently than literal ones during your Korean learning career:

http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?art_id=201901041013001

In a recent survey from Korea, 95 percent of all respondents said they made New Year’s resolutions with 34 percent of the respondents choosing “exercising for health” as their top priority. Additionally, 23 percent of the people plan to engage in personal-development activities, such as learning foreign languages or new sports, while 22 percent of respondents said they plan to go on a diet. In the U.S., 44% of respondents claimed that their resolution for the year was to exercise more, and 42% responded that they plan to eat healthier.

When asked how long they are expected to keep their New Year’s resolutions, the majority (63%) said they will keep them for more than six months until they achieve their goals. Over three months and more than one month accounted for 14 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

According to one U.S. study, the hardest resolution to keep was changing your diet, and the easiest was personal development or learning a new skill.