Talk with your classmates about the weather in Korea and seasonal activities of Korean people. Are they much different in your hometowns?

What seems to be happening in the following dialogue?

In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about weather conditions. You will also learn how to give recommendations and suggestions with justification.

1. A/V–(으)니까 because

–(으)니까 is used to mark the reasoning behind a comment, command or a suggestion.  It indicates a personal thought, rather than a logical “cause & consequence” as –아/어서 does. When you give orders to someone, you have used your personal judgment about the way to go about things, whether the result of the order benefits you or the person who carries out the order.  When you supply even a fact as the reasoning behind the command, you are still showing your judgment (in making the connection), no matter how “logical” you think you are being.  You will always use the –(으)니까 connector before commands and suggestions (and not the –아/어서 logical connector).

길이 미끄러우니까 조심하세요.       Road is slippery, so be careful.

밖에 추우니까 코트 입으세요.          It’s cold outside, so wear a jacket.

2. Conjugation

Verbs and adjectives before –(으)니까 conjugate as they would before –(으)세요 and –(으)ㄹ 거에요:

웨이는 열심히 노력하니까 한국어를 곧 잘 할 수 있을 거예요. Since Wei works hard, he will be good at Korean soon.

Verbs and adjectives ending in ㄹdrop ㄹ before –(으)니까 as they would before –(으)세요 and –(으)ㄹ 거에요:

You can also use past tense stems and future marking –(으)ㄹ 거(에요) before –(으)니까:

(The less colloquial, full form of this would be 우산이 필요할 것이니까.)

Here is a complete chart of the –(으)니까 conjugation:

3. A/V–(으)니까 VS. A/V–아/어서

It is ungrammatical to use –아/어서 to mark the reasoning behind a command because –아/어서marks the logical precursor to the second action, with no personal judgment. In A어서 B, B is the logical result of A. –아어서 means having done A or being as it is or so.

When you are stating factual background (not your judgment or personal circumstances), try to use the ending –아/어서 instead of –(으)니까:

Compare:

(simple statement of a fact with logical background)

(which should be obvious! – supplying a reason when asked)

(most naturally the answer to a question – why?)

You can see there are some nuance differences between –(으)니까 and –아/어서 in some sentences but the bottom line is: you must use –(으)니까 with commands.

Summary of the usage of –(으)니까

4. Conjugation Practice

Complete the following table with appropriate conjugated –(으)니까 forms.

<Answer key> 내리니까, 내렸으니까, 내릴 거니까, 들으니까, 들었으니까, 들을 거니까, 부니까, 불었으니까, 불 거니까, 추우니까, 추웠으니까, 추울 거니까, 배부르니까, 배불렀으니까, 배부를 거니까, 영하니까, 영하였으니까, 영하일 거니까, 봄이니까, 봄이었으니까, 봄일 거니까

1. A/V–아/어도 Concession Connector: even if, even though

The word 그래도 (even so) comes from the combination of 그렇다 (to be/do like that) in its –아/어 form plus the ending –아/어도:

The ending –아/어도 (which is –아/어 + 도) means even if or even though. Korean makes no distinction between whether the event happened in the past (even though) or whether it is a hypothetical situation (even if). The interpretation depends on the context.

For the verb to be, a somewhat changed ending –(이)라도 is used more often than –이어도/여도.

2. Conjugation Practice

Verbs and adjectives before –아/어도 conjugate as they would before –아/어요 and –아/어서. Complete the following table with the appropriate –아/어도 forms.

<Answer key> 걸어도, 추워도, 도와도, 길어도, 내려도, 가져와도, 기온이라도, 영하라도

Miryu is talking with her brother in the U.S. over a video call. Listen to the conversation and answer the following questions in Korean.

1. How are they describing the weather in their places? Write as much as you recall in complete sentences.

Miryu:  __________________________________________________

Junho: __________________________________________________

2. When and where are they getting together?

3. What did Miryu recommend Junho to prepare and why?

Read a Korean weather forecast online and describe the weather for three days using the vocabulary and expressions from this lesson.

Click on the link to view the weather forecast for cities in Korea.: 기상청 날씨누리

(기온, 섭씨, 영상, 영하, 도, 맑다, 흐리다, 높다, 낮다, 바람이 불다, 눈이 오다, etc.)

1) __________________________________________________.

2) __________________________________________________.

3) __________________________________________________.

Weather in My Hometown

With your partner(s), talk about the weather in your hometown, as well as your favorite type of weather and season. Then, present your discussion to the class.

Helpful Vocabulary

Weather Forecast

The following is an excerpt from a weather forecast (일기예보) on the Korea Meteorological Administration (기상청) website. Read it and find out the weather information.

<날씨 현황과 전망>

현재(22시), 전국이 가끔 구름많은 가운데, 강원내륙과 전북동부에는 빗방울이 떨어지거나 눈이 날리는 곳이 있습니다. 한편, 전국 대부분 지역에서 바람이 약간 강하게 불고 있으며, 해안지역을 중심으로는 35km/h(10m/s) 이상 강하게 부는 곳이 많습니다.

Visit the Korea Meteorological Administration (기상청) website and find out the weather in some Korean cities:

https://www.weather.go.kr/weather/main.jsp

Four Seasons in Korea

제주도의 유채꽃 (봄)	부산의 해운대 (여름)
한옥 마을의 단풍 (가을)	경복궁의 향원정 (겨울)

Korea is known to have four distinct seasons. Spring in Korea typically begins with 꽃샘추위 and 황사현상. People visit parks and mountains to enjoy spring flowers (개나리, 진달래, 벚꽃, etc.). The summer begins with clear, nice, and hot days, followed by a month-long rainy spell called 장마, then winds up in humid, high-temperature, sultry days. Popular destinations include beaches such as 해운대 beach in Busan and mountains such as 설악산.  Korean autumn days are famous for their beautiful high, blue skies, often calling for the expression 천고마비의 계절 (High skies, horses fatten season).  Mountains are beautifully colored with autumn leaves (단풍) and people go on hikes to enjoy the fall colors (단풍놀이). Winters can get quite nippy, sometimes freezing the Han River (한강). 평창 is a popular destination for those who enjoy winter sports while hot springs (온천) and 제주도are also popular attractions.