How do you introduce yourself in Korean? What information would you share with someone you are meeting for the first time?

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

1. Review: V-(으)ㄴ

As we learned in Lesson 22 in Book 2, – (으)ㄴ is used on a verb when we want to describe an action that WAS completed at a specific point in the past.

Consonant-ending stem

읽다

친구가 읽은 교재

the textbook that my friend read

Vowel-ending stem

	하다	내가 한 숙제	the homework that I did
	외우다	내가 외운 단어	the vocabulary that I memorized

Irregular verbs

	듣다	오늘 아침에들은 뉴스	the news that I heard this morning
	만들다	동생이 만든 옷	the clothes that my younger sibling made

2. V–(으)ㄴ 지 Since

The same –(으)ㄴis used in “–(으)ㄴ 지 얼마나 (오래) 됐어요?” The phrase can have two slightly different interpretations.  One is “How long have you been VERBing?” (That is, “how long has it been since you started doing something?”) and the other is “How long has it been since the last time you did something ?”  You can figure out which by the context.
As you typically answer the question “How long has it been…?” your focus will be on ‘how long’ something has been going on or how long it has been since something began. See the difference in the answers:

When you focus on the duration ‘how long’, the person does not get as much attention. This means you will usually use the subject (not topic) marker with the –(으)ㄴ 지 time expression.

Conjugation Practice 

For verbs that end in consonants, add –은 지, and for verbs that end in vowels, add –ㄴ 지.  For ㄹ–ending verbs,-ㄴ지 is used.

<Answer key> 취직한 지, 산 지, 도와준 지, 구운 지

Create a role play with your partner using the key grammar expressions and new vocabulary from this lesson. Include 5-6 meaningful rounds of dialogue.

Context: During the department’s welcome party, an exchange student, who has been studying Korean for a while, encounters a new local friend. Share details about their language studies and collaborate to plan language exchange sessions.

Key Expressions: –(으)ㄴ 지, –(으)면 좋겠다, –지 않다/못하다
Sample dialogue:

Noah and Dami are at the welcoming reception hosted by the Office of International Students. Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions in Korean.

1. What are they talking about in this dialogue? Summarize their dialogue based on what you heard. Try to give as much information as you can.

Now, listen to the dialogue one more time and try to get more detailed information:

1. Noah’s major
2. Dami’s major
3. Who do you think is an exchange student? Dami or Noah?
4. What was Dami’s compliment to Noah? And what was Noah’s response to it?
5. What did they say they wish to do in terms of their career related to their majors?
6. Did they agree to do something together? What was it? What did they plan at the end of the conversation?

Helpful Vocabulary

번역(하다): to translate

As Noah and Dami agreed at the welcoming reception, Noah texted Dami to follow up with their conversation. Read and answer the following questions in Korean.

1. State the time and location at which Noah and Dami agreed to have their English exchange.
2. How is the Student Union lounge, in Dami’s opinion?
3. What does Noah think about his Korean class? Why?
4. What favor did Noah ask of Dami?

1. 가을학기 개강 파티 Fall Semester Opening Party

You are at your college’s Fall Semester Opening Party, which is the first in–person gathering of your college since the pandemic. Meet and greet your friends and classmates, professors, and graduate students. Also, talk and ask about the classes this semester.

Utilize vocabulary related to this topic:

2. Students’ Promotional Presentation for the Korean Class

You and your Korean class classmates create an introductory presentation about the course for your college’s course catalog. First, present the content from a students’ perspective as a rehearsal. Then, you may produce either a poster or a video with a detailed description and highlights of the of the course (by the scheduled time).

In Books 1 and 2, you learned several types of “irregular” verbs and adjectives. To move forward, you need to keep track of: 1) which verbs and adjectives are irregular, and, 2) how the irregulars conjugate in different conditions (with different endings). Let’s start with how ㅂ–irregulars conjugate.

ㅂ–irregulars are verbs and adjectives whose roots end in ㅂ in the citation form and other consonant–initial forms, but whose ㅂ turns into ㅜ with vowel-suffixes 아/어–suffixes and 으 suffixes,(and 으 drops out).
Conjugate the examples using the given suffixes

Some ㅂ- irregulars (Learn the meanings!):

Remember there are also ㅂ-final REGULAR verbs and adjectives – that keep their ㅂ in all forms:

Pixabay로부터 입수된 tragrpx님의 이미지 입니다.

While graduating classes are a big deal in the U.S.,  people make a lot of hoopla when you enter a school in Korea. In college, based on your entry year you get a 학번 – a student number that defines your relationship with your seniors (those who started before you) called 선배. and your juniors (those who started after you) called 후배.  Those who start school in 2025will be assigned a 25–학번. This number will also be used later in life for others to determine your age, thus what style of speech and terms of address to use when they speak with you.

선배 take on the role of mentor, like an older sibling looking out for their 후배.  후배, then, can be friendly with their 선배, but they must respect – and to some extent, follow the suggestions of – the선배.  It is somewhat comparable to the relationship between younger and older students in an American fraternity or sorority, where the younger students may have to do favors for the older ones, but the older ones are expected to “look out for” the younger ones and help with job placements, etc.  Interestingly, it is the 선배who would pay for coffee, drinks or shared meals; this reflects the care–taking role.  선배–후배 relationships are maintained throughout one’s lifetime with schoolmates: once a 선배, always a 선배.

Another important aspect of one’s schooling is one’s 학연 or affiliation (or alma mater, where you went to school).  This information becomes part of your social persona, defining many of your future social relations as well.  In addition to various (5–year, 10–year, etc.) high school 동문회 (alumni/school reunions), one also attends more or less formal entering–class reunions 동창회 , departmental 동문회, and many other class–based social gatherings.  Many of a Korean person’s most lasting friendships stem from their 동창 relationships.