Learn Korean Words with K-Pop

Hello, everyone! We hope you all are having a great time on your journey of learning Korean with TTMIK! To help you continue your journey, wed like to present you with a new series to help you learn useful Korean vocabulary and phrases through something that almost everyone enjoysK -Pop! We arent really sure if K-Pop, or the Korean Wave, is really all that popular in other countries, or if its just a fad that the Korean media is exaggerating, but we are certain that there is a fairly large amount of people who want to learn Korean because of K-Pop. We thought it might be helpful to create something that incorporates K-Pop into learning, so weve decided to create the Learn Korean Words with K-Pop series. Learn Korean with K-Pop is a weekly blog post that will introduce various vocabulary and phrases found in K-Pop lyrics. Listening to music and studying the lyrics is a great way to help you learn a language, but its not always the most useful way to study since the lyrics are, sometimes, not very practical and are often poetic. Most vocabulary words will be defined in the infinitive (dictionary) form in this series. Some of the words will be different in the actual lyrics, and if you dont already know conjugations, please check out our lessons on the subject of conjugation (Level 1 Lesson 22 and Level 3 Lesson 24) Alrighty then! Enough of that! I bet youre ready to see what song weve chosen for our very first Learn Korean with K-Pop blog post! Its none other than

Gee..........
By Girls Generation

1) In the first verse of Gee, (Seohyun) sings (at 0:40 in the video). [neo-mu] [nun] = a lot; too (much); very often used for emphasis = eye radiant When you look at the words individually like this, the phrase doesnt seem to make much sense, does it? The first part of this phrase, , is basically saying OMG, youre SOOOOO cool, but what does the have to do with it? The phrase literally translates to eye eye dazzled, but it really means to be dazzled/blinded by something or someone. However, depending on the context of the sentences, can take on slightly different meanings. In this casual, present tense form of this phrase, the - (subject marking particle see Level 1 Lesson 9) is often dropped in everyday Korean conversation to create the more natural . In every day conversation, particles are often omitted if the intention of the speaker is obvious, and of course, for convenience. The fewer words you have to say to get your point across, the betterright? [meot-ji-da] = to be cool; to be wonderful; to be full of beauty [bu-shi-da] = to be dazzling; to be glaring; to be blinding; to be

 is used in a few other places throughout the song, and if youre a fan of Super Junior, youll recognize this phrase from the chorus of the infamous Sorry Sorry. Lets look at a couple of sample sentences which are used every day in Korea that include : Sample Sentences 1) . . [nun bu-syeo-yo. Chang-mun da-da ju-seyo.] Its too bright/dazzling. Please close the window. 2) ! . . [u-wa! Jeong-mal ye-ppeo-yo. Nu-ni bu-syeo-yo.] Wow! You are really beautiful. Im blinded/dazzled (by your beauty). 2. In the chorus of Gee, the girls sing oh oh oh oh oh (at 1:40 in the video). is an adverb to express being suddenly surprised or startled. This word goes well with the adjective , which means to be surprised. Nevertheless, is an extremely common word in Korean and is often used as an interjection. Try using it the next time your friends surprise you! Sample Sentences 1) !!!!!! [kkam-jja-gi-ya!!!!!] = OMG!/Oh my goodness!/Holy Crap! 2) ! [kkam-jjak nol-lat-ja-na!] = You really surprised me!