Let’s learn and practice Korean :: October

October 25, 2009

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Zheng-hong Lu asked me some information on ‘the Possesive’

First of all, the possesive in Korean doesn’t work the way it works in English.

We prefer collectivism to individualism here.

우리 집 (literally, our house) rather than 나의 집(my house)

너희 학교(literally, your(plural) school), not 너의 학교(your(singular) school)

As you might have noticed, we use ‘의’ after the possessor.

But in most cases ‘의’ can be deleted or contracted as you can see in ther third column below.

(’~의’ itself has many other different meanings and usage)

Expressions in the third column are more common and wildely used in conversations while the expressons with ‘의’ are more common in written texts.

나의 책	my book	내 책	나의–>내
너의 결정	your decision	네 결정	너의–>네
우리의 문제	our problem	우리 문제
그 사람의 친구	his friend	그 사람 친구
그 여자의 말	her words	그 여자 말
책상의 다리	legs of a desk	책상 다리
톰의 선생님	Tom’s teacher	톰 선생님	Teacher Tom also can be 톰 선생님 but you can distinguish one from the other through the context.
아인슈타인의 이론	Einstein’s theory	아인슈타인 이론
건물의 뒤편	back of a building	건물 뒤편
남편의 친구의 아버지	the father of husband’s friend	남편 친구 아버지

More examples in sentences.

우리 집은 너무 비싸다. My house is too expensive.
한국 대통령은 이명박이다. Ther president of Korea is 이명박
나는 어제 휴대폰 배터리를 잃어버렸다. I lost the battery of my cell phone.
음식 값이 싸다. The price of food is cheap.
내 생각은 다르다. My thinking is different.
거기 제 책이 있나요? Is there my book over there?( 내(my) should be switched to ‘제’ in honorific expressions.
저희 집에 놀러오세요. Come and visit my place. (저희 instead of 우리 just like in No. 6 sentence)

This is all I can explain now about the possessive in Korean language.

If you have further questions please feel free to ask.

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