초급 · Beginner

Lesson 2. One form, three meanings

하다 Verbs, and One Ending for Three Jobs · 6분

Here is something English speakers find hard to believe at first.

커피 마셔요.

That one sentence can mean three different things, and nothing in the writing tells you which. Only the voice does.

a statement커피 마셔요. *(falling)* · I drink coffee.
a question커피 마셔요? *(rising)* · Do you drink coffee?
an invitation커피 마셔요! *(bright, to someone)* · Let’s have coffee.
Korean does not reorder words to ask a question. English flips *you are* into *are you*. Korean leaves the sentence exactly as it is and lifts the end of it. This is why Korean questions feel so easy once you notice it — there is nothing extra to learn.
같이 밥 먹어요.Falling: “I eat with them.” Bright and toward someone: “Let’s eat together.”
어디 가요?Where are you going? — rising at the end.
내일 만나요.Statement, or the everyday way to say “See you tomorrow.”

연습 · Practice

이 레슨에는 풀어 보는 문제가 6개 있습니다. 앱에서 하나씩 맞히며 넘어갑니다.
6 exercises come with this lesson — open it to work through them.

이 레슨 열기Open this lesson in the app
← 앞 레슨Lesson 1. 공부하다 → 공부해요
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낱말 뜻풀이 출처: 국립국어원 한국어기초사전 · CC BY-SA 2.0 KR