여러분 안녕하세요. Hello everyone.
어디에서 왔어요? - Where are you coming from?
We are going to talk about our 국적 (kug-jeog) nationality.
Let's start by learning at some country names.
There is a whole group of them ending in -guk. Let's pick out those first:
한국 - Han-guk - Korea
중국 - Chung-guk - China
미국 - Mi-guk - America
태국 - Tae-guk - Thailand
영국 - Yeong-guk - England
There are many names that sound similar to the English name for the country:
러시아 - Reo-shi-a - Russia
이탈리아 - Ital-li-ya - Italy
몽골 - Mongol - Mongolia
폴란드 - Polandeu - Poland
헝가리 - Hongari - Hungary
스페인 - Seu-pe-in - Spain
포르투갈 - Po-reu-tu-gal - Portugal
이집트 - I-jip-teu - Egypt
터키 - Teoki - Türkiye
노르웨이 - No-reu-we-i - Norway
스웨덴 - Seu-we-den - Sweden
덴마크 - Den-ma-keu - Denmark
우크라이나 - U-keu-ra-i-na - Ukraine
스위스 - Seu-wi-seu - Switzerland
루마니아 - Rumania - Rumania
이란 - Iran - Iran
이라크 - Irakeu - Irak
이스라엘 - I-seu-ra-el - Israel
캐나다 - Kae-na-da - Canada
Some might need a little more imagination:
레바논 - Re-ba-non - Lebanon
그리스 Keu-ri-seu - Greece
프랑스 - Peurang-seu - France (There is no 'f' in the Korean Alphabet)
핀란드 - Pin-land-eu - Finland
네덜란드 - Ne-deol-lan-deu The Netherlands
베트남 - Pe-teu-nam - Vietnam
시리아 - Shi-ri-a - Syria
브라질- Peu-ra-jil - Brazil
뉴질랜드 - nyu -jil-laen-deu - New Zealand
And some are just weirdos...
남아프리카 - Nam-a-peu-ri-ka - South Africa (nam = south)
독일 - Togil - Germany
호주- Hoju - Australia
일본- Ilbon - Japan
I hope, I haven't left out your country. There was no intention. But I could continue writing this list forever and it would be very tiring for all of us. I will not even take all of the above mentionned countries into the exercises... however feel free to complain and we gladly rectify this list.
Now I have some good news for you. You have seen the worst:D All what comes now is very regular and easy.
Take any of these country names and add -eo / -어 to it and you'll get the language. Except for America, Canada, New Zealand, Southafrica, Brazil, Switzerland, Austria... well you might guess why. Oh and of course Israel (They speak Hebrew -히브리어) and all the Arabic countries speak of course Arabic (아랍어)
But you have lots of regulars, too.
- 프랑스어 (peuranseu-eo) - French
- 이탈리아어 ( i-ta-li-a-eo) - Italian
- 스페인어 (seu-pe-in-eo) - Spanish
- 영어 (Yeong-eo) - English - Careful ! Not: Yeongugeo
- 러시아어 ( reo-shi-a-eo) - Russian
- 터키어 (teoki-eo) - Turkish
- 중국어 (chunggug-eo) - Chinese
- 일본어 (ilbon-eo) - Japanese ...
to speak is 말하다 (mar-hada) which conjugates to 말해요 (mar-hae-yo) = I speak / you speak / we speak / they speak... The language you speak will be the object of the verb, so you need to add -reul/-를
영어를 말해요 = yeongeo-reul mar-haeyo. I speak English.
Now let's learn one more thing and I promise, that this one is really regular for all of the countries:
Add 사람 (sa-ram = person) after the country name and you get the person coming from that country.
일본 사람 (ilbon saram) = a Japanese
호주 사람 (hoju saram) an Australian
루마니아 사람 (rumani-a saram) a Rumanian...
Now we can say things like:
저는 미국 사람이에요. 영어를 말해요. (Jeoneun Miguk saram-i-e-yo. Yeongeo-reul mar-haeyo.) I am American. I speak English.
I shouldn't have given you that line. That's where language learning stops. So please promise me to never say that sentence :D
독일 사람은 독일어를 말해요. (Togil saram-eun Togil-eo-reul marhae-yo: Germans speak German.
이 사람 태국에서 왔어요 하지만 영어를 조금 해요. I saram-eun Taegug-e-seo wasseoyo hajiman yeongeoreul jogeum haeyo. This person is from Thailand, but he speaks a little English.
Btw. You might have noticed, that I used only -hada and not marhada when I added jogeum to the sentence.
나라 ( nara) = country/ land
어느 ( oneu) which
어느 나라 ( oneu nara) which country
어느 나라 사람이에요? ( oneu nara saram-i-e-yo ?) Which country are you from? (lit. Which country person are you?)
충국 사람이에요? (Chungguk saram-i-e-yo?) Are you from China?
Ok let's call it a day.
여러분 어느 나라 사람이에요? ( yeoreobun oneu nara saram-i-e-yo ?) Which countries are you all from?