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4 minKorean

Lesson 130: the future tense

V-(으)ㄹ 거예요 — the third tense, and the one that completes the set. Plus the weekend vocabulary to use it on, and the whole tense system on one line.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • verbs
  • vocabulary
5 minKorean

Lesson 129: 그리고, 그래서, 그러면

Three words that join two sentences, each declaring a different relationship between them — addition, cause, and premise. Plus the places and activities vocabulary they get practised on.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • vocabulary
4 minKorean

Lesson 128: suggesting, accepting, and declining

The present-tense ending you have used since 1A turns out to double as "let's", with nothing marking which is meant. Plus 하고 picking up a second meaning, and the two-line script for turning something down politely.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • particles
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 127: V-(으)ㄹ까요? — shall we?

The ending that turns a verb into a proposal, the difference between a promise and a booking, and the Korean foods that belong to a specific day of the year.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 126: telling the time

The one place both number systems appear in a single phrase — hours native, minutes Sino — and the four Korean words for what English calls soup.

  • korean
  • numbers
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
7 minKorean

Lesson 125: dates, 며칠, and the first two irregular verbs

Two months are pronounced irregularly, two question words are spelled the way they sound rather than the way they are built, and two whole classes of verb drop or change a letter before an ending. The lesson where Korean stops being tidy.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • verbs
  • vocabulary
6 minKorean

Lesson 124: weather, and saying something is not the case

안 goes in front of the verb — except when the verb is a noun plus 하다, where it goes in the middle and splits the word in two. Plus the four seasons, the weather vocabulary that goes with them, and the exam that stops Korean aeroplanes.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 122: 에 or 에서

Both particles attach to a place and they are not interchangeable. The split is not where you are but what the verb is doing there. Plus the provinces of South Korea and what each is known for.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • particles
  • work-culture
6 minKorean

Lesson 121: the past tense

One infix, -았/었-, and the present tense you already know becomes the past. Plus what happens to 이에요, and the Korean calendar of unofficial days — including why the 14th of every month sells something.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • verbs
  • work-culture
3 minEngineering

How this site is built

Astro SSR on Cloudflare Workers, with a private area gated in server middleware rather than in the browser. Notes on why it is arranged that way.

  • web
  • astro
  • cloudflare
  • security
6 minKorean

Lesson 119: counters, 몇, and asking for things

You cannot count nouns directly in Korean — a number needs a counter, and five of the native numbers change shape in front of one. Plus 몇, listing things with 하고, and the script for booking a meeting with a Korean colleague.

  • korean
  • numbers
  • grammar
  • work-culture
  • hmgics
7 minKorean

Lesson 117: Sino-Korean numbers, money, and -(으)세요

Korean has two complete sets of numbers and this is the first of them. Plus the reason large sums are hard to read even once you know the digits, the faces on the banknotes, and how to politely tell someone to sit down.

  • korean
  • numbers
  • money
  • grammar
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Korean Basic 1B: course overview

Sixteen more lessons at HMGICS, picking up where Basic 1A stopped: numbers, the past and future tenses, telling the time, and enough Korean to arrange a meeting. One note per lesson, plus a topic map.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • numbers
  • work-culture
  • hmgics
6 minKorean

Lesson 114: dates, days, and the particle 에

언제 회의해요? Days of the week, months, dates, and the time particle 에 — plus the two months that are spelled irregularly and the five words that refuse 에 altogether.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • numbers
  • vocabulary
  • particles
5 minKorean

Lesson 113: where things are

Position words, and the N이/가 N에 있어요 frame that puts them to work. Plus the table at a company dinner — what to say before and after, and the one thing never to do with your chopsticks.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
  • etiquette
7 minKorean

Lesson 112: 있어요 / 없어요, and the subject particle

One verb for both "there is" and "I have", its negative twin, and the 이/가 vs. 은/는 problem. Plus 눈치 — the social radar Korean has a word for, and which turns out to be built from this exact grammar.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • particles
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
  • nunchi
7 minKorean

Lesson 111: verbs in the present tense

아요 / 어요 / 해요 and ㅂ니다 / 습니다 — the two conjugations you actually need, and how to pick between them. Plus places to go, and which seat to take in a meeting room, a car, and a lift.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • verbs
  • conjugation
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 110: negation, and the many jobs of 네

아니에요 — how to say something is not the case — with a vocabulary of occupations to practise on. Plus the workplace yes/no set, and why 네 means about nine different things.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • negation
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 109: nationality and the topic particle 은/는

저는 싱가포르 사람이에요. Countries and the two ways to build a nationality from one, plus the topic particle that makes the sentence work. And what not to wear to a Korean office.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • particles
  • vocabulary
  • work-culture
10 minKorean

Lesson 106: sentence structure, names, and titles

Eight ways a Korean sentence is not an English one — word order, particles, six speech levels, and why spacing changes the meaning. Plus how Korean names are built and what to call a 책임님.

  • korean
  • grammar
  • particles
  • honorifics
  • work-culture
  • hmgics
6 minKorean

Lesson 105: 받침, part 2 — doubles and linking

The eleven doubled final consonants, and 연음 — the rule that makes 한국어 come out as [한구거]. This is where Korean spelling and Korean sound formally part company. Plus family terms, hold on, and congratulations.

  • korean
  • hangul
  • batchim
  • pronunciation
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 104: 받침, part 1 — the seven sounds

Twenty-seven letters can close a syllable, and they make seven sounds between them. The mapping, with practice words. Plus the two goodbyes — which one you use depends on who is walking away.

  • korean
  • hangul
  • batchim
  • pronunciation
  • work-culture
4 minKorean

Lesson 103: reading C+V words

The first lesson where you read actual words — every one of them consonant + vowel, no 받침 yet. Plus thank you, sorry, and the thing Koreans actually say instead of "you're welcome".

  • korean
  • hangul
  • vocabulary
  • pronunciation
  • work-culture
5 minKorean

Lesson 102: the 19 consonants

Fourteen basic consonants, five doubled ones, and the three-way plain / aspirated / tensed contrast that English does not have. Plus 명함 — how to hand over a name card without getting it wrong.

  • korean
  • hangul
  • consonants
  • pronunciation
  • work-culture
7 minKorean

Lesson 101: syllable blocks and the 21 vowels

How a Hangul syllable is assembled from three slots, where each vowel sits in the block, and the twenty-one of them. Plus the formal greeting: what to say, and how far to bend while saying it.

  • korean
  • hangul
  • vowels
  • pronunciation
  • work-culture
4 minKorean

Korean Basic 1A: course overview

Sixteen lessons of Korean language and Korean work culture, run at HMGICS between May and July 2026. This is the index — one note per lesson, plus a topic map for when you know what you want but not which Tuesday it was.

  • korean
  • hangul
  • grammar
  • work-culture
  • hmgics