3 min
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
Categories
2categories. All notes by date →
Engineering1
Software, infrastructure, and how the things I build are put together.
Korean28
Hangul, grammar, and the workplace conventions that arrive with them — worked up from the HMGICS Korean lessons.
4 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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
6 min
Lesson 120: ordinal numbers, weeks of the month, and Korean holidays
Two ordinal suffixes that look interchangeable and are not — one orders things that exist, the other counts occurrences. Plus naming a week of the month, the three nouns that refuse 에, and the Korean public holiday calendar.
- korean
- numbers
- grammar
- work-culture
6 min
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
6 min
Lesson 118: native Korean numbers, 비음화, and introducing yourself
The second number system, the sound rule that explains why 입니다 is heard as imnida, and a self-introduction that does not stop at your name — including how to ask someone's age without asking their age.
- korean
- numbers
- pronunciation
- work-culture
- hmgics
7 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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
5 min
Lesson 108: 이에요 / 예요 / 입니다, and introducing yourself
The copula 이다 — Korean's "to be" — in its casual and formal polite forms, the six question words, and the four-line self-introduction you give on your first day.
- korean
- grammar
- copula
- question-words
- work-culture
10 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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 min
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