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

Weather is the excuse for the grammar here, which is negation. It is also, as in English, the default small talk — so the vocabulary earns its place twice.

사계절 — the four seasons#

유월 and 시월 are irregular — 육월 and 십월 are wrong. They are dealt with properly in 125.

A: 무슨 계절(을) 좋아해요? — Which season do you like? B: 저는 겨울(을) 좋아해요. — I like winter. C: 저도 가을(을) 좋아해요. — I like autumn too.

좋아하다 [조아하다] — to like. 싫어하다 [시러하다] — to dislike. 도 is “too”, and it replaces 은/는 rather than stacking with it: 저도, never 저는도.

날씨 — weather#

Three of these conjugate irregularly and it is not obvious from the dictionary form: 덥다 → 더워요 and 춥다 → 추워요 are ㅂ-irregulars, 나쁘다 → 나빠요 is a ㅡ-irregular. Both patterns are in 125; for now, learn the right-hand column as given.

습해요 is said [스패요] — the ㅂ 받침 meets the ㅎ and the two fuse into ㅍ. Same aspiration rule as 따뜻해요 [따뜨태요].

Grammar: 안#

안 goes immediately before the verb or adjective, and negates it.

And with adjectives, identically:

Negation and tense are independent: 안 sits in front, the tense goes on the end, and they do not interact.

The exception: N하다 verbs split#

With a noun + 하다 verb, 안 does not go in front of the whole word. It goes between the noun and 하다, and the noun takes its object particle.

일하다 → 일해요 → 일(을) 안 해요 ✓ — never 안 일해요 ✗

The logic is that these were never single verbs. 일하다 is work + do, and 안 negates the doing — so it goes where it always goes, immediately before 하다. The word simply comes apart to let it in. Once you see 하다 as a separate verb, the rule stops being an exception.

This applies to every N하다 verb, and there are hundreds of them.

Practice#

Full weather sentences, positive and negative:

A: 오늘 날씨가 어때요? — How’s the weather today? B: 날씨가 너무 더워요. — It’s too hot.

A: 어제 날씨가 어땠어요? — How was the weather yesterday? B: 안 좋았어요. — It wasn’t good.

어때요 / 어땠어요 comes from 어떻다, which is itself irregular. Learn the two forms as vocabulary — they are the standard way to ask about anything, not just weather.

Work culture: the education system#

The structure#

A student at each stage takes -생: 초등학생, 중학생, 고등학생, 대학생, 대학원생. Degrees are 학사 (bachelor’s), 석사 (master’s), 박사 (doctorate).

The academic year#

The Korean academic year starts in March, not September. 입학식 (entrance ceremony) is early March and 졸업식 (graduation) is late February.

수능#

대학수학능력시험, shortened to 수능 — the College Scholastic Ability Test. Held once a year in November, and it runs nine hours in a single day.

What happens on the day tells you how seriously it is taken:

1. No aircraft may take off or land during the English listening section.
2. Military training stops — gunfire and grenades are distracting.
3. The stock market opens an hour late, at 10am, to thin the traffic.
4. Most companies and banks open late for the same reason.
5. Candidates running late can call 112 or 119 for a police or fire escort.
6. Sick or injured candidates can arrange in advance to sit it in hospital, with invigilators.
7. Everyone is assigned to a different school from their own, to prevent cheating.

재수 is sitting it again the following year, 삼수 the year after that, and the counting continues — 사수, 오수 — which tells you the exam is not treated as a single chance so much as a rank you can grind upward.

Exam gifts#

Both puns turn on a verb with two meanings, which is worth noticing as a piece of language rather than just a custom: 붙다 is to stick and to pass an exam, so 시험에 붙었어요 is simply how you say you passed.