Billy Go's Blog

How much Korean do you really need in order to live in Korea? I asked people in Seoul what they think during my fan meetup this summer at the Han River. I also asked how much Korean someone needs to feel comfortable in Korea, and what someone might miss out on if they don’t know any Korean but live in Korea.

Typically beginners learn 뭔가, 어딘가, 누군가, and other similar words for saying “something,” “somewhere,” and “someone.” These words are great because they’re easy to use, simple to understand, and always work – but there’s a simpler way to say these words that requires a bit of different intonation. I explain how to use these and what’s the difference in this episode of Korean FAQ.

I’ve made twenty cheat sheets for the Korean language that you can download right now, all for FREE! They’re on my Patreon page, and all of them are in JPG format. Or if you’re one of my paid Patreon supporters you can download one single file to get all of them at once, along with higher quality PNG and PDF versions. The video I made here shares all of them so you can see exactly what you’re getting.

Many advanced level vocabulary words end with 상, which works like a suffix and allows you to use it as an adjective and adverb. The meaning 상 adds is that something is “related” to that word. I share several common examples here in my latest Korean FAQ episode.

This is the eighth and final new Korean cheat sheet, and it’s all about quoting forms – how to quote what someone said/thought/etc. and how to do it for statements, questions, commands, and suggestions. It also includes common exceptions, common quoting verbs, and shortened versions for everyday speech. You can download the cheat sheet for free from my Patreon page, along with all 20 of my Korean cheat sheets.

All of my Korean cheat sheets are completely FREE through my Patreon page. This week I’m releasing a cheat sheet all about nominalization forms – the forms ~기, ~는 것, and ~음/ㅁ which are used to change verbs into nouns. This current set has 8 cheat sheets, and next week I’ll release the final one.

Occasionally I’ll come across a short sentence in a printed advertisement that ends with an un-conjugated verb, such as 하다 (left as “하다” and not 해요, 한다, etc.). This originally left me wondering, “Is this correct Korean? And if so, what does it mean if it doesn’t have any tense?” So I put together this lesson to explain what’s going on, what it means, as well as the nuance it has, and when you might use it.

So far I’ve made six new Korean language cheat sheets, and they’re completely FREE through my Patreon page. This week I’m releasing a cheat sheet about Causative Verbs (사동사), and this should help you with memorizing some of the most common verbs and forms. These were all created as a set, and there are still two more cheat sheets that I’ll release over the next two weeks.

Every week I’m posting one new Korean language cheat sheet for the next eight weeks – this is the FIFTH cheat sheet and it’s all about Passive Verbs. Also note that my Patreon paid supporters can download all EIGHT of my newest cheat sheets all at once.

우리 and 저희 are both used to mean “us” and “we,” but they can’t be swapped in all cases – and shouldn’t be. I talk about the technical differences between the two, as well as the most basic differences to be aware of.