Billy Go’s Beginner Korean Course _ #39_ Asking Questions.

Welcome back. In this lesson we're going to learn how to make questions. Now so far all we've been doing is making regular statements, just saying things about things and places. We haven't yet learned about how to talk about other people, or how to ask questions to other people. In order to talk about or ask questions about another person, such as asking a question about a teacher or about a stranger, it's important in Korean to use the right amount of politeness, depending on who you're speaking about. For example, we learned how to say hello with 안녕하세요, and just 안녕, and several ways to say thanks, depending on who you're talking with. This is because when you're asking a question about someone, you're also speaking about them. So first, let's just learn how to ask questions about things or places, and then later we'll learn how to ask questions about people. The most basic way to ask a question about a thing or a place is just to do these two things. First, attach a question mark to the end of your sentence. Then, make a rising intonation. And there's no need to rearrange your words to make a sentence like you do in English. So the sentence, This is kimchi, would have to become, Is this kimchi? In English, well you don't have to do that in Korean. For example, you could have these two sentences. 이것이 김치예요. This is kimchi. And, 이것이 김치예요? Is this kimchi? Notice that it's the exact same order. You simply add a question mark and a rising intonation to the end. So, I know this might seem a bit basic, but let's practice by changing these following sentences into questions. So pause the video here and try to make them yourself, and also say them out loud to yourself. Here are the answers. 이 피자가 맛있어요? 고양이가 똑똑해요? 주방에 요리책이 있어요? 거기는 날씨가 좋아요? 서울이 아주 커요? 문제가 있어요? 이 피자가 맛있어요? 고양이가 똑똑해요? 주방에 요리책이 있어요? 거기는 날씨가 좋아요? 서울이 아주 커요? 문제가 있어요? First of all, when you're asking a question about a thing or a place, there's no need to be especially more polite than usual, because you don't need to show extra respect toward a thing, an object, or some sort of location. To ask a question about another person though, you'll have to adjust the amount of politeness you use according with how well you know them and your relationship with them. But the basic way to make a question about a person is still the same. Simply make it into a question and add a rising intonation. So again, you don't need to rearrange the words. If you were to say, I like cats, well you don't have to rearrange it to, do you like cats? In Korean you can say the exact same thing, just as a question. For example, 저는 고양이를 좋아해요. I like cats. Which could be asked as a question, 고양이를 좋아해요? Do you like cats? But again, since you're asking a question now about someone else, you have to be cautious about what amount of politeness you're using, and for some people the regular 요 form might not be polite enough. So let's do a quick review. To ask a question about anyone you're close with, and who's a similar age as you or older, you can just use the 요 form with the question mark and a rising intonation, just as we've done before. 고양이를 좋아해요? Do you like cats? Again, in Korean it's very important to use the right amount of politeness depending on who you're talking with or who you're talking about. The 요 form is fairly polite, but it might not be polite enough depending on who you're talking about. For people who you're just close with, or who are your same age or a little bit older, the 요 form will be fine. You can just use the 요 form, attach a question mark and a rising intonation, and you're done. However, for anyone else that you would normally need to be extra polite toward, we're going to be using the 세요 form. We previously used the 세요 form for giving requests, but it can also be used when asking questions. Simply take a verb stem and attach 으세요 if it ends in a consonant, just like before, or attach 세요 if it ends in a vowel. So you can ask 고양이를 좋아하세요? Do you like cats? And this would be more appropriate for anyone who you want to be extra polite toward. And in a future lesson we'll also cover how to make casual sentences and ask questions to close friends who are the same age as you or younger. So again, we already learned the 으세요 form as a polite way to make requests to other people. Well, when used as a question, it's a polite way to ask a question to anyone who we want to be extra polite toward. This is because the 으세요 form is actually a polite form for speaking about someone else. So let's take a look at this verb, 앉다, to sit down. 앉으세요. Sit down. 앉으세요, sit down, is only talking to someone else, and it's a polite way to literally tell someone else to do something. Since it's a extra polite form, 앉으세요 would not be used when talking about yourself. If you just want to say, I sit down, well you can just use 저는 앉아요. I sit down. Saying 저는 앉으세요 would be wrong, since the 으세요 form again is only used to show extra politeness when speaking about someone else, not yourself. So we've learned a lot about this 세요 form. Not only is it used when you're asking a request to someone, telling someone to do something, but it's also used when asking a question about someone else, when talking about someone else, when you want to show extra politeness. Next, we're going to need to talk about how to say 유 in Korean. Notice that that sentence we previously did, 고양이를 좋아하세요? or even 고양이를 좋아해요? didn't have any extra word in there for 유, but the English translation still said 유. This is because most of the time in Korean it's not necessary to say 유 at all. It can usually be assumed who you're speaking about by the topic of the conversation, which would be marked with the topic marker, or by the context of the situation. So therefore, the sentences 고양이를 좋아해요? or 고양이를 좋아하세요? could only be referring to someone else, because, well, they sound like a question, and the context would not make any sense if you're asking a question to yourself. Still, there will be some times when you'll want to say 유 in Korean, and we'll learn about how to do that in another lesson. First though, let's do some practice with this form. Try changing the following sentences into questions that are polite. You can pause the video here. Here are the answers. 역사를 공부하세요? 지금 학교에 가세요? 영화를 보고 싶으세요? 한국어를 잘하세요? 피자를 만들 수 있으세요? 한국 사람이세요? 역사를 공부하세요? 지금 학교에 가세요? 영화를 보고 싶으세요? 한국어를 잘하세요? 피자를 만들 수 있으세요? 한국 사람이세요? So in this lesson we learned how to ask questions not only about other things or places, but also about other people, as well as how to be polite when asking those questions. Practice everything that you've learned here, and I'll see you again in the next lesson. 그럼 다음에 또 봐! Well then, see you again next time!