Nominalization
Learn is a verb. It always needs a subject like I learn or you learn. This is what we’ve learned so far. But how can we make that in the Korean language?
Nominalization in Korean Language
‘learn’ is a verb. So, ‘learn is good’ sounds a bit weird. It’s because the sentence should be ‘learning is good’. I made the sentence natural by using the nominalization. I changed ‘learn’ into ‘learning’ so I can use it as a subject or an object. That’s nominalization [명사화] which is a grammatical action that changes verbs into nouns. But what does the Korean language do for nominalization?
It’s a little bit trickier than English nominalization. In English, you just need to simply add ‘-ing’. But in the Korean language, we have to do the procedure that we always do for conjugations. Yes, it’s another conjugation. lol. I told you, 50% of the Korean language is conjuugations.
With Verbs in Korean Language
Nominalization in the Korean language has 2 types. 1. with verbs, 2. with adjectives. with verbs, no matter what type of words you use, the conjugation becomes ‘는 것’
To conjugate, remove the ending 다 from the dictionary formed words and add 는 것. Very easy right? It’s always the same. no exception (I think lol)
Many English words have 2 word classes for example, spank is a verb but at the same is a noun also. But in the Korean language, verbs are verbs and nouns are nouns, adjectives are adjectives. So, without learning nominalization, speaking Korean can be really trickier.
Key Component
The key component is ‘ㄴ 것’. If you find it in any sentence, then you can know it’s a nominalized word even though you don’t know the word or the meaning.
With Adjectives & 이다 in Korean Language
When you nominalize ‘to be +noun’ and adjectives, no matter what word type you use, it becomes ‘ㄴ 것’
Remove the ending 다 and add ㄴ at the end of the syllable and add 것 at the end. It’s a little bit trickier than verb nominalization. If the word root has ㅂ batchim, then it becomes 운 instead of ㄴ 것. (e.g. 덥다 -> 더운 것)
거 Instead of 것
Now you understand what nominalization is in the Korean language. However, if you watch some TV series or movies, you can often hear native Koreans say ‘거 [geo]’ instead of ‘것 [geot]’
것 = more suitable in formal situations
거 = more suitable in informal situations
They are the same word but 거 sounds more casual. Try to use 거 instead 것. It makes your speech much more natural and soft.
How To Use Nominalizing in Korean Language
한국어 배우는 것은 어려워요
Learning Korean is hard
엉덩이 때리는 거 좋아요
I like spanking
저는 읽는 것을 좋아해요
I like reading
Questions
The ending of every tutorial was always ‘questions’. But do you know what is odd? That we haven’t learned how to ask a question in Korean lol. So, why don’t we learn how to ask? Also, if you liked this tutorial, join us in Patreon and become our new CEO!
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All tutorials was possible thanks to
- Nadine C
- Za
- Paul
- AnneL
- Starvro
- Chris M
- Emily M
- Carly Sisson
- Lev Izraelit
- Tuoc Phan
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