매튜의 한국어 연습 블로그

Habits. When talking about the things you do everyday, would you use 버릇 or 습관? Since they both mean "habit" can't you just say 좋은 습관 and 나쁜 습관 to differentiate between "good" and "bad" habits? Doesn't context fill that it in anyways? Not exactly. Let's take a look:

버릇
This type of habit is almost always negative but not necessarily an everyday occurrence. It can also mean "manners" in the sense that someone has none. Think of smoking, not washing your hands, belching or picking your nose; all disgusting bad habits. They are also actions done without thinking. Of course, there are exceptions to these already convoluted rules. Examples:

제 친구는 코파는 버릇이 있어요
My friend picks his nose.

나쁜 버릇 고치겠다고 약속해라. 알겠니?
Promise me that you will break your habit. You got it?

너 술버릇을 고쳐야 돼.
You've gotta change your drinking habits.

왜 버릇이 없어?
Why don't you have any bad habits?

그는 버릇이 없어요.
He's got no manners.



습관 (習慣)
This can be negative or positive. When we think of the English word "habit" this might be the Korean word that most closely resembles it in terms of something that is done consistently. Examples:

나는 식사 후에 초콜릿을 먹는 습관이 있어요
I have a habit of eating chocolate after I eat.

대학생 때 저녁마다 조깅하는 습관이 있었어요.
When I was in college, I had the habit of jogging every evening.

젊은 사람들은 요즘 Google로 정보 검색하는 습관이 있어요.
Young people have the habit of using Google to search for things.

결혼하고나서 옛날 나쁜 습관들이 많이 변했어요.
After I got married, I changed a lot of my bad habits.

내 학생 중에 나쁜 언어 습관을 가진 학생이 있어요.
I have a student who has a bad mouth (out of habit).

고등학교 졸업하고나서부터 철저하게 계획을 세우는 습관을 붙였어요.
Since graduating high school, I got into the habit of thoroughly planning everything.

I debated posting this because I certainly would never want to push any religious agenda on anyone. However, I think that anyone in a similar situation that I was in might benefit from this so here goes.

In August of 2009 I started attending Catholic services with my wife in Korea. As a cradle Catholic, she regularly attended service and knew an impressively fair amount of Catholic terms in English but could not effectively explain their meaning to me. I got frustrated because I never attended Mass before and that in and of itself was a big change let alone the language barrier which was in full gear, believe me. I couldn't even keep up with the standing, sitting or kneeling let alone the long chants, songs and impossibly fancied message somewhere in the middle.

Not only that, but it seemed that no matter which 성당 we attended, there was something different at each one. Although there are fundamental things that are found in all Catholic churches across the world, I really struggled to follow along until I noticed a younger couple holding something titled "메일미사"; a type of monthly printout of all readings. After finding out that they could be obtained for about a dollar at the office of any Catholic church, I was relieved to have at least something to read along with. I followed along as best as I could but realized that the Order of Mass jumps around from the beginning of the book that is fairly static to the specific day of the month reading which of course differs daily. To make matters even more complicated, some cathedrals sung certain parts while others chanted. The only real consistent thing I found is that all pews were uncomfortable, confessions were heard before Mass and I was clearly a fish out of water.

Nevertheless, being madly in love with my wife as married couples are, I trooped along until a few things started becoming familiar. When we moved to America this year, I vowed to create my own printout with the order of our local church, which just so happens to have a vibrant Korean service and congregation. After countless rough drafts, revisions with pencil and paper, I think I have a functional draft. There are likely spelling or translation mistakes to be found but it is pretty much what one can expect to experience from a Korean Catholic Mass.

The order that I have made is specific to our little parish but can be easily modified to fit any 성덩. The page numbers, however, are aligned to the somewhat bilingual 한영매일미사 which is printed by the North American Conference of Priests for Korean Ministry. Their website is under construction at this time so email might be a better way to contact them for those interested. An asterisk or blank space signifies that the contents differ from day to day or that they are not found in the 메일미사. Two quarter notes signify a song. What is posted below is a sloppy copy and paste job from the original which can be downloaded and edited to meet your needs.

Hope this helps!

Clean. Think of all the different ways we use this word in English. It's a broad brush that has a lot of interpretation. In Korean, each instance is broken up into slew of different verbs and adjectives. Let's find out when it's appropriate to use each one:

청소하다 - to clean (general)
This is used in general to refer to cleaning but should not be used as a 1:1 replacement for the English equivalent. Examples:

이 빌딩을 청소하는 사람은 모두 5명이예요.
This building has five people who clean it.

저는 청소하는 것을 좋아해요.
I like to clean things.

청소 합시다!
Let's clean!


깨끗하다 - to be clean
Now think of "clean" as an adjective. Examples:

깨끗하게 청소했구나
Wow you really cleaned the room up nicely! (lit. cleanly cleaned)

이 빌딩은 정말 깨끗하군요. 누가 청소를 하나요?
This building is really clean! Who cleaned it?

우리는 깨끗한 물을 마셔야 해요.
We should drink clean water.

방이 정말 깨끗해졌네. 청소했어?
The room became so clean. Did you clean?


치우다 - to clean off
The next verb is more of taking away items or a wiping off a table. Examples:

이것 좀 치워 주세요.
Please clean off the table.

이 쓰레기 좀 치워주세요.
Please take out this trash.

밥 먹고 식탁 치우는 건 제가 할게요
After I eat, I'll wipe off the table.

저리 좀 치워!
Put that away!


마루 닦다 - to mop
This one is a bit confusing because in English we have a mop (명사) that used for mopping (동사). Korean separates these into 대걸레 and 자루걸레 that are used for 마루 닦기. Another thing of note is that 마루 and 바닥 mean the same thing. Examples:

부엌 마루를 닦아
Mop the kitchen floor

마루 닦았어?
Did you mop?

왜 바닥 안 닦았어? 내가 벌써 말했잖아.
Why didn't you mop the floor? You know I already asked you to do that.


쓸다- to sweep
A broom (빗) is used to sweep (쓸다) things. Ignore dictionaries that claim that 닦다 is also sweeping. That verb is used when liquid is involved. Examples:

교실 바닥 쓸었니?
Did you sweep the classroom floor?

청소할때 먼저 쓸고나서 걸레로 바닥을 닦아요.
When cleaning, first sweep and then mop the floor.

낙엽을 쓸어 담아 주겠니?
Will you rake up the fallen leaves?


청소기를 돌리다 - to vacuum
The original phrase was 진공청소기를 돌리다 but it's always shortened in conversation to simply 청소기. In English we think of pushing a vacuum cleaner, right? In Korean think of it as 돌다 to spin or 돌리다 to make spin. Examples:

내일 꼭 청소기 돌려
Make sure tomorrow that you vacuum.

매주 청소기 돌려야돼
You should vacuum every week

청소기 돌리는 거 싫어해
I hate vacuuming


정리하다 - to organize, pick up, put in order.
When you think of cleaning a refrigerator or picking up a room, think of this verb. Examples:

책상 정리 좀 하고 다녀
Go and clean off your desk

주말에 차고를 정리하려고 해.
I plan on cleaning the garage this weekend

주변 정리 잘 하는 사람이 일도 잘 하는 거야.
People who clean well work well (makes more sense in Korean, trust me)


설거지 - to wash dishes.
Everyone's least favorite kitchen chore. Examples:

설거지 좀 해줄래?
Would you wash the dishes?

엄마를 위해 설거지를 했어요?
Did you wash dishes for your mom?

부엌에 가서 설거지하는 것 점 도와드려.
Go to the kitchen and help out with the dishes.

Am I the only one that confuses these two? I shouldn't seeing as how they don't mean the same thing. Take a look:

의미 (意味)
meaning, sense, significance

You may not use 의미 a lot in spoken Korean because there's a natively Korean word that is much more widely used: 뜻. Take a look at 의미's more written nuance:

당신은 내 인생에 정말 큰 의미예요.
You mean a lot to my life.

추석은 우리의 가장 의미있는 명절이다.
Chuseok is our most meaningful holiday

이 단어는 여러 가지 의미로 해석될 수 있다.
This word can be interpreted in many different ways.

인생은 무 의미해.
Life is meaningless.



이유 (理由)
reason, cause, excuse
This word can be both conversational and written:

이유 없이 기분이 나쁜 것 같아.
For no reason I'm in a bad mood.

이렇게 늦게 온 이유가 뭐예요?
What's the reason why you came late?

무슨 이유가 있을 거야.
There must be some reason for it.

만화를 그렇게 좋아하는 이유가 뭐야?
Why do you like anime so much?

그 이유는 설명하기 어려워요.
The reasons are difficult to explain.

Slow your roll. What's the real difference between 천천히 and 느리게? Don't they both mean "slow"? Pull up a chair because I'm taking my time with this one:

천천하다 is the root verb and close to never used. 천천히 is the adjective form and is quite casually used in everyday speech. Examples:

밥 좀 천천히 먹어.
Eat slower, won't you?

천천히 가세요
go slowly

좀 더 천천히 말씀해 주시겠습니까?
Could you speak a little more slowly?

천천히 그리고 꾸준히 하면 이긴다.
Slow and steady wins the race (lit. game)


On the other hand, 느리게 is an adjective whose root verb is 느리다. It also means "slowly" but the difference in nuance is in the action taken. 천천히 is a conscious action that is controllable while 느리게 is out of your control. So, in the last example, if we use 느리게 그리고 꾸준히 하면 이긴다 it doesn't really carry the same feeling as taking your time. Also, saying 밥 좀 느리게 먹어 just sounds unnatural because it's a conscious effort to eat slowly.

However, making an observation on someone else's action is a whole different story. For example:

너 밥 진짜 천천히 먹는 구나
너 밥 진짜 느리게 먹는 구나.
Both could be used to express "Wow, you really eat slowly". Another could be:

Tom은 말을 정말 천천히 해.
Tom은 말을 정말 느리게 해.
"Tom speaks way too slowly" is conveyed but the second example carries more of a negative connotation. Remember, 느리다 is out of your control. Think of an old P4 desktop that takes five minutes to open an email. It's not consciously trying to piss you off; it's just an old computer. Therefore, it might sound like "이 컴퓨터 진짜 느리다!" More examples:

너 지금 일부러 천천히 말하는 거지?
You're speaking slowly on purpose, aren't you?

내 여동생은 설거지하는 게 느리다.
My little sister washes dishes too slowly.

우리는 이해가 꽤 느리다.
We are quite slow on the uptake.

지불이 느리다.
It was slow in making payments.

나는 말이 매우 느리다.
I'm a slow talker.

Everyday. There are entirely way too many different ways to express this simple little thing. Although not universally agreeable, below is what I would consider a classification of each term:

맨날 - conversational
하루 - both conversational and formal
하루하루 - conversational (emphasis)
매일 - both conversational and formal
일상적인 - both conversational and formal

While all of the above mean "everyday" the last really means "regularly" or "routinely" which could easily almost stand in for "everyday" in some contexts. Korean seldom uses 일상적인 but instead 일상 + 명사 as in:

일상생활 - everyday life, daily life, the day-to-day
일상업무 - daily business, the daily grind, routine work
일상용품 - things that are used routinely everyday

More examples:

엄마는 맨날 나보고만 뭐라고 해.
Why does my mom always (everyday) pick on me?

오늘 하루도 참 길었지.
Today was such a long day.

하루하루 멀어져 가겠지.
♪ Each day I'm getting farther from you ♪

나는 매일 아침 7시 30분에 출근해요.
I start work everyday at 7:30 in the morning.

저의 일상적인 업무는 학교에서 시작해서 학교에서 끝나요.
My daily routine starts and ends at school.

당신의 일상 생활은 바쁜 편입니까?
Is your daily life considered busy?

Hanja is a tricky beast ain’t she? She tempts us with her interweaving of Chinese, Japanese and Korean root words and then spits in our face when things start looking like a big mess of spilt spaghetti on the page. When first venturing into the brave world of 한문 I found that a lot of the basic characters looked similar. When I would put pen to paper, I’d find myself mixing up strokes and wondering why three different letters all looked the same. Here are some of the first words that tripped me up: