Reading is one of the greatest ways to practice and improve your Korean. It helps with getting familiar with the letters and words so that next time you see them, your brain recognises them faster. The practices I include here are short text paragraphs with a breakdown of the words and sentences which will hopefully help you with your Korean.
오늘 할로윈이라서 친구들이랑 만나기로 했어요. 우리 같이 할로윈 파티 가려고요. 우리 다 무서운 의상 입어야 돼요. 저 좀비 의상 입을 거예요. 같이 요리하고 밥 먹고 술 마실 거예요.
Listening – slow speed
Listening – normal speed
Translation
As today is Halloween I am going to meet with my friends. We are planning to go to a Halloween party. We all have to wear a scary costume. I am going to dress up as a zombie. We will cook and drink alcohol together.
Vocabulary
- 오늘 – today
- 할로윈 – Halloween
- 이라서 – since it is
- 친구들 – friends
- 랑 – with
- 만나다 – to meet
- 기로 하다 – decide to/plan to
- 우리 – We
- 같이 – together
- 파티 – party
- 가다 – to go
- -려고 – plan to
- 다 – all
- 무섭다 – scary
- 의상 – costume
- 입다 – to wear
- -야 되다 – have to
- 저 – I
- 좀비 – zombie
- 요리하다 – to cook
- 밥 – food/rice
- 먹다 – to eat
- 술 – alcohol
- 마시다 – to drink
Sentence breakdown
오늘 할로윈이라서 친구들이랑 만나기로 했어요.
This sentence uses the connector -이라서/라서. This translates to “Since it’s Halloween” or “As it is Halloween and we add -이라서 or 라서 depending on whether the word ends with a consonant or not. The reason behind this is just for an easier pronunciation.
Few other examples include;
날씨가 좋아서 – since the weather is nice
이미 늦어서 – since it’s already late
The second part of this sentence uses the -기로 하다 verb ending. This verb ending adds the nuance of “decided to” or “planned to”. In this case, it refers to the fact that I have decided to meet my friends or that we made plans to meet with my friends. It would be mainly used in cases where you plan or decide to do something or plan to do something. The intend here is usually strong so it is most likely to happen. It’s not just the nuance of wishful thinking but more like the plans are pretty much set in stone.
Few other examples include;
같이 공부하기로 했어요 – We decided to study together/We made plans to study together.
아침에 일찍 일어나기로 했어요 – I plan to wake up early in the morning.
우리 같이 할로윈 파티 가려고요.
This sentence uses another grammar point which is actually similar to -기로 하다 and that is -려고 하다. However, oftentimes the -려고 하다 is shortened to just 려고요. Both, -기로 하가 and -려고 하다 can be used interchangeably.
The difference between these two are;
-기로 하다 – gives the nuance of a decision being made so it’s unlikely that the plans will change.
-려고 하다 – gives the nuance of certain plans made but they are not set in stone. They could change.
우리 다 무서운 의상 입어야 돼요.
무섭다 is to be scared and to use it as a verb, you would say “무서워” which means “I am scared” or “그 귀신 너무 무서워” – “That ghost is very scary”. However, you can also use it as an adjective when conjugated as 무서운 i.e. 무서운 영화 – scary movie.
This sentence uses the grammar -야 돼요. This means ‘have to do’ something. Few examples are;
공부해야 돼요 – I have to study.
빨리 자야 돼요 – I have to sleep quickly/I have to go to bed quickly.
일찍 일어나야 돼요 – I have to wake up early.
저 좀비 의상 입을 거예요.
This sentence uses the future grammar structure of 을/를 거예요. Few more examples are;
저녁 먹을 거예요 – I will eat dinner.
같이 갈 거예요 – We will go together.
같이 요리하고 밥 먹고 술 마실 거예요.
This sentence combines three actions together using ‘고’. 요리하고 밥 먹고 술 마실 거예요. We can add -고 at the end of each verb to say ‘and’.