Continuing Korean. Ross King
몇시에 깨세요?
Lesson Notes
17.1. Uses of the Infinitive III: Turning Descriptive Verbs into Processive Verbs with -어해요
1. | 모두 신랑을 부러워했습니다. Everyone was envious of the groom. |
2. | 선생님도 좋아하세요. The teacher is glad, too. |
3. | 읽고 싶어하세요. He wants to read [it]. |
The Korean language does not ordinarily allow a speaker to state flatly what another person feels or thinks: such inner processes can be known only secondhand, and Korean grammar requires a separate, more indirect pattern for those occasions when one needs to refer to them.
One way of doing this is to combine descriptive verbs that refer to emotions and feelings (“sensory verbs”) like dislikes and is glad with 해요. This combination externalizes the emotion and, in grammar, changes the descriptive verb into a processive one. Observe the list of such sensory verbs on the next page.
All of the expressions in -어해요 in the second column are transitive: they take as direct objects a noun expression with the particle 을 ~ 를. Here is an illustration of the difference in usage between describing your own emotions and those of someone else.
4. | 진호 씨가 와서 좋아요. It’s nice that Chinho has come or I’m glad that Chinho is here. |
5. | 진호 씨가 와서 좋아해요. [Someone else] is glad that Chinho has come or Chinho is glad to be here. |
6. | 진호 씨가 와서〔나는〕좋아요. I’m glad Chinho is here. |
7. | 진호 씨가 와서 복동이는 좋아해요. Poktong-i is glad that Chinho is here. |
1st & 2nd Person | 3rd Person | English | |
좋아요 | is good, is liked | ||
→ | 좋아해요 | likes | |
싫어요 | is disliked | ||
→ | 싫어해요 | dislikes | |
싶어요 | wants to, would like to | ||
→ | 싶어해요 | [sb else] wants to or would like | |
기뻐요 | is happy or glad | ||
→ | 기뻐해요 | [sb else] is happy or glad | |
고마워요 | is thankful or grateful | ||
→ | 고마워해요 | is grateful for, is thankful about; | |
[sb else] is thankful or grateful | |||
부러워요 | is envious or jealous | ||
→ | 부러워해요 | is envious of, is jealous of; | |
[sb else] is envious or jealous |
Here are some more examples of sensory verbs in first- (I, we) and non-first-person usage.
8. | a. | 나는 냉면이 싫어요. I don’t like naengmyǒn. |
This could also be expressed as: | ||
b. | 나는 냉면을 싫어해요. I don’t like naengmyǒn. | |
9. | 진호 씨는 냉면을 싫어해요. Chinho doesn’t like naengmyǒn. | |
10. | 나는 형님이 부러워요. I’m envious of my older brother. | |
11. | 동생도 형님을 부러워해요. My younger brother is envious of my older brother, too. |
These sensory expressions are made honorific by changing 해요 to 하세요.
좋아하세요 | 싫어하세요 |
기뻐하세요 | 고마워하세요 |
싶어하세요 |
In other words, you cannot say *싶으셔 해요 or the like.
주의! Honorifics
From the expression -고 싶어요 you can make honorifics in two different ways. | ||
-(으)시고 싶어요? | or | -고 싶으세요? |
and from the expression -고 싶어해요 you also |