[Learn Korean E30] “(으)니까”, “못”

안녕하세요. 토미입니다.

The theme of today’s class is “아직 운전 못 해요? (You still can’t drive)?”

Today, we will learn ‘(으)니까 (because),’ and ‘못(can’t).’

By learning ‘(으)니까 (because),’ you will be able to say, ‘I did this because ~.’

In addition, today, I have a special gift for you.
That is a TEST! Lessons 26 to 30 will be on the test.
I put a lot of example sentences on the exam, so I am 100 percent sure you can strengthen the basics of grammar.

I am sure your effort will bear fruit soon, and you can pass TOPIK confidently and be the super master of Korean!

그럼 시작할게요.

Listen to the Conversation

The theme of today’s conversation is “아직 운전 못 해요? (You still can’t drive?)”

Tammy is asking Sangmin what he has been doing these days.

Please listen to their conversation and determine what activity Sangmin wants to challenge.

그럼 들어보세요！

• 토미：상민 씨, 최근에 뭐 하고 지내세요?
  Tammy： Sangmin, what are you doing these days?
• 상민：저는 운전면허증을 따고 싶어서 밤에 연습하고 있어요.
  Sangmin： I am practicing at night because I want to get a driver’s license.
• 토미：상민 씨는 아직 운전 못 해요?
  Tammy： You still can’t drive, Sangmin?
• 상민：네, 아직이에요. 저는 면허를 따서 드라이브하고 싶어요.
  Sangmin： No, not yet. I want to get the license and go for a drive.
• 토미：드라이브 좋네요. 하지만 밤에는 위험할 수도 있으니까 조심하세요.
  Tammy： It’s nice to go for a drive. But it may be dangerous at night, so please be careful.

Vocabulary and Phrases

Now, I will explain the vocabulary and phrases in the conversation.

• 토미：상민 씨, 최근에 뭐 하고 지내세요?

‘최근’ means ‘recently / these days.’
We learned a similar word with ‘요즘(before).’
Along with these, there is also the word ‘요새.’
These three words all mean ‘recently/these days.’

• 상민：저는 운전면허증을 따고 싶어서 밤에 연습하고 있어요.

‘운전면허증’ means a ‘driver’s license,’ and ‘신분증’ means an ‘identification card.’

‘따다’ means ‘to get (a license or a qualification).’
So, if you say “올림픽에서 금메달을 따고 싶어요,” it means “I want to get a gold medal at the Olympics.”

‘밤’ is ‘night.’
Let’s also learn how to say morning and daytime.
‘아침‘ is ‘morning‘ and ‘낮‘ is ‘daytime.’

• 토미：상민 씨는 아직 운전 못 해요?

‘아직’ means ‘yet/still.’
Then what does ‘아직도’ mean?
The word ‘아직도’ is composed of ‘아직(still)’ and ‘도(also~),’ which together mean ‘still~.’
So “아직도 운전 못 해요?” sounds more emphasizing the fact that he ‘still’ did not get a license than using the word ‘아직(yet).’

• 상민：네, 아직이에요. 저는 면허를 따서 드라이브하고 싶어요.

‘드라이브하다’ means ‘to go driving’ and it is a combination of English and Korean.

• 토미：드라이브 좋네요. 하지만 밤에는 위험할 수도 있으니까 조심하세요.

‘위험하다’ means ‘dangerous.’
You can often see ‘위험’ written on signs in Korea.
It means ‘danger,’ so stay away from it.

Next, we learned in the 29th lesson about ‘할 수 있다/없다,’ which means ‘can / can’t.’
You can use this expression to say ‘can’ and refer to possibility, as in today’s conversation.
Tammy said, “밤에는 위험할 수도 있다,” which means “it may be dangerous at night.”

In this case, the nuance of ‘할 수 있다’ is like ‘may be~’ in English, which shows possibility, and you can use this with verbs as well as adjectives.

When describing such a possibility, you can use ‘(으)ㄹ 수도 있다/없다,’ sometimes with ‘도’ in it to emphasize the possibility.

‘조심하다’ means ‘to be careful.’
조심 itself is a noun, which means ‘to be careful.’
When it comes to ‘불조심,’ ‘불’ means ‘fire,’ so it means ‘beware of fire’ or ‘be careful of fire.’

Grammar

(으)니까 (because~, so)

You use ‘(으)니까’ to express a reason.
So it means ‘because/so.’ You can connect two sentences with ‘(으)니까.’

Next, let’s learn how to use ‘(으)니까.’
After a verb stem, you need to add the following:

① First, when a verb stem has a final consonant, you add ‘으니까.’
So, ‘먹다(to eat)’ will be ‘먹으니까.’

② Second, when a verb stem does not have a final consonant, you add ‘니까.’
So, ‘가다(to go)’ would be ‘가니까’

From now on, I will tell you irregulars.

③ Third, for /ㄹ/ irregular, you drop /ㄹ/, goodbye /ㄹ/ and add ‘니까’ only.
As an example, ‘만들다(to make)’ is going to be ‘만드니까.’

④ Fourth, for /ㄷ/ irregular, change /ㄷ/ final consonant to /ㄹ/ and add ‘으니까.’
So, ‘듣다(to listen)’ would be ‘들으니까.’

⑤ Lastly, for /ㅂ/ irregular, remove /ㅂ/ final consonant and add ‘우니까.’
So, ‘춥다(to be cold)’ is going to be ‘추우니까.’

The past tense is ‘-았/었으니까.’
For nouns, you add ‘(이)니까.’

When the last letter of a noun has a final consonant, you use ‘이니까,‘ and if the last letter of a noun does not have a final consonant, you need to add ‘니까.’

Let’s check our understanding by reviewing the phrases in today’s conversation.

First, let’s look at an example of the first case: a verb with a final consonant.

Ex.1)
밤에는 위험할 수도 있으니까 조심하세요.
It may be dangerous at night, so please be careful.

Here, the word ‘있다’ has /ㅆ/as the final consonant, so you add ‘으니까’ to the stem, and it becomes ‘있으니까.’

Next, let’s go through an example of the second case: a verb stem without a final consonant.

Ex.2)
화장실 냄새가 나니까 창문을 좀 열어 주세요.
The toilet smells, so please open the window a bit.

The word ‘냄새가 나다(to smell)’ does not have a final consonant, so you add ‘니까’ and say ‘나니까’ “it smells, so~.”

Let’s check the third case: a verb with /ㄹ/ final consonant.

Ex.3)
서울까지는 너무 머니까 오늘은 쉬고 가세요.
It is a long way to Seoul, so please rest here for today.

Here, the stem of ‘멀다(to be far)’ has /ㄹ/ final consonant, so we drop the /ㄹ/, goodbye /ㄹ/ and add ‘니까’ to say ‘머니까.’

Next is the fourth case: verb with /ㄷ/ irregular.

Ex.4)
저는 매일 걸으니까 건강해요.
I walk every day, so I am healthy.

‘걷다(to walk)’ has /ㄷ/ final consonant. You change the /ㄷ/ final consonant to /ㄹ/ and add ‘으니까’ to say ‘걸으니까.’

Quiz

What goes into the parentheses?

① 내일은 (            ) 일찍 자요.
Tomorrow is the field trip, so I’m going to bed early.

(1)소풍이니까 (2)소풍니까

The answer is (1).
Since ‘소풍(field trip)’ is a noun with /ㅇ/ final consonant, you combine it with ‘이니까’ to say ‘소풍이니까 (a field trip, so~).’

The whole sentence would be “내일은 (소풍이니까) 일찍 자요.”

② 일찍 (           ) 술이라도 같이 마실까요?
I left work early, so shall we go drinking together?

(1)퇴근했으니까 (2)퇴근하니까

Here, the past tense of ‘퇴근하다(to leave work)’ is ‘퇴근했다.’
Since the stem of ‘퇴근했다’ has a final consonant, you add ‘으니까’ to say ‘퇴근했으니까.’

The whole sentence would be “일찍 (퇴근했으니까) 술이라도 같이 마실까요?”

못 (can’t~)

Next, we will learn ‘못(can’t~.)’
Applying this grammar is similar to ‘안(don’t~).’

You put this before a verb in a sentence.
And for verbs that finish with ‘–하다’ like ‘수영하다(to swim),’ you split ‘수영’ and ‘하다’ and put ‘못’ in the middle.

Ex.1)
아직 운전 못 해요?
You still can’t drive?

Here, you divide the verb ‘운전하다(to drive)’ into two parts, ‘운전,’ and ‘하다,’ and add ‘못’ in the middle.
Then it becomes ‘운전 못 하다.’
After this, you make it to ‘요 form.’ So, it becomes ‘운전 못 해요?’
If you change this to ‘(으)ㄹ 수 없어요,’ it is going to be “아직 운전할 수 없어요?” Those are the same meaning.

Ex.2)
매워서 못 먹어요.
It’s spicy, so I can’t eat.

In this sentence, you add ‘못’ before ‘먹어요(I eat)’ to say ‘못 먹어요(I can’t eat).’
If you change this to ‘(으)ㄹ 수 없어요,’ it is going to be ‘먹을 수 없어요.’

Quiz

What goes into the parentheses?

①저는 스키를 (        ).
I can’t ski.

(1)탈 수 있어요 (2)못 타요

The answer is (2). ‘스키를 타다’ is ‘to ski.’
All you have to do is to put ‘못’ before the verb, so it becomes ‘스키를 못 타요.’
If you change this to ‘(으)ㄹ 수 없어요,’ it becomes ‘탈 수 없어요.’

The whole sentence would be “저는 스키를 (못 타요).”

② 늦잠 자서 (        ).
I overslept so that I couldn’t wake up.

(1)못 일어났어요 (2)일어났어요

The answer is (1).
‘일어나다’ is ‘to wake up.’ You need to add ‘못’ before ‘일어나다’ to say ‘못 일어나다(cannot wake up).’
After that, you want to make it into a past tense, so it is going to be ‘못 일어났어요(could not wake up).’
If you change this to ‘(으)ㄹ 수 없어요,’ it is going to be ‘일어날 수 없었어요.’

I will read the whole sentence “늦잠 자서 (못 일어났어요).”

Conversation (Korean only)

Let’s listen to it one more time, but this time, it is only in Korean.
You should be able to understand much better than in the beginning.

그럼 확인해 보세요！

• 토미：상민 씨, 최근에 뭐 하고 지내세요?
• 상민：저는 운전면허증을 따고 싶어서 밤에 연습하고 있어요.
• 토미：상민 씨는 아직 운전 못 해요?
• 상민：네, 아직이에요. 저는 면허를 따서 드라이브하고 싶어요.
• 토미：드라이브 좋네요. 하지만 밤에는 위험할 수도 있으니까 조심하세요.

Conversation Practice

I’ll play the audio one sentence at a time, so please read along with me.

그럼 큰소리로 읽어 보세요！

• 토미：상민 씨, 최근에 뭐 하고 지내세요?
  Tammy： Sangmin, what are you doing these days?
• 상민：저는 운전면허증을 따고 싶어서 밤에 연습하고 있어요.
  Sangmin： I am practicing because I want to get a driver’s license.
• 토미：상민 씨는 아직 운전 못 해요?
  Tammy： You still can’t drive, Sangmin?
• 상민：네, 아직이에요. 저는 면허를 따서 드라이브하고 싶어요.
  Sangmin： No, not yet. I want to get the license and go for a drive.
• 토미：드라이브 좋네요. 하지만 밤에는 위험할 수도 있으니까 조심하세요.
  Tammy： It’s nice to go for a drive. But it may be dangerous at night, so please be careful.

Homework

Then let me announce today’s homework.
We have two homework assignments, as usual.

The first homework is to use ‘(으)니까(because/so),’ and ‘못(cannot)’ in a sentence. For example, I would write a sentence like this.

• 나는 애기가 있으니까 밤에는 일 못 해요.
  I have a baby, so I can’t work at night.

The second homework is memorizing vocabulary.
Please memorize 40 words from #801 to #840 on page 11 of the Elementary Vocabulary List.

In addition, this is the 30th lesson.
So, I have a special gift only for you.
That is a special test for Lesson No.26 to 30

I used a lot of example sentences in the exam so that you can deepen your understanding.
Keep up your good work.
그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요！ 한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅！！