Differential style:
습니다/입니다 and 습니까/입니까
Now I have always had problems with the differential style of speaking in Korean. The KLEAR series textbooks from the University of Hawaii don't really go indepth on thier use. I've had to ask my Korean friends at work to explain to me when I should use 습니다 and when I should use 입니다.
At first I assumed it was like everything else I had learned up to that point and 입니다 would be used if the end of the word had a final-consonant, and 습니다 if it ended in a vowel, or visa-versa. That is not the case though. I then wondered if one was for verbs and the other for nouns. I asked my Korean friend and at first he thought my second guess was right, but then he thought about it and started writing examples down in my notebook and it turns out that is not the case either. We were close though. Here are the examples he wrote, see if you can figure out the connection on your own.
알리샤입니다 - Alisha
먹었습니다 - Ate
웃입니다 - Clothes
달리고있습니다 - Running
바보입니다 - Fool
제꺼입니다 -
컵입니다 - Cup
펜입니다 - Fan
He then wrote:
Nouns입니다
Verbs습니다
So I wrote this as an example: 주습니다 and he said it was wrong and that it was 줍니다. Then we had to figure out why. He began writing again and here is where we figured it out:
줍니다 - Give
달릴 것입니다 - Will run
딜렸습니다 - Ran
주었습니다 - Gave
줄 것닙니다 - Will give
마셨습니다 -Drank
마실 것입니다 - Will drink
Figured it out?
Past습니다
Present입니다
Future입니다
Nifty isn't it? Now if only I could find a Korean friend who actually likes the grammar of his/her own language! Then we wouldn't have to try and figure it out the hard way. :) Although to be fair, when they ask me English questions we have to go through the same hassel! Just more encouragement for me to improve my English.
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You're generally correct... but the great thing about grammar rules is that there are always exception to the rules..
ReplyDelete:D
Ohhh so true! Grammar is so evil that way! It's the same for every language, exception is the rule! XD
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteI found your post when looking for info about conjugating korean verbs in different speech styles.
I think you´re making it a little bit more complicated. You were on the right track at first. The vowel/consonant ending theory. I think it is like this:
습니다 word ends in a consonant
ㅂ니다 word ends in a vowel
입니아 is the deferential form of "to be" 이다
이+ㅂ니아 ends in a wovel.
So 컵입니다 doesn't mean cup. It means it is a cup. And the past stem always ends in a consonant so thus they end in 습니다.
But your post was written long ago so maybe you already found out.
oh now i get what is 습니다 hehe
ReplyDeletethe irregulars (ㅅ,ㄷ,ㅂ,르,ㄹ) are killin me hahaha