In this lesson we’ll learn how to use question words in Korean. More specifically, we’ll learn the words for who, what, where, when, why, and how.
The word for “who” is 누구:
Who did you meet yesterday?
Who teaches Korean?
*Since we’re asking about someone who is performing an action (teaching), we’ll use the subject marker here. 누구가 simply becomes 누가.
Who is it?
*야 is the casual form of 이다. It’s “이야” after a consonant and “야” after a noun.
”What” in Korean is 무엇 (noun), but is shortened to 뭐 in speech. 무엇 is mainly used in formal writing.
What is this?
*이게 is the contracted form of 이것이.
What is your job?
When used with the object market, you can use either 뭘 or just 뭐:
What will you do?
There are other ways to say “what” depending on the context!
어떤 is an adjective. It goes before a noun and is used to say “which” or “what kind of?”
어느 and 무슨 also mean “which” or “what kind of?” However, 어떤 is more commonly used.
You can think of 어떤 as asking for a specific detail about something, whereas 무슨 is more of a general “what kind of?”
”Where” in Korean is 어디.
Where do you live?
Where is good?
*어디에 is often just shortened to 어디 when talking about a location.
Where will you go?
어디 is often paired with 까지 (until):
How far/until where will you take the subway?
The word for “when” in Korean is 언제:
When is good?
When did you see that movie?
You can also pair 언제 with 까지:
Until when will you be in Korea?
*에서 is a particle paired with a location (noun) when discussing an action happening at that location. We’ll learn about this in detail later on.
언제 can also be paired with 부터 (from) to mean “from when” or “since when”:
Since when have you been studying Korean?
The Korean word for “why” is 왜:
Why (informal polite form)?
Why did you do that?
*그걸 is a contraction of 그것 (that) + 을 (object marker).
Why do you want to go to Korea?
The word for “how” is 어떻게. It’s an adverb.
How can I do that?
How do I get to Seoul Station?
There are other ways to say “how,” depending on the situation! 어떻게 is used to talk about mannerisms or the way something is done/came to be.
Here are some other ways to say “how” in Korean:
어때 also means “how” and is used to talk about feelings, or someone’s opinion.
얼마 means “how much” and is used to talk about money:
There are still other question words we haven’t covered, like “몇” (meaning how many). We’ll cover these later!
See you in the next lesson!