Sunday, August 19, 2007

이것이 무엇이에요?

This posting is specially for Jean. She asks what does 것이/을 mean exactly in English and when and how is it used in sentences.



것 means "thing". 것 is used when people know the thing you are talking about. You can use 것 in place of book, car, house or anything that is inanimate.

The particle 이/을 behind 것 determines whether 것 is a subject or an object in a sentence. 이 behind 것, as in 것이, makes 것 a subject. Similarly 을 behind 것, as in 것을, makes 것 an object.


In example 1, the particle 이 is used to define 것 as a subject. When 것 is made a subject, the next thing you are going to do is to say or describe something about the subject. To do that, you will have to use stative verb like 싸다(cheap), 예쁘다(pretty), etc.

1. 이것이 싸요. This thing is cheap.


In example 2, the particle 을 is used to define 것 as an object. When 것 is an object, the next thing you are going to do is to say what you are doing to the object. To do that, you will have to use action verb like 좋아하다(like), 사랑하다(love), etc. The subject in this case is yourself. In Korean language, subject like "I" is normally omitted since it is understood who is performing the action. But this omission has also caused much confusion to beginners who are not particularly clear about the difference between 이/가 and 을/를.

2. (나는) 그것을 좋아해요. I like that thing.


To further add, the more frequent use of 것 is actually in nominalising verb to become noun. Verb can be changed into noun using 것 by following the below pattern.

Action Verb + 는 것 (Present Tense)
Action Verb + 은 것 (Past Tense)
Action Verb + 을 것 (Future Tense)


If I take 배우다 as the action verb, the examples below will show how 것 is used in each case.

배우다 + 는 것 = 배우는 것 (Learning)
배우는 것이 재미있어요. (Learning (thing) is interesting.)
배우는 것을 좋아해요. (I like learning (thing).)

배우다 + 은 것 = 배운 것 (Thing learned)
배운 것이 재미있었어요. (The thing learned was interesting.)
배운 것을 좋아해요. (I like the thing that I learned.)

배우다 + 을 것 = 배울 것 (Thing to learn)
배울 것이 재미있을 거예요. (The thing to learn will probably be interesting.)
배울 것을 좋아할 거예요. (I will probably like the thing I will be learning.)

Let say if 문화(culture) is the thing you are talking about, you can insert it in the following manner:

문화를 배우는 것이 재미있어요. (Learning culture is interesting.)
문화를 배우는 것을 좋아해요. (I like learning culture.)


것 can also be used to normalise stative verb like 예쁘다 in the following way:

Stative Verb + 은 것

예쁘다 + 은 것 = 예쁜 것 (Pretty thing)
예쁜 것이 비싸요. (Pretty thing is expensive.)
예쁜 것을 좋아해요. (I like pretty thing.)



I hope I do not confuse you, Jean. Sometimes I feel that the more I try to explain, the more confusing it get. Furthermore, I am explaining based on what I know. I hope my understanding of the use of 것 is correct. There are many more things that I can write about 것 since it is such a common word but I don't think I can go on without creating more confusion. If you don't understand what I wrote, I would say that it is my fault. Perhaps there is still something that I have not yet fully understood.


******


Jean, I think you are in luck. Kaye has kindly helped to elaborate on the three ways of nominalising verb to noun. Nominalisation with ~는 것, as I have shown above, is just one of the three ways. Read more in Kaye's blog.

11 comments:

  1. wow equinox. thanks so much for the lengthy post. i understand it much better now, though i think i need some practice to fully understand it.

    정말 감사합니다!

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey, hope you won't mind if i correct something in your post...

    in your example you translated 배우는 것 as Thing being learnt... actually the correct translation would be "learning" (which is a normalization of "learn"..

    therefore
    배우는 것이 재미있어요
    = learning (or learning things) is interesting

    배운 것을 좋아해요
    = i like learning (or i like to learn things)

    문화를 배우는 것이 재미있어요
    = culture-learning (or learning about culture) is interesting


    to use another example
    내 취미는 사진을 찍는 것이다.
    = My hobby is taking photographs

    hope this helps! ^^

    화이팅!

    ReplyDelete
  3. sorry correct a mistake in my prev comment

    *배운 것을 좋아해요

    i meant to say 배우는 것을 좋아해요.
    (I like learning)

    ^^;;

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Kaye, thanks for making the explanation a whole lot clearer.

    I guess why I translate 배우는 것 as "thing being learnt" is because I was thinking in Chinese. I translate "~배우는 것" to "学~这个东西" which I then tranlsate to "thing being learnt".

    I was also trying to differentiate between 배우기 and 배우는 것 though the difference between the two is actually subtle. Take for example 문화를 배우기 (学习文化) and 문화를 배우는 것 (学文化这个东西), both can be translated as culture learning. However, I do feel that there is still some difference which may not be apparent when both forms are translated into English.

    Anyway I still think your translation is more direct and clearer so I have replaced my translations with yours.

    All the best for your end-of-semester exam and have a fun-filled trip to Taiwan.

    ReplyDelete
  5. hey! i've posted a more detailed entry on nominalization on my blog cos it's too long to put here...

    hope it helps!

    cheers ^^

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Kaye for working through the night to put this up. I like the personal touch you give to explaining the grammar. Not some textbook answer or things like that. Just like you, I used a lot of "feel" to decide which form to use. Its like feeling my way in darkness ^^;;

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow.. thanks both kaye & equinox for all the help!! :) i'm really v touched. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for this lovely post. Unfortunately it seems like Kaye's blog is no longer active. I think I kinda understand the way you used "the thing being learnt". Technically, in English, using the gerund learning is more usual than using thing being learnt, but it helps me makes sense of the Korean structure if 'thing being learnt' is used instead.

    I know this is an old post, but if you have time, would you mind explaining the difference between -기 and -ㄴ 것.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Alodia,

    For the usage of ~기, you can read my other posting: http://chaemii.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post.html

    ~ㄴ/는 것 is very common. You will get use to it usage naturally.

    I can give you an example on how -기 and -ㄴ것 are used to express the same thing:

    1. 한국어를 공부하기를 좋아한다.
    2. 좋아하는 것은 한국어를 공부하는 것이다.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks! ^^
    Apparently, I joined a speech contest recently and the edited version of my speech was peppered with 것 everywhere... I guess I'm more comfortable using it now.. ^^

    ReplyDelete