How to use Korean Grammar V/A + 거나

Verb, Adjective + 거나

The Korean grammar pattern -거나 is used to say "or". It can be attached verb or adjective stems as well as some sentence endings.

See examples,

저는 심심할 때 외국어를 배우거나 영화를 봅니다.

Korean

저

심심하다

외국어

배우다

영화

보다

English

I

boring

foreign language

to learn

movie

to watch

When I'm bored, I learn foreign languages or watch movies.

저는 심심하+ㄹ 때 외국어를 배우거나 영화를 보+ㅂ니다.

이 일을 직접 하거나 친구한테 맡길 게요.

Korean

이

일

직접

하다

친구

맡기다

English

this

task

personally

to do

friend

to assign

I'll do this myself or leave it to a friend.

이 일을 직접 하거나 친구한테 맡기+ㄹ 게요.

식당에서 밥을 먹거나 집에서 요리를 해서 먹을까요?

Korean

식당

밥

먹다

집

요리하다

English

restaurant

food

to eat

home

to cook

Shall we eat at a restaurant or cook at home?

식당에서 밥을 먹거나 집에서 요리를 하+여서 먹을까요?

이 스마트폰은 배터리가 떨어졌거나 고장이 났어요.

Korean

이

스마트폰

배터리

떨어지다

고장 나다

English

this

smartphone

battery

to run out of

to break down

This smartphone has run out of battery or is broken.

이 스마트폰은 배터리가 떨어지+었+거나 고장이 나+았+어요.

Quick reference (click to open)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j

Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)

Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')

Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.

Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky

Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her

Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel

Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive

Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently

Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till

Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while

Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.

Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?

Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!

Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!

Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).