How to use Korean Grammar V/A + 거나

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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

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.

심심하+ㄹ 때 외국어 배우거나 영화 보+ㅂ니다.

이 일을 직접 하거나 친구한테 맡길 게요.

Korean

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 일 직접 하거나 친구한테 맡기+ㄹ 게요.

식당에서 밥을 먹거나 집에서 요리를 해서 먹을까요?

Korean

식당

먹다

요리하다

English

restaurant

food

to eat

home

to cook

Shall we eat at a restaurant or cook at home?

식당에서거나에서 요리 하+여서을까요?

이 스마트폰은 배터리가 떨어졌거나 고장이 났어요.

Korean

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 스마트폰 배터리 떨어지++거나 고장 나++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 ).