Under this system, for example, the syllable which is written in Korean as 었 is analyzed as ess even though the ss would be pronounced t before another consonant.
The modern standard of word classification and the one taught in public schools was chosen by South Korea's 1963 Committee on Education.
Verb endings constitute a large and rich class of morphemes, indicating such things in a sentence as tense, mood, aspect, speech level (of which there are 7 in Korean), and honorifics.
5 other major classes of words or morphemes are: 조사 (助詞), josa (also called 토씨 tossi) are Korean postpositions, also known as case markers.
Postpositions come after substantives and are used to indicate the role (subject, object, complement, or topic) of a noun in a sentence or clause.
Informational clitics (보조사 (補助詞) bo-josa) provide additional meanings to the words that they attach to.
Korean nouns 명사 (名詞) myeongsa (also called 이름씨 ireumssi) do not have grammatical gender, and though they can be made plural by adding the suffix 들 deul to the end of the word, in general the suffix is not used when the plurality of the noun is clear from context.
It is in much the same way that Latin- or French-derived words in English are used in higher-level vocabulary sets (e.g. the sciences), thus sounding more refined – for example, the native Germanic "ask" versus Romance "inquire".
Korean pronouns 대명사 (代名詞) daemyeongsa (also called 대이름씨 dae-ireumssi) are highly influenced by the honorifics in the language.
Third-person pronouns are not well developed, and in most cases, a demonstrative 그 geu "that" in combination with a noun such as 사람 saram "person" or 것 geot "thing" is used to fill the gap.
Also, only for translation and creative writing, a newly coined term, 그녀 geu-nyeo (literally, "that woman"), is used aphoristically to refer to a female third person.
The grouping of large numbers in Korean follows the Chinese tradition of myriads (10,000) rather than thousands (1,000) as is common in Europe and North America.
Korean verb conjugation depends upon the tense, aspect, mood, and the social relation between the speaker, the subject(s), and the listener(s).
The predicate marker 이다 (i-ta, ida, "to be") serves as the copula, which links the subject with its complement, that is, the role 'to be' plays in English.
To negate, a special adjective 아니다 (ani-ta, anida, "to not be") is used, being one of the two cases that take complement, the other being 되다 (toy-ta, doeda).
For instance, in 대나무는 나무가 아니다 (Taynamwu-nun namwu-ka ani-ta, Daenamuneun namuga anida, "A bamboo is not a tree.
For existence, Korean uses the existential verbs (or adjectives) 있다 (iss-ta, itda, "there is") and 없다 (eps-ta, eopda, "there isn't").
Korean adverbs 부사 (副詞) busa (also called 어찌씨 eojjissi) include 또 tto "again" and 가득 gadeuk "fully".
Korean interjections 감탄사 (感歎詞) gamtansa (also called 느낌씨 neukkimssi) as are also known in English as "exclamations".
(Mwuenka-lul chinkwu-ka na-eykey ally-e cwu-e-ss-ta., Mueongareul chinguga na-ege allyeo jueotda., "My friend informed me of something.
"), then the verb 떠났다 (ttena-ss-ta, tteonatda) combines with -(으)ㅁ (-(u)m, -(eu)m) to make a noun clause 떠났음 (ttena-ss-um, tteonasseum): the resulting sentence is 그가 갑자기 떠났음을 친구가 나에게 알려 주었다.
(Ku-ka kapcaki ttena-ss-um-ul chinkwu-ka na-eykey ally-e cwu-e-ss-ta., Geuga gapjagi tteonasseumeul chinguga na-ege allyeo jueotda., "My friend informed me that he left all of a sudden.").
Accompanied by several dependent nouns, adjective clauses can comprise idiomatic expressions, such as -ㄹ 것이다 -l kkeos-ida for the future conjugation, -ㄹ 것 같다 -l kkeot gatda, "I suppose...", -ㄹ 수(가) 있다/없다 -l ssu(ga) itda/eopda "It is possible/impossible...", -ㄹ 리가 없다 -l liga eopda "It makes no sense that..." Endings like -이 -i, -게 -ge, -도록 -dorok, and so forth derive adverbial clauses.
Exceptionally, sentences employing a verbal particle 이다 ida and an adjective 아니다 anida are suffixed with -rago in place of -dago for declarative ones.
내가 고기를 먹고 있다 (Nay ka koki lul mek.ko issta, naega gogireul meoggo issda) therefore means "I am eating meat."
The difference between this and the simple sentence 내가 고기를 먹는다 (nay ka koki lul meknun ta, naega gogileul meogneunda, "I eat meat") is similar to the difference in Spanish between "Estoy almorzando" and "Almuerzo," in that the compound form emphasizes the continuity of the action.
문이 열려 있다 (Mwuni yellye issta, mun-i yeollyeo issda, "the door has been opened") can be the example, although it would convey different meaning if the very syllable se were visible, 문이 열려서 있다 'because the door is opened, it exist', meaning of which is not clear, though.
In addition, the progressive aspect can be expressed using -고 있다 -go itda and -ㄴ/는 중이다 -(neu)n jung-ida forms for procedural verbs.
For instance: 많이들mani-deulmanidɯla lot-ADV-PL먹다가들meokdaga-deulmʌk̚taɡadɯleat-and-PL가거라gageorakaɡʌɾago-IMP많이들 먹다가들 가거라mani-deul meokdaga-deul gageoramanidɯl mʌk̚taɡadɯl kaɡʌɾa{a lot-ADV-PL} {eat-and-PL} {go-IMP}'You guys eat well and go.
학생들이haksaengdeur-ihak̚sɛŋdɯɾistudent-PL-NOM풍선을pungseon-eulpʰuŋsʰʌnɯlballoon-ACC하나씩hana-ssikhanas͈ik̚one-each샀어요sass-eoyosʰas͈ʌjobuy-PRET-INT-POL학생들이 풍선을 하나씩 샀어요haksaengdeur-i pungseon-eul hana-ssik sass-eoyohak̚sɛŋdɯɾi pʰuŋsʰʌnɯl hanas͈ik̚ sʰas͈ʌjostudent-PL-NOM balloon-ACC one-each buy-PRET-INT-POL"The students bought a balloon each.