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Absolute Beginner S1
It's Impossible to Study Korean with All That Noise!

11 Korean Hangul
Romanization
English
Vocabulary
2
2
2
2
Grammar Points 3
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Korean Hangul
예린 외국 사람이에요?
빌리 죄송합니다. 한국말 잘 못해요.
예린 외국 사람이네요!
빌리 죄송합니다. 한국말 잘 못해요.

Romanization
yerin woeguksaramieyo?
billi joesonghamnida. hangukmal jal mothaeyo.
yerin yerin
billi joesonghamnida. hangukmal jal mothaeyo.

English
Yerin Are you a foreigner?
Billy Sorry. I don't speak Korean well.
Yerin You are a foreigner!
Billy Sorry. I don't speak Korean well.
2
Vocabulary
Hangul Romanization English
외국 사람 oeguk saram foreigner
죄송합니다 joe-song-hamnida I'm sorry.
한국말 hangukmal Korean
잘 못해요 jal mothaeyo not very good (at)

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

외국 사람입니다. "I'm a foreigner."
늦어서 죄송합니다. "Sorry for being late."
한국말 안 어려워요. "Korean is not difficult."

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그 배우는 연기를 잘 못해요. "That actor is bad at acting."

Grammar Points
The Focus of This Lesson Is the Phrase 잘 못해요.
한국말 잘 못해요.
"I don't speak Korean well."

잘 못해요 (jal mothaeyo) is a phrase that we use to express a person's lack of adequate
ability. We can translate this phrase as "not very good at." 잘 못해요 (jal mot haeyo) is in the
standard politeness level. It is polite and conversational.

Examples

From this Dialogue:

1. 죄송합니다. 한국말 잘 못해요.

joesonghamnida. hangugmal jal mothaeyo.
"Sorry. I don't speak Korean well."
3
Other Useful Examples:
This lesson's dialogue focuses on only one such example: 한국말 잘 못해요 (hangugmal jal
mothaeyo), which means "I can't speak Korean well."

Below is a list of a few more examples that you may find useful.

For Example:

1. 운전 잘 못해요.
unjeon jal mothaeyo.
"I'm not good at driving."
2. 공부 잫 못해요.
gongbu jal mothaeyo.

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"I'm not a very good student." (Literally, "I'm not good at studying.")
- 술 잘 못 마셔요.
sul jal mot masyeoyo.
"I have low tolerance." (Literally, "I'm not good at drinking.")
- 컴퓨터 잘 못해요.
keompyuteo jal mothaeyo.
"I'm not good with computers."
- 스포츠 잘 못해요.
seupocheu jal mot haeyo.
"I'm not good at sports."

Note: Alternatively, you can express that you are "good at something" by simply using 잘 (jal)
instead of 잘 못 (jal mot). Or you can express a stronger inability by using 못 (mot), instead of
잘 못 (jal mot). See the explanation below.

Other Formations

We can break down잘 못해요 (jal mothaeyo) into two different grammatical elements. 잘 (jal)
is an adverb that expresses adequate ability. We can translate this as "well" in English. See
below for examples.

4 For Example:

1. 한국말 잘 합니다.
hangugmal jal hamnida.
"I speak Korean well."
2. 주희는 태권도 잘 해요.
juhuineun taekwondo jal haeyo.
"Juhui is good at taekwondo."

The second grammatical element is 못 (mot), which we use to express impossibility, inability,
strong denial, or strong refusal. We translate it as "impossible" or "can't" in English.

For Example:

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영어 못해요.
yeongeo mot haeyo.
"I can't speak English."
- 운전 못해요.
unjeon mot haeyo.
"I can't drive."

LC: ABS_S1L11_031510 www.KoreanClass101.com - All Rights Reserved 2010-03-15