A Juicy Lesson in Korean: #5 - Answers

Okay, so it's been awhile and the last lesson wasn't something that you could really use without getting a beating (or at least some flabbergasted looks of horror).

Here's a quick lesson on answering questions.

A) Yes. - 예 or 네

예 - Yeh.
네 - Neh.

Both are "yes". It doesn't matter which one you use. Don't think that just because one sounds like "Nea", it's a negative.


B) No. - 아니요

Ah-ni-yo.

Shortened form: 아뇨 (Ah-nyo)

This is pretty self-explanatory. It gets confusing when you're answering negative questions.
Example in English:
Question --> "Didn't John go to school today?"
Answer --> "No." (he didn't go to school today)
or "Yes." (he did go to school today)

But in Korean, instead of answering to match the negative or positive of the person's actions, you respond to the question itself.
Example in Korean:
Question --> "Didn't John go to school today?"
Answer --> "No." (you are incorrect; he did go to school today)
or "Yes." (you are correct; he didn't go to school today)


C) I don't know. - 몰라요.

Mol-lah-yo.
The two "l"s should connect the first two syllables so that it sounds like "mollah"

As in English, it's not very polite to answer a question with "I don't know." Imagine if you asked someone where the train station was and the person said, "I don't know" and walked away. So it's better to use D).


D) Well, I'm not sure. - 글쎄요.

Gul-sseh-yo.
Gul = soft k sound

This is a more polite (and less direct) way of telling a person that you don't know the answer to their question.

Ahhh! Four posts in a day! I took some pictures around campus last week. The weather was beautiful. Keep clicking to the right or view as a slideshow!