In this series, we focus on how you can use the grammatical rules and expressions that you have learned so far to train yourself to make more Korean sentences more comfortably and more flexibly.

We will start off with THREE key sentences, and practice changing parts of these sentences so that you don’t end up just memorizing the same three sentences. We want you to be able to be as flexible as possible with the Korean sentences you can make.


Key Sentence #1
그 사람은 지금 음악 듣느라고, 아무리 불러 봤자 못 들어요.
[geu sa-ra-meun ji-geum eu-mak deut-neu-ra-go, a-mu-ri bul-leo bwat-ja mot deu-reo-yo.]
= He's listening to music now so no matter how much you try to call him, he can't hear you.

Key Sentence #2
뭐라고 말했길래 그 사람이 저를 모르는 척 해요?
[mwo-ra-go ma-raet-gil-lae geu sa-ra-mi jeo-reul mo-reu-neun cheok hae-yo?]
= What did you say to make him pretend not to know me?

Key Sentence #3
제가 말한 것처럼 했군요!
[je-ga ma-ran geot-cheo-reom haet-gun-yo!]
= You really did like I said!

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Expansion & variation practice with key sentence #1
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0. Original Sentence:
그 사람은 지금 음악 듣느라고, 아무리 불러 봤자 못 들어요.
= He's listening to music now so no matter how much you try to call him, he can't hear you.

1.
그 사람은 지금 음악 듣느라고 = he is listening to music now so,
저 지금 전화 받느라고 = I'm talking on the phone now so,
아까 텔레비전 보느라고 = I was watching TV earlier so,
시험 공부 하느라고 = I was studying for an exam so,

2.
아무리 불러 봤자 못 들어요 = no matter how hard you try to call him, he can't hear you
아무리 노력해 봤자 안 돼요 = no matter how much effort you make, you can't do it
아무리 걱정해 봤자 소용 없어요 = no matter how much you worry, it's of no use
아무리 서둘러 봤자 이미 늦었어요 = no matter how much we hurry up, we are already late

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Expansion & variation practice with key sentence #2
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0. Original Sentence:
뭐라고 말했길래 그 사람이 저를 모르는 척 해요?
= What did you say to make him pretend not to know me?

1.
뭐라고 말했길래 = what did you say to …
아침에 비가 오길래 = I saw that it was raining in the morning so …
집에 우유가 없길래 = I found that there was no milk at home so …
조용하길래 = I realized that it was quiet so …

2.
그 사람이 저를 모르는 척 해요 = he pretends not to know me
저랑 친한 적 하지 마세요 = Don't pretend you are close friends with me
그냥 바쁜 척 했어요 = I just pretended I was busy
걱정 없는 척 했어요 = I pretended I wasn't worried 

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Expansion & variation practice with key sentence #3
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0. Original Sentence:
제가 말한 것처럼 했군요!
= You really did like I said!

1.
제가 말한 것처럼 = like (what) I said
우리 어제 이야기한 것처럼 = like we discussed yesterday
영화 배우처럼 = like a movie actor
처음처럼 = like the beginning

2.
했군요 = I see that you did it!
그랬군요 = I see THAT is what happened
한국에 오래 살았군요 = I see that you've lived in Korea for a long time
이게 제일 좋은 거군요 = I see that this is the best one