Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 5 - Intermediate Korean #2 (Lessons 121 to 150) ᚛ Lesson 143 - "About", regarding in Korean [-에 대해(서)] [-에 대한] [-에 관해(서)] [-에 관한]
"About", regarding in Korean [-에 대해(서)] [-에 대한] [-에 관해(서)] [-에 관한]
In this lesson, we are going to study the verbs 대하다 and 관하다, which are used, among other things, to form the expression "about". In this usage, these verbs are coupled with the particle 에 and generally take as their ending the -아/어서 structure or the adjectival form.
Doing an action about something
In Korean, to express the fact that one does an action about something, the following structure is commonly used:
[Noun]에 대해(서) [Action]
In this structure, the suffix -서 is optional.
- 미래에 대해(서) = about the future
- 그 문제에 대해(서) = about that problem
- 수학에 대해(서) = about math
- …
한국에 대해 잘 아시네요.
→ Oh, you know a lot about Korea.
역사에 대해 공부했어요.
→ I studied history. (Lit: I studied about history)
재현이는 나에게 한 실수에 대해 사과하지 않았어.
→ Jaehyeon didn’t apologize to me about the mistake he made.
그 토론 주제에 대해서 아무도 반대하지 않았어요.
→ Nobody objected to the topic of that debate.
어제 본 영화에 대해 이야기해 줘.
→ Tell me about the movie you saw yesterday, please.
Note that, in most cases, the -에 대해(서) structure and the object particle 을/를 can be interchanged.
미래에 대해 어떻게 생각해?
미래를 어떻게 생각해?
→ What do you think about the future? / What do you think of the future?
역사에 대해 공부했어요.
역사를 공부했어요.
→ I studied history.
The meaning is similar, but using -에 대해 instead of the object particle is slightly more formal, showing a command of more advanced vocabulary.
Something about
Learn more
Other forms
Learn more
Exercises
Learn more
Particles are omnipresent in Korean. They indicate the role of words in a sentence, nuance meaning, and make it possible to understand who does what, where, how, and why.
Particles are also often the aspect that causes the most difficulty for Korean learners. In grammar books, they are usually presented in the middle of long sentences, with complex vocabulary, without being clearly highlighted.
With Korean Particles, we made the opposite choice:
taking the time to explain each particle, one by one, using very simple sentences, accessible even to beginners.
