Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 4 - Intermediate Korean #1 (Lessons 91 to 120) ᚛ Lesson 91 - Nominalization of Korean verbs #1 [-기]
Nominalization of Korean verbs #1 [-기]
Nominalizing a verb means turning an action verb into a noun so that it can be used as one in a sentence. In English, this is usually done with the "-ing" form (the gerund), with "to + verb" or with a corresponding noun, depending on the sentence.
- to read (verb) → reading / the act of reading (noun)
- to eat (verb) → eating / the act of eating (noun)
- to go (verb) → going / the act of going (noun)
Nominalization with -기
A verb can be nominalized with the suffix -기 in the following way:
[Stem]기
- 수영하다 (= to swim) → 수영하기 (= swimming)
- 먹다 (= to eat) → 먹기 (= eating)
- 읽다 (= to read) → 읽기 (= reading)
저는 수영하기를 좋아해요.
→ I like swimming.
한국어를 배우기가 어려워요.
→ Learning Korean is difficult.
영어로 신문 읽기 힘들어.
→ Reading the newspaper in English is tiring.
코로나바이러스가 빨리 사라지기를 기다리고 있습니다.
→ I am waiting for the coronavirus to disappear quickly. (Lit: I am waiting for the coronavirus's disappearing quickly.)
곧 만나기를 바라요.
→ I hope to see you soon.
지금 밥 먹기 싫어요.
→ I don't feel like eating now. (Lit: Eating now is unpleasant.)
Summary table of structure
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Exercises
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Podcasts in Korean specially designed for beginners, to learn Korean by really listening to it from the very beginning.
You’re starting to learn Korean (or you already know the basics), but as soon as you listen to spoken Korean, everything suddenly feels too fast?
The words blend together, the pronunciation escapes you, and you feel like “real Korean” is very different from what you learned in textbooks.
That’s normal!
Listening comprehension is the most difficult part for all beginners.
