BAD WORDS in Korean

Today we’re getting bad to the bone. Whether you’re a Kpop fan, a Korean drama addict, or just plain interested in Korea, you gotta know today’s featured word because you’ll see it over and over and over again: 나쁘다 (na-bbeu-da). 나쁘다 (nadbbeuda) means bad and poor. Poor as in low quality. Here are some phrases using 나쁘다:

Note: The following phrases are informal, so use them towards those your age or younger.

기분 진짜 나쁘다. 넌 어때?
Giboon jinjja nabbeudah. Nun uhddae?
I’m in a really bad mood. How about you?

나쁘다 너… 정말 못됐어.
Nabbeudah nuh… Jungmal motdwaessuh.
You’re bad… You’re really mean.

저 남자 성격 진짜 나쁘다.
Juh namja sunggyuk jinjja nabbeudah.
That man has a very bad personality.

---

나쁘다 can be conjugated into 나쁜. Then you can place a noun after it. For example:

나쁜 말 (nabbeun mal) = bad word
나쁜 남자 (nabbeun namja) = bad guy
나쁜 놈 (nabbeun nom) = bad guy, jerk, son of a gun
나쁜 피 (nabbeun pee) = bad blood (Hey, that's the name of Taylor Swift's song!)

Here are some Korean movie titles using 나쁜:
나쁜놈은 죽는다 (nabbeun nomeun jukneunda) = Bad Guys Always Die
나쁜 사랑 (nabbeun sarang) = Bad Love
나쁜 나라 (nabbeun nara) = Bad Nation, aka: Cruel State
나쁜 이웃들 (nabbeun eootdeul) = Bad Neighbors. This one's an American flick!
나쁜 교육 (nabbeun gyoyuk) = Bad Education. A Spanish film!

---

Onto some Korean drama-ish phrases using 나쁜. You can also use them in real life. No one’s stopping you.

넌 정말 나쁜 놈이야. 알아?
Nun jungmal nabbeun nomeya. Ara?
You’re a really bad guy. Do you know that?

아 참나... 왜 자꾸 나쁜 일만 생기지?
Ah chamna… Wae jaggoo nabbeun ilman senggiji?
What the heck… Why do only bad things keep happening?

나쁜 말 또하면 맴매한다.
Nabbeun mal ddohamyun memmaehandah.
If you say bad words again, I’m going to spank you.

나쁜 기억 다 지워버려.
Nabbeun giyuk dah jiwoburyuh.
Erase all the bad memories.

야, 넌 입 열 때마다 왜 나쁜 말만 나와?
Ya, nun eep yul ddaemada wae nabbeun malman nawa?
Hey, how come every time you open your mouth, only bad words come out?

나쁜 소식 들어서 입맛이 떨어졌어.
Nabbeun soshik deuluhsuh eepmatshi dduluhjyeossuh.
I lost my appetite after hearing the bad news.

---

나쁘다 has many other conjugations. Here are some examples:

미안해, 기분 나쁘게 해서.
Mianhae, giboon nabbeugye haesuh.
I’m sorry for putting you in a bad mood.

영화 어땠어? 좋았어? 나빴어?
Younghwa uhddessuh? Joassuh? Nabbassuh?
How was the movie? Was it good? Was it bad?

나빴어. 우리 같이 간다고 그랬잖아.
Nabbassuh. Oori gatchi gandago geuretjanah. You’re bad.
You said we would go together.

사장님 앞에선 조심해 기분 나빠도.
Sajangnim apaesun joshimhae giboon nabbado.
Be careful in front of the boss, even if you’re in a bad mood.

---

So we learned about the bad. what about the good? The opposite of bad is 좋다 (jota). You can use it to describe anything, whether it’s a person or non-living object. Just like how we use “good” in English.

오늘 날씨 좋다.
Oneul nalsshi jota.
The weather is good today.

운동해서 그런지 기분이 좋다.
Oondonghaesuh geurunji gibooni jota.
Maybe it’s because I exercised, but I feel good.

이 차 좋다.
Ee cha jota.
This car is good.

That is a wrap for this week's lesson. Tune in next week on my YouTube channel to learn more about Korea!

Why Koreans say GUCCI all the time

Viewers and friends have asked me many times before: why do Koreans say "gucci" so much? Are they talking about fashion or am I mistaking it for something else?

Sometimes they are talking about Gucci the brand. Most of the time, they are saying 그치 (geuchi). 그치 means “isn’t it?” and “right?” 그치 is an agreeing expression. It can be used a both a statement and a question.

Question: 그치? Right?
Statement: 그치! Right!

For the fashionistas out there, the Korean way of saying Gucci the brand is 구찌 (goo-jjee). “Right?" and "Isn’t it” is 그치 (geuchi). 구찌 (goo-jjee) and 그치 (geu-chi) may sound similar, but knowing how to pronounce the subtle differences make a huge impact.

Here’s an example using both 구찌 and 그치:

네 가방… 구찌지, 그치?
Ne gabang… goojjeeji, geuchi?
Your bag… It’s Gucci, right?

그치, 난 구찌만 사.
Geuchi, nan goojjeeman sa.
Right, I only buy Gucci.

---

When I lived in LA for seven years, a lot of girls and guys would say, “RIGHTTT~~~?” It didn’t matter if they were a stranger or a friend. If I said something was cute or delicious, they would reply in agreement… RIGHT~? You can think of 그치 (geuchi) as the Korean version of "Right~?" Except in my experience, "Right~?" tends to be used by young people and 그치 (geuchi) is used by all ages.

CONVERSATION AT THE RESTAURANT:
와~ 이 갈비 진짜 맛있다!
Wah~ E galbi jinjja masshitda!
Oh gawd, these short ribs are super delicious!

그치? 많이 먹자!
Geuchi? Mani mukja!
Right? Isn’t it? Let’s eat tons!

---

CONVERSATION WITH FANGIRLS:
태양 노래 진짜 잘 불러.
Taeyang norae jinjja jal boolluh.
Taeyang is really good at singing.

그치? 어제 홍대에서 봤어.
Geuchi? Uhjae hongdae-aesuh bwassuh.
Right? Isn’t he? I saw him at Hongdae yesterday.

---

CONVERSATION WITH GRANDMA:
Grandma: 어느 색이 나? 이거 아니면 이거?
Uhneu segi na? Eguh animyun eguh?
Which color is better? This one or this one?

Girl: 파란게 더 잘 어울려요, 할머니.
Parangeh duh jal uhoollyuyo, halmuhni.
The blue one fits you more, Grandma.

Grandma: 그치? 나도 그 생각 했어.
Geuchi? Nado geu senggak haessuh.
Right? I was thinking that, too.

---

그치 (geuchi) is informal. The FORMAL way of saying it is 그쵸 (geuchyo). Use 그치 (geuchi) towards friends and those younger than you. 그쵸 (geuchyo) is used towards your elders and in situations you’d like to be formal.

오늘 날씨 좋아요, 그쵸?
Uneul nalsshi joayo, geuchyo?
The weather is great today, right?

제가 만들었지만, 이 잡채 참 맛있어요. 그쵸?
Jega mandeulutjiman, e japchae cham masshissuhyo, geuchyo?
I know I’m the one who made it, but this japchae is pretty delicious. Right?

그쵸. 누구 한테서 배우셨는데요?
Geuchyo, nugu hantaesuh bae-oohshyutneundeyo?
Right. Who’s the one who taught you?

그치 (geuchi) and 그쵸 (geuchyo) are shortened versions of 그렇지 (geu-ruh-chi) and 그렇죠 (geu-ruh-chyo). 그치 and 그쵸 are used often in spoken form. 그렇지 and 그렇죠 are more proper and seen in books. When text messaging, Koreans often use the shorter versions as it is faster to type and gets the point across. It’s like saying SEE YA or CU, instead of “I’ll see you later.”

Hope you enjoyed learning the subtle yet important differences of Gucci and Geuchi. See you next week on my YouTube channel for more on Korea!

How to Type in Korean

In this week's lesson, we learn how to type in Korean. For the full details with entertaining animations, watch the lesson above!

Say hello to the Korean keyboard:

It took me awhile to create these images from scratch. Hope you like it! :)

Here's the Korean keyboard on a QWERTY keyboard:

Here's the Korean keyboard with Romanization:

Question is: how does one memorize all these characters? There is logic behind where they are placed.

First off, the 14 Korean consonants are on the left:

The five DOUBLE consonants are on the top row:

To type a double consonant, you either hold SHIFT and tap on the B, J, D, G or S consonant. You can also tap on one of these consonants twice.

The bottom row is made up of ASPIRATED consonants:

Aspirated consonants are pronounced with a burst of air coming out of your mouth. In English, the aspirated consonants are K, T, and P. If you put your hand in front of your mouth and say these letters, you’ll feel a pop of air hit your palm. K, T, and P are also aspirated consonants in the Korean language.

All the VOWELS are on the right:

All these are BASIC vowels, except for the two in the top right corner. The ㅐ and ㅔ are COMBO vowels (also known as Diphthongs):

Where are these diphthongs (combo vowels)? ㅢ, ㅚ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅟ, ㅝ, ㅞ? Each of these combo vowels are made of two basic vowels. For example:

To create ㅢ, press ㅡ (eu) first. Then hit ㅣ (ee).

How to create all the diphthongs (combo vowels):

• ㅢ = ㅡ +ㅣ
• ㅚ = ㅗ +ㅣ
• ㅘ = ㅗ + ㅓ
• ㅙ = ㅗ + ㅐ
• ㅟ = ㅜ + ㅣ
• ㅝ = ㅜ + ㅓ
• ㅞ = ㅜ + ㅔ

Let's try typing a word. What's the step-by-step process for writing 새 (sae)? 새 means "bird" in Korean.

Step 1: press the S consonant (ㅅ).

Step 2: press the AE vowel (ㅐ).

To learn how to type words with double consonants and more, be sure to check out my lesson from 3:20.

---

Some questions that may arise:

1. Should you trust Auto Correct when typing in Korean? I answer that by asking another question: do you trust Auto Correct when typing in English? Auto Correct can be helpful sometimes, but other times, it has a mind of its own!
    
2. Can you just use a online keyboard that turns Romanizations into Korean? No one's stopping you, however I highly recommend learning the Korean keyboard instead of depending on technology translating Romanizations into Korean for you. It might take time to learn the Korean keyboard in the beginning, but once you master it, you'll be gaining a very useful skill! Learning how to type Korean directly will become much faster than online Romanization keyboards.

Hope you found this week's lesson fun and useful! Tune in next Wednesday on my YouTube channel for another round of KWOW :)