How to Use New Grammar and Make Sentences

Hi guys! Today, we’re gonna see how you can study new grammar point, but also make new sentences with that grammar point you’ve just learned.

Making sentences with a freshly learned grammar point in Korean is really not easy. Sometimes, we end up with a grammar point we can understand, but can’t use. The method I’ll tell you about will definitely help you get to USE the grammar points you learn. It’s a method I’ve used a lot and still use whenever I’m not sure about the grammar point I’m trying to use – it will help you using it at the beginning, and you will get more and more comfortable with it as time goes by.

If you don’t know any grammar points yet, and don’t know how to start studying, please check this article first ! You can come to this one later on in your study journey.

Also, I will use 한글 in this article, without any romanization. If you’re willing to learn the Korean alphabet, I kindly suggest you to do so by going here!

The tip is to have a sample sentence at hand.

Sample sentence

The sample sentence is just a sentence given by your textbook, related to the grammar point you’re learning.

Let’s take an easy example :

This sentence uses the grammar point “을 수 있다”, to be able to.

Replace words

In this case and since the grammar point selected is pretty easy, there is not much to change. But you can easily change the object of the sentence to make a whole new one, and adapt it to your needs:

"저는 한국어를 할 수 있어요." I can (speak) Korean

So, this is the simple method of replacing words in sample sentences, showcased in the easiest way possible. Now, you can make it very difficult, and turn your sample sentence in a non recognizable one. Completely new yet grammatically correct!

Sample sentence :

아이스크림를 사러 슈퍼에 갔어요
I went to the supermarket to buy icecream

Let’s change it !

-> 친구를 만나러 공원에 갔어요
I went to the park to meet my friend

-> 어제 친구를 만나러 공원에 갔어요
I went to the park to meet my friend yesterday

Then, you can link it to other grammar points you’ve been learning:

-> 어제 숙제 끝나고 나서 친구를 만나러 공원에 갔어요
Yesterday after finishing my homewords I went to the park to meet my friend

Basically, once you start doing this, you can tweak it the way you want to !
It’s super easy and somehow entertaining to do that. And of course, if you remain unsure about your sentence, you can always ask Korean friends to check them and see if they’re correct.

It makes a great exercise for you to try making your own sentences. It’s better to do that than using Papago or Google Translate and then trying to understand the sentence they’re giving you, I promise!

You’ll get comfortable with the grammar points in no time with this little trick.