Day 4: Introducing yourself
Your first real sentence pattern, and it breaks two English habits at once.
① The verb goes at the END. Not sometimes — always, in every Korean sentence you will ever say. ② There is no verb "to be". Am / is / are is a suffix glued onto the noun, not a separate word.
저는 학생이에요. — literally I-as-for student-am.
1. ★★ Korean is verb-final
### English: Subject – Verb – Object. Korean: Subject – Object – VERB.
| English | Korean, word by word |
|---|---|
| I am a student | 저는 학생이에요 — I student-am |
| I drink coffee | 저는 커피를 마셔요 — I coffee drink |
| I eat rice | 저는 밥을 먹어요 — I rice eat |
★ The verb is always the last thing in the sentence. Everything else — subject, object, time, place — piles up in front of it in fairly free order, because particles (Days 5 and 11) mark what each piece is doing.
⚠️ This means you must plan the sentence before you start it, which feels uncomfortable for about a week. The upside arrives quickly: once the verb is the only fixed point, the rest can move around freely — Korean has far more word-order freedom than English does.
★ If you have studied German: you have already met this with weil clauses and modals. Korean does it in every sentence, with no exceptions to remember.
2. ★★ 이에요 / 예요 — "am, is, are"
There is no separate verb. You attach an ending to the noun.
### Noun ends in a batchim → 이에요 · Noun ends in a vowel → 예요
| Noun | Ends in | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 학생 (student) | batchim ㅇ | 학생이에요 |
| 선생님 (teacher) | batchim ㅁ | 선생님이에요 |
| 사람 (person) | batchim ㅁ | 사람이에요 |
| 의사 (doctor) | vowel | 의사예요 |
| 가수 (singer) | vowel | 가수예요 |
| 알렉스 | vowel | 알렉스예요 |
★ The reason is 연음 from Day 2. 학생 + 이에요 runs together as [학생이에요] and the batchim slides into the 이. After a vowel there is nothing to slide, so the 이 drops out. The rule is not arbitrary — it is a pronunciation rule wearing a spelling costume.
⚠️ Same rise at the end makes it a question. 학생이에요. = "I'm a student." 학생이에요? = "Are you a student?" No word order change, no extra word.
And the negative: 아니에요
| 저는 학생이 아니에요. | I'm not a student |
|---|---|
| 저는 의사가 아니에요. | I'm not a doctor |
⚠️ The negative takes 이/가 in front of it — batchim → 이, vowel → 가. (That is the subject particle, and Day 5 is entirely about it. Today, copy the pattern.)
3. 저는 — and the two words for "I"
| 저 | I, me | ★ humble — use this with 해요체, always |
|---|---|---|
| 나 | I, me | casual — with 반말, among close friends |
저 + 는 = 저는 — "as for me". This is your sentence opener.
⚠️ And then stop using it. Korean drops the subject as soon as it is obvious:
| 저는 학생이에요. | I'm a student (first mention) |
|---|---|
| 학생이에요? | Are you a student? — no subject at all |
| 네, 학생이에요. | Yes, I'm a student — no subject at all |
★ English speakers over-use 저는 for months. Saying it in every sentence sounds like you are insisting on yourself. Say it once, then drop it. Korean is not being vague — context carries it perfectly.
4. Where you're from, and what you do
Countries + 사람
★ Nationality is a compound: country + 사람 (person). No new words to learn.
| 미국 | USA | 미국 사람 |
|---|---|---|
| 영국 | UK | 영국 사람 |
| 캐나다 | Canada | 캐나다 사람 |
| 호주 | Australia | 호주 사람 |
| 한국 | Korea | 한국 사람 |
| 일본 / 중국 | Japan / China | 일본 사람 |
| 독일 / 프랑스 | Germany / France | 독일 사람 |
저는 미국 사람이에요. — I'm American.어디에서 왔어요? — Where are you from? · 미국에서 왔어요. — I'm from the US.
Jobs
| 학생 | student | 회사원 | office worker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 선생님 | teacher | 의사 | doctor | |
| 간호사 | nurse | 요리사 | cook | |
| 개발자 | developer | 디자이너 | designer | |
| 주부 | homemaker | 대학생 | university student |
무슨 일 하세요? — What do you do? · 저는 회사원이에요.
The core questions
| 이름이 뭐예요? | What's your name? |
|---|---|
| 어디에서 왔어요? | Where are you from? |
| 무슨 일 하세요? | What do you do? |
| 만나서 반가워요. | Nice to meet you |
5. ⚠️★ Why Koreans ask your age immediately
You will be asked your age within minutes of meeting someone. To an English speaker this feels intrusive. In Korean it is a structural necessity.
★ Age decides which speech level you use with each other, and what you call each other. Until it is settled, neither person knows how to talk to the other. The question is not nosiness — it is the two of you agreeing on grammar.
| 나이가 어떻게 되세요? | How old are you? (polite) |
|---|---|
| 몇 살이에요? | How old are you? (casual) |
| 스물다섯 살이에요. | I'm 25 |
⚠️ Age uses the native Korean number system + 살, which is Day 8. For today, learn your own age as one memorised phrase and move on.
Once age is established, older people become 형/오빠 (older brother, said by a man/woman) and 누나/언니 (older sister, said by a man/woman) — even for friends and colleagues, not just relatives.
★ Answer the age question straightforwardly. Deflecting it reads as evasive, and it leaves the other person without the information they need to speak to you.
6. Dialogue
민수: 안녕하세요. 이름이 뭐예요?Alex: 안녕하세요. 저는 알렉스예요.민수: 반가워요, 알렉스 씨. 저는 김민수예요.Alex: 만나서 반가워요. 어디에서 왔어요?민수: 저는 한국 사람이에요. 서울에서 왔어요. 알렉스 씨는요?Alex: 저는 캐나다 사람이에요.민수: 무슨 일 하세요?Alex: 학생이에요. 민수 씨는 회사원이에요?민수: 아니요, 회사원이 아니에요. 개발자예요.Alex: 아, 네!민수: 나이가 어떻게 되세요?Alex: 스물다섯 살이에요.
★ Four things worth noticing.① 김민수 — family name first. 김 is the surname, 민수 the given name.② 알렉스 씨는요? — ★ "and you?" Attach -는요? to a name or topic and you have bounced the question back. Enormously useful; learn it now.③ After the first line, the subject vanishes — 학생이에요, 개발자예요.④ 회사원이 아니에요 — the negative takes 이/가, exactly as in §2.
7. Exercises
A. 이에요 or 예요?
- 학생___ 2. 의사___ 3. 선생님___ 4. 가수___ 5. 미국 사람___ 6. 개발자___
B. Build the sentence.
- I'm a student. 2. I'm a doctor. 3. I'm American. 4. I'm Korean. 5. I'm a developer.
C. Make it negative.
- 저는 학생이에요. → 2. 저는 의사예요. → 3. 저는 한국 사람이에요. →
D. ★ Put the words in Korean order.
- I / coffee / drink 2. I / student / am 3. I / rice / eat
E. Answer about yourself, out loud.
- 이름이 뭐예요? 2. 어디에서 왔어요? 3. 무슨 일 하세요? 4. 나이가 어떻게 되세요?
F. What do you say?
- Nice to meet you. 2. And you? (bouncing a question back)
- Where are you from? 4. What do you do?
G. ⚠️ Fix the mistake.
- 저는 의사이에요.
- 저는 학생 아니에요.
- 저는 마셔요 커피를.
- 저는 학생이에요. 저는 미국 사람이에요. 저는 스물다섯 살이에요.
- (to a new colleague) 나는 알렉스예요.
Answers
A. 1. 이에요 2. 예요 3. 이에요 4. 예요 5. 이에요 6. 예요 B. 1. 저는 학생이에요. 2. 저는 의사예요. 3. 저는 미국 사람이에요. 4. 저는 한국 사람이에요. 5. 저는 개발자예요. C. 1. 저는 학생이 아니에요. 2. 저는 의사가 아니에요. 3. 저는 한국 사람이 아니에요. D. 1. 저는 커피를 마셔요. 2. 저는 학생이에요. 3. 저는 밥을 먹어요. — verb last, every time E. (your own answers — say them out loud, not in your head) F. 1. 만나서 반가워요. 2. -는요? — e.g. 알렉스 씨는요? 3. 어디에서 왔어요? 4. 무슨 일 하세요? G. 1. 의사예요 (vowel ending) 2. 학생이 아니에요 (needs 이) 3. 저는 커피를 마셔요 — verb last 4. Drop the repeated 저는 — say it once 5. 저는 — 나는 is too casual for a new colleague
8. Today's 10 sentences (flashcards)
- 이름이 뭐예요? — What's your name?
- 저는 알렉스예요. — I'm Alex
- 만나서 반가워요. — Nice to meet you
- 어디에서 왔어요? — Where are you from?
- 저는 미국 사람이에요. — I'm American
- 무슨 일 하세요? — What do you do?
- 저는 학생이에요. — I'm a student
- 저는 회사원이 아니에요. — I'm not an office worker
- 알렉스 씨는요? — And you, Alex?
- 나이가 어떻게 되세요? — How old are you?
9. 📲 Upload to LangNote
Upload section 6 (the dialogue) rewritten with your own answers, plus section 8 → study language Korean.
| Mission | What to do with it today |
|---|---|
| 🎧 Podcast | Your own version — hearing your real facts in Korean sticks harder than drills |
| ✍️ Dictation | 이에요 / 예요 is one syllable of difference and it is unstressed |
| 🗣 Shadowing | Today's key mission. Your five self-introduction sentences as one unbroken block |
| 📖 Vocab | Jobs and countries — and your own job, country and age |
| ❓ Quiz | 이에요/예요, and the negative with 이/가 |
★ Write your own version of the dialogue tonight and keep it. Day 7 asks you to talk about yourself for a minute, and this is the skeleton of it.
⚠️ Tomorrow is 은/는 vs 이/가 — the hardest thing in beginner Korean, and the one English gives you no instinct for at all.
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