Log In
Log In
Led by Magister Simulacrum
The third unit of the GCSE Korean. The dynamic core of Korean grammar — verb stems, polite/plain/formal registers, the three-tense system, the four-way negation, the six core connective endings, and the auxiliary-verb constructions that make written Korean read as natural. Five modules. Text-only by design — reading and writing only.
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Led by Magister Simulacrum
The question
Magister opens with the architectural fact that distinguishes Korean from English: Korean verbs are built as stem + suffix-stack. Drop the -다 from the dictionary form to get the stem; add -아/어요 with the appropriate vowel allomorphy to get the polite present (가다 → 가요, 먹다 → 먹어요, 공부하다 → 공부해요). The vowel contractions that produce the surface spelling (가아요 → 가요, 보아요 → 봐요, 마시어요 → 마셔요) are made visible on the page. Korean morphology does not distinguish between "verbs" and "adjectives": 작다 (to be small) conjugates exactly like 먹다. The student also meets the three registers — polite, plain, formal — that every Korean verb must choose between.
Outcome
The student can take any Korean dictionary-form verb and produce in writing the stem and polite-present form, can distinguish action and descriptive verbs by their morphological behaviour, and can choose register appropriately for context.
Sub-units
Led by Magister Simulacrum
The question
A Korean verb carries time in a single morpheme. Past is -았/었-. Future is -ㄹ/을 거예요 (expectation) or -겠- (intention). Present is the bare polite-present form. The progressive -고 있다 carries the English "is —ing" sense. The vowel contractions that produce past-tense forms (가았어요 → 갔어요, 보았어요 → 봤어요) follow the same logic the student met in Module 1. By the end of this module the student can describe in writing what happened yesterday, what is happening now, and what will happen tomorrow — the basic temporal scaffolding of any Korean composition.
Outcome
The student can produce in writing the past, present, and future of any regular Korean verb, distinguish -겠- (intention) from -ㄹ/을 거예요 (expectation), and write a connected paragraph moving between tenses.
Sub-units
Led by Magister Simulacrum
The question
Korean has two-dimensional negation: short versus long, volitional versus impossible. 안 먹어요 (don't / won't eat) versus 못 먹어요 (can't eat) versus 먹지 않아요 (long volitional, formal/written) versus 먹지 못해요 (long impossible). The 하다-compound exception requires the negator to split the compound (공부 안 해요, not *안 공부해요). Descriptive verbs prefer long negation (작지 않아요, not the awkward *안 작아요). The student learns when each form is required and writes them all correctly across past, present, and future tenses.
Outcome
The student can produce all four negation forms in writing, choose the correct type for context, handle the 하다-compound split, and negate across past, present, and future tenses.
Sub-units
Led by Magister Simulacrum
The question
Six connective endings let the student write paragraphs that read as connected Korean prose rather than as a list of isolated sentences. -고 (and). -지만 (but). -아서/어서 (so / because — objective cause). -니까 (since / because — speaker's reasoning, used in commands and propositives where -아서/어서 is ungrammatical). -면 (if / when). -는데 (and-by-the-way / soft contrast). The student also meets the concessive -아도/어도 (even if). The choice of connective is a discourse decision and the student learns to make it on the page.
Outcome
The student can produce each of the six core connective endings in writing, choose the correct one for context, and write a connected paragraph of at least 100 Korean words using at least four different connectives.
Sub-units
Led by Magister Simulacrum
The question
Korean auxiliaries attach to the connective form of a main verb and add aspect, modality, or evaluative meaning. -아/어 보다 (try). -아/어 본 적이 있다/없다 (have ever / never done). -아/어 주다 (do for someone — benefactive) with humble variant -아/어 드리다. -고 있다 (progressive). -아/어 있다 (resultative state). -아/어 버리다 (do completely, often regretfully). Six auxiliaries cover most of the aspect and modality the student will meet on the page. By the end of the module the student reads Korean prose recognising auxiliaries and writes Korean using them appropriately.
Outcome
The student can produce each major auxiliary construction in writing, distinguish progressive from resultative aspect, recognise auxiliaries in authentic written Korean, and write a connected paragraph using at least three different auxiliary constructions.
Sub-units