안녕하세요! Today I'll show you pretty easy but useful Korean grammar. You'll learn how to say "go to a place and do V," like "I went to the store and bought some clothes," or "I went to the theatre and watched a movie."
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1. N에 가서 V Grammar
The grammar you'll learn today is called "N에 가서 V." Let me divide 에 and 가서 to explain it to you better!
N에
에 is one of the basic markers you learn from the Korean beginner lessons. It can be either the time marker or the place marker. In this grammar, we will attach this 에 to a place noun to show the destination.
가서 V
가서 came from the verb 가다 which means to go. It is attached with 아서 in this grammar. This 아서 is a connective ending that indicates a temporal order, the sequence of events.
After 가서, you'll add a verb to show what you "do", "did", or "will do" in that spot. So, you can translate this "가서 V" as "go and do V."
N에 가서 V
Let's put them together. With "에 가서," you can show someone does/did/will do something after arriving at the place. Take a look at the diagram below.
⚐ Little Tips...
If you studied my course, you might remember the connective ending 아서/어서/여서 that is used to show the reason (=because). The 아서 in this grammar has the same spelling but it is used in a different situation. (Just like 에 had two uses.) You'll learn the details of the time order 아서/어서/여서 in the next lesson.
2. Sentence Information
Tense
The tense of the sentence will reveal the verb that is located at the end. No matter what tense you use, 가서 part won't be changed.
Here are some examples. Take a look at how the last verb 마시다 changed in the different tenses but 가서 remains the same!
I go to a cafe and drink coffee. | |
I went to the cafe and drank coffee. | |
I'll go to a cafe and drink coffee. |
Subject/Topic
This sentence is meant to show a person goes to a place and does what. That means you have to use the same subject(person/people) for the first and second part of the sentence.
Usually, the subject part is obvious it is often omitted. Still, even if it is omitted, it is implied in the sentences. Compare these two examples below.
(O) 저는 식당에 가서 밥을 먹어요. I went to the restaurant and ate.
(X) 저는 식당에 가서 젠이 밥을 먹어요. I went to the restauarnt and Jen ate.
The second example is wrong because the first part is about 저(I) but the second part is about 젠(Jen). You must match the subject or topic of the sentence!
3. Examples
It wasn't difficult grammar, right? Here are some more examples to help your understanding!
1
I go to the sea and swim. |
This sentence is in the present tense; 수영을 해요. The basic form is 수영을 하다 which means to swim. 바다 means a sea.
2
I went to the store and bought some milk. |
This sentence is in the past tense; 샀어요. The basic form is 사다 (to buy). 슈퍼 came from the word supermarket. However, in Korean, it usually refers to a medium(small) size grocery store. If you want to learn various place nouns in Korean, please click here to check out my related post!
3
I went to the store and bought some milk. |
This sentence is in the future tense; 놀 거예요. The original verb is 놀다 which means to play. As you see, the playground in Korean is 놀이터. It also has the word "놀" like play, just like the English word "playground" also has "play" in it. Isn't it interesting?
4
Did you go to the playground and play? |
Of course, you can use this grammar in the question! You just need to worry about the intonation. The question tone rises at the end.
5
Go to your room and study! |
Here, I just wanted to show you a different sentence form. This time, it is a command using the command form (으)세요. To study is 공부를 하다, so we can say "공부를 하세요," to command.
6
Shall we go to the restaurant and eat? |
We can't forget the suggestive form! With the expression "(으)ㄹ 까요?" we can suggest the listener to do something together.
7
What did you do yesterday? | |
I went to the library and studied. |
You usually go somewhere to do something. So this 에 가서 grammar is commonly used in daily conversations!
4. Wrap-up & Worksheet
Let's review the lesson with the summary. After the lesson, download the free, printable PDF worksheet to practice the 에 가서 grammar!
"N에 가서 V" is a connective ending.
It shows what you do after arriving at a place.
You must match the subject of who goes and does what.
In the next lesson, you'll learn more details about the sequence of events "아서/어서/여서" grammar. That you attached to a verb 가다 today. If you liked my lesson, please subscribe to my website for lesson updates! Thank you for studying with My Korean Lesson! 감사합니다! 🙏