안녕하세요? Today, you'll learn about the progressive tense in Korean. In particular, I'll show you the informal present progressive form. At the end of class, you'll be able to say like "I'm studying Korean now," or "I'm eating breakfast."
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1. 고 있어요 Grammar
The Korean progressive tense is indicated by the ending(expression) "V고 있다". This ending denotes that a movement or action is ongoing.
Today, we will focus on the informal present progressive form. To do so, we have to check the last vowel! The stem of 있다 is 있. It has the vowel ㅣ. Since it is not either ㅏ or ㅗ, we'll need to use the regular rule number 3―adding "어요." So, 있다 becomes 있어요.
고 있어요 = am/are/is Ving
저는 책을 읽고 있어요. I'm reading a book.
2. Conjugation Information
Since 고 있어요 means the action is continuing, you can only attach it to a verb stem, not to an adjective stem! It is similar to the "be Ving" form in English. You can't make the progressive tense with an adjective!
고 있어요 is easy to conjugate! You can simply attach it directly to the verb stem. Here are some examples for you. It doesn't matter whether verbs were usually irregular ones or not!
먹다 to eat → 먹고 있어요.
가다 to go → 가고 있어요.
하다 to do → 하고 있어요.
만들다 to make → 만들고 있어요.
걷다 to walk → 걷고 있어요.
돕다 to help → 돕고 있어요.
짓다 to build → 짓고 있어요.
3. Sentence Information
Words
The adverb "지금" translates to "now." It is frequently combined with "고 있다" to highlight the "progressive" aspect.
저는 지금 책을 읽고 있어요. I'm reading a book now.
Comparison
You can mean the "progressive" meaning with the informal polite present tense(해요체). However, in that case, you have to guess whether it means "simple present" or "progressive present." But if you use the 고 있어요, you can definitely mean "progressive."
저는 커피를 마셔요.
→ This can mean "I drink coffee," or "I am drinking coffee." You have to guess which one it means by the context.
저는 지금 커피를 마셔요.
I'm drinking coffee now.
→ "지금" added the context. Now, it only means "I'm drinking."
저는 커피를 마시고 있어요.
I'm drinking coffee.
→ Thanks to the ending "고 있어요," we can easily tell it is a progressive sentence.
저는 지금 커피를 마시고 있어요.
I'm drinking coffee now.
→ Without "지금" we can still tell it is a progressive sentence. However, by the definition of 지금, it is commonly attached to 고 있어요 sentence. Also, it kinda gives an emphasis.
Expanded Meaning
The concept of "progress" has expanded to include continuous activities. So, you can mean not only the "progressive" action right now with this ending but also the things you are doing these days. To mean this, we can attach words like 요즈음 or the shorted version 요즘. They mean "these days."
저는 요즘 이 책을 읽고 있어요. I'm reading this book these days.
4. Examples
Let's see some examples of "고 있어요." You can listen and repeat each example!
1
I'm studying Korean now. |
한국어 or 한국말 is the Korean language. "고 있어요" is attached to 공부하다 which means "to study." You are studying Korean now. So, it is a good example to practice!
2
What are you doing? | |
I'm doing my homework. |
뭐 means "what". 고 있어요 is attached to 하다 (to do). "뭐 하고 있어요?" is a good expression to memorize as a chunk!
3
What are you doing now? | |
I'm watching a movie. |
영화 means a movie. 고 있어요 is attached to the verb 보다. This word has many meanings like seeing, watching, and looking. So, "to watch a movie" is 영화를 보다 in Korean.
4
Jisu: Hey Jack, what are you doing now? | |
Jack: I'm playing a game. |
In Korean, you don't usually use the pronoun "you." When you directly ask someone, "you" is implied. However, to get an attention purpose, you can add the listener's name or title. 지수 in the dialog call Jack as 잭 씨. You may notice that there is a comma after his name. In writing, you are supposed to put a comma after the calling part.
In the answer, I put the grammatically full sentence. Since it is obvious Jack is talking about himself, he can actually omit the "저는(I)" part.
5
Jack: What is Cheol-su doing now? | |
Yu-na: He is studying. |
Then, how can we ask about someone else (the third person)? You can add the name or title with the topic marker 은/는. You are asking a question about that person. In the example, Jack is asking about 철수(Cheol-su).
The listener 유나(Yu-na) answered 공부하고 있어요(is studying). She didn't mention 철수 씨 because it is obvious that she is talking about 철수. She can add it if she wants to, of course. However, when the context is provided, the topic or subject part is commonly omitted in Korean.
5. Wrap-up & Worksheet: 고 있어요 Grammar
Today, you learned the Korean progressive ending, in particular, the informal present progressive form. Let's review the 고 있어요 grammar with the summary!
고 있어요 is the present progressive ending.
It means "am/are/is Ving."
You can attach 고 to the stem of a verb.
No irregular conjugation rules.
Let's solve the quiz to practice 고 있어요 grammar! I prepared the free and printable worksheet for you! Please download and write each answer.
Today, we focused on the "present progressive" form. If you are curious about the full grammar "고 있다," please click here to read the details!
If this lesson was helpful, please like my post and subscribe to my website for future updates! In the next lesson, you'll learn how to say what you do after arriving somewhere. 다음 시간에 만나요! (See you next time!) 감사합니다! 🤗