Is this the right direction to Gangnam?

Hi. I have travelled fair bit and one of my scariest nightmares as a traveller would be getting on a subway in the opposite direction and ending up in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night! Luckily, it hasn't happened to me yet. :) The transport system is quite complex in Seoul and it is very easy to get disoriented. So make sure you are travelling in the right direction. :)


Is this the right direction to Gangnam?
이 쪽이 강남 가는 방향 맞아요?


이, yi, this
쪽이, jjokyi, direction + suffix
강남, gangnam, Gangnam
가는, ganun, going (가다)
방향, banghyang, direction
맞아요, majayo, right (맞다)


이 쪽이 강남 가는 방향 맞아요?
yi jjokyi gangnam ganun banghyang majayo?


The first 이 is indicating an object is nearer from you. If the object is further from you, 저 is used. For example:
이 사과 -> this apple
저 사과 -> that apple

쪽 means direction but it never used by itself. I.e. it always follows 이, 저, or adjective phrase. For example:
사람들이 모여있는 쪽 -> direction where people are gathered
소리가 나는 쪽 -> direction from where the sound is coming

방향 also means direction so today's sentence can be said like these:
이 쪽이 강남 가는 쪽 맞아요? or
이 방향이 강남 가는 방향 맞아요?

While we are on the subject of directions these are the words indicating four directions.
동쪽 -> east
서쪽 -> west
남쪽 -> south
북쪽 -> north

BTW, Gangnam is one of the busiest down town and you can get there on the subway Line 2.
Good luck! :)

Comments

  1. maggiesedapgilerJuly 29, 2010 at 2:11 AM

    Hye there:)

    I wonder if this expression "이 쪽이 강남으로요?" also make sense? Do you think it sounds natural?

    ReplyDelete
  2. MinJuly 29, 2010 at 8:25 PM

    Hi. :)

    It is close but the correct form is "이 쪽이 강남이에요?".
    It is too brief to mean "Is this the right direction to Gangnam?", I think. It sounds to me like "Is Gangnam on this side?" :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. maggiesedapgilerJuly 30, 2010 at 12:33 AM

    Oh okay then, thanks:)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Please top up 5000 won on my card.

Hi all. Isn't it daunting to figure out a bus fare, find the right coins or notes and make sure you get the correct changes and so on when you visit a country for the first time? I hereby declare that it is a thing in the past! :) We have something called T-money which you can use on bus, taxi and subway in Seoul and some other cities. You can even use it at a convenient store to pay for the goods. Most convenient stores sell T-money cards and you can top up T-money from there too. So use this when you visit Seoul if you don't want to come back with a bag full of coins. :) Please top up 5000 won on my T-money card. 티머니 카드에 오천원 충전해 주세요. 티머니, T-money, T-money 카드에, cardae, card + suffix 오천원, ohchunwon, 5000 + won 충전해, chungjonhae, recharge (충전하다) 주세요, jusaeyo, give me (주다) 티머니 카드에 오천원 충전해 주세요. T-money cardae ohchunwon chungjonhae jusaeyo. The won is the Korean currency. Thanks to the inflation over the past half-century, the numbers are quite big compared to their value. Your ch...
Read more

From which exit should we meet?

Hi guys. Let's say, you have arrived at your subway station safely. That's great! But it is too soon to be relieved. You have accomplished only a half of the challenge and the second half is finding the right exit. :) You will see what I mean if you take a look at this map . It is where the city hall is and shows how many subway stations multiplied by the number of exits are concentrated in a small area. So, include the right exit number to your planning before you travel. A subway exit is great for a meeting spot so this expression might be helpful. :) From which exit should we meet? 몇번 출구에서 만날까요? 몇번, myotbun, which number 출구에서, chulgooaeso, exit + suffix 만날까요, mannalggayo, should we meet? (만나다) 몇번 출구에서 만날까요? myotbun chulgooaeso mannalggayo? 몇 means 'some unknown number' and 번 is a count word. There are different ways of counting in Korean as describe here . In short, '일, 이, 삼..' style is used for things in order while '하나, 둘, 셋..' style is for counting...
Read more

And then, and then

I have a couple of international colleagues at work. They are quite eager to learn Korean so I teach or correct them whenever I have a chance. Yesterday, we were going to have coffee after lunch and one guy said, "밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요" It is totally correct. But we can also say, "밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요". Let's have coffee after lunch. 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. 밥, 식사, meal ~고 나서, after something ~은/는 다음에, after something 마시다, drink 마셔요, let's drink 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. bab mokgo naso kopi mashoyo. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. bab mokun daumae kopi mashoyo. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. siksahago naso kopi mashoyo. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. siksahan daumae kopi mashoyo. One of the hardest things of learning any language is the fact that there are usually more than one way of saying the same thing. But knowing different expressions for the same meaning will make your speaking more rich! Hope you don't give up!! :-)
Read more