Learning Korean means asking a lot of questions, and if you want to ask those questions in Korean, you need to know the basic question words — who, what, where, and so on — as well as helpful questions themselves. The following table shows the basic question words:

English Question Korean Translation Pronunciation
Who? nugu? noo-goo?
What? mueot? moo-uht?
Where? eodi? uh-dee?
How eotteoke? uh-ttuh-kae?
When? eonje? uhn-jae?
Why? wae? wae?

When you want to ask a full-fledged question, use the phrases in the following table:

English Question Korean Translation Pronunciation
How’s it going? annyeonghaseyo? an-nyoung-ha-sae-yo?
Do you speak English? yeongeo haljul aseyo? young-uh hal-jool a-sae-yo?
Can you help me? jeo jom dowa jusillaeyo? juh jom do-wa-joo-shil-lae-yo?
What is your name? seonghami eotteokke doeseyo? sung-ha-mee uh-ttuh-kae dwae-sae-yo?
What time is it? myeotsieyo? myuht-shi-ae-yo?
How much is this? ige eolmajyo? ee-gae ul-ma-jyo?
Where is the bathroom? hwajangsiri eodiiseoyo? hwa-jang-shi-ree uh-dee-ee-ssuh-yo?
Can you repeat that? dasi malsseum haejusillaeyo? da-shi mal-sseum hae-joo-shil-lae-yo?
Can you slow down a bit? jom cheoncheoni malsseum haejusileyo? jom chun-chun-nee mal-sseum hae-joo-shil-lae-yo?
Where is it? eodi itjiyo? uh-dee eet-jee-yo?

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

Jungwook Hong created a Korean language program and founded the Korean Studies Organization at the University of Virginia. Wang Lee has worked as a Korean translator, tutor, and interpreter.

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