Hi everyone! To help everyone in there Korean learning journeys I’ve decided to breakdown kpop lyrics.
Take note that I am not a native speaker of Korean so I may miss some nuances but that being said I will try to explain to the best of my ability.
So let’s get started. The song I’ll breakdown is Rose by Lee HaYi. I chose this song because the lyrics are simple but still beautiful.
Part 1:
So the first line is “내 사랑은 새빨간 rose” .
Grammar:This sentence is the basic Noun A=Noun B pattern. Noun A이/가 or 은/는 = Noun B이다.
So when you what to say something like “That is a pencil” or “This is a hat”. This is the form to use.
Step 1: Choose your noun(s)
I’m going to choose 이게 which means this and 시계 which means clock.
Step 2: Add your subject marker이/가
In most cases you would use 가 if the word ends in a vowel and 이 if it ends in a consonant. In this case 이게 is a contraction of the word 이것(this) + 이= 이것이—>이게. So when you see 이게 just know that it comes packaged with a marker ^^.
Step 3: Add the 이다 verb
이다 is the to be verb. It is attached to the end of nouns to show that that noun “is such and such”.
When you conjugate it to the polite informal form it is 이에요 for nouns ending in consonants and 예요 for those that end in vowels.
Ex. So we have 이게 시계예요 or 이것이 시계예요—>This is a clock.
In Korean, when the subject is known or implied it is often excluded completely. So one could just say 시계예요 to mean the same thing stated above.
When you want to say something is not something else you have use the verb 아니다. The polite informal for is 아니에요. Not 아니예요 or 아니요(This one means “no” as in a response to a question).
Be careful of the sentence structure.
It’s Noun A이/가 or은/는 Noun B이/가 or 은/는 아니다. So the subject noun has to have a marker after it as well as the noun that you are using to describe/identify that noun.
이게 시계가 아니에요 or 이것이 시계가 아니에요 or 시계가 아니에요.
In the lyrics the sentence does not end in 이다 but it’s implied.
내-contraction of the noun 나 meaning I or me and the particle 의.
의 shows that the following word is owned by the noun preceding 의
나의 친구-My friend
인피니트의 매력 Infinite’s charm, the charm of Infinite
친구-friend
매력-charm, attraction
Verb stem+은/ㄴ/는 + noun- way to modify or describe nouns.
This form is basically used to turn verbs into adjectives to describe the actions or the properties of a given noun.
• 은/ㄴ is used for adjective verbs while 는 is for action verbs
• 은 when the adjective ends in a consonant like 작다-small
• You take off다 and add 은 and it becomes 작은.
o Then you can add noun like개-dog
▪ 작은 개– small dog,
▪ 받은 선물 the present I received,
▪ 받다-to receive, accept
▪ 선물–present,gift
• ㄴ when it ends in a vowel
슬프다 –sad
노래-song
슬픈 노래-sad song
• In the lyrics, you see 새빨갛다 when ㅎ is at the end then it is removed we are left with just 가 so just add ㄴ. Note this is a special conjugation rule forㅎand there are exceptions like 좋다 which would be 좋은.
• 운동하다-to exercise
• 사람-person
• 운동하는 사람– the person who is exercising, the person who exercises, a person who exercises
• 보다-to see, watch, look
• 영화-movie
• 보는 영화 the movie I am watching , the movies I watch
은/는 topic markers, show contrast,
These markers can be tricky. They are mostly used to show emphasis like 그 사람이 학생이에요.하지만 저는 아니에요. That person/she/he is a student but I’m not.
학생-student
사람– person
The 은 in the lyrics may give off the meaning that her love in contrast to someone else’s is like a rose. Following along with the lyrics of the song, her love will hurt you so it may be better to just find someone else or just leave her alone.
Vocabulary:
사랑-love
새빨갛다-scarlet red
Conjugation: 새빨개요.
Translation :
My love is a scarlet rose
Go Korean 