Korean Learn (Level 2 part 18) [good at / bad at]

we learned how to say that you “can” and “cannot” do something. Now we wanna learn to say that you are “good at” or “bad at” doing something

The basic construction for saying “to do something” is

[object] + -을/를 [eul/reul] (= object marker) + 하다 [hada] (= to do), and to this, you add 잘 [jal] or 못 [mot].


~을/를 잘 하다 (~eul/reul jal hada) = to be good at ~ (lit. to do ~ well)

~을/를 못 하다 (~eul/reul mot hada) = to be poor at ~ (lit. to do ~ poorly)

Examples
노래 [no-rae] = singing, song
노래를 잘 하다 [no-rae-reul jal ha-da] = to be good at singing, to sing well

요리 [yo-ri] = cooking, dish
요리를 못 하다 [yo-ri-reul mot ha-da] = to be poor at cooking, to cook poorly

But 못 하다 (mot hada) can also mean “to be unable to do” something or “can not do” something, 잘 [jal] is often added in front of this and makes it 잘 못 하다 (jal mot hada), to make the meaning clear.

By saying 잘 못 하다 (jal mot hada), you literally say that you “can not do something well” or “are unable to do something well”, which is similar to being poor at it.

요 리를 못 하다 = “to be poor at cooking” OR “can not cook”

요리를 잘 못 하다 = “to be poor at cooking”

More examples

수영 [su-yeong] = swimming
수영을 잘 하다 [su-yeong-eul jal ha-da] = to be good at swimming
수영을 못 하다 [su-yeong-eul mot ha-da] = to be bad at swimming OR = can not swim
수 영을 잘 못 하다 [su-yeong-eul jal mot ha-da] = to be bad at swimming

Are 잘 (jal) and 못 [mot] (or 잘 못[jalmot]) only used with -하다 (hada) verbs?

No. Other types of verbs can be used with 잘 and 못 as well.

for types of verbs that are not in the “noun + -하다 (hada)” form, you just add 잘 (jal), 못 (mot), or 잘 못 (jal mot) in front of the verb.


example
잘 달리다 (jal dallida) = to run well, to be good at running
잘 쓰다 (jal sseuda) = to write well, to be good at writing

But when a verb is used only on their own like this, very often, the meaning isn’t very clear, (i.e. 쓰다 (sseuda) can be both ‘to write’ and ‘to use’) and the phrase sounds incomplete, so a noun is added to the phrase to go in pairs with the verb.

잘 달리다 (jal ddallida) --> 달리기를 잘 하다 (dalligireul jal hada)[lit. “to do running well”]

Here, 달리다 (dallida) was changed to its noun form, 달리기 (dalligi) and was followed by 잘 하다 (jal hada).

잘 쓰다 (jal sseuda) --> 글씨를 잘 쓰다 (geulssireul jal sseuda)[lit. “to write writing/letters well”]

Here, the word 글씨 (geulssi), meaning “writing” or “letters” was used to make the meaning of “writing” more clear, and prevent people from thinking that it might mean “to use”.

Sample sentences

저는 노래를 잘 못 해요. [jeo-neun no-rae-reul jal mot hae-yo.] = I can’t sing well. / I’m not good at singing.

제 친구는 수영을 잘 해요. [je chin-gu-neun su-yeong-eul jal hae-yo.] = My friend is good at swimming.



hmmmm.... finished than..... ^_^ see you at part 19 ^_^

thanks for learning with me ^_^



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