The Korean Number That Makes Everyone Stand Up?

Hello and welcome back to the Talk To Me In Korean podcast. I am Hyunwoo and I know you're tuning in to learn more Korean, so let's jump right into... Today's Korean quiz. This is once again a beginner level dad joke. Okay, I don't know if it's a beginner level dad joke because there's no official levels in dad joke quizzes, but... Since many of you loved the dad joke quiz two weeks ago, here you go. So listen. When you want to make a group of people stand up, what Korean number should you say?

Let me repeat it just one more time. The quiz is in English. It can be in English and the answer is in Korean. When you want to make a group of people stand up, what Korean number should you say? Okay, let me say that in Korean too. So think about the answer and I'll give you the correct answer at the end of the show.

And if you're new here, this podcast is for anyone who wants to continue improving their Korean skills through consistent practice and exposure. We've been helping millions of Korean learners around the world for a long time, since 2009, and we have everything you need to learn and speak Korean with confidence. So find all of our effective programs and tools at

TalkToMeInKorean.com. Now, if you're ready, let's move on to today's real-life Korean conversation. The conversation you're about to hear is from our Korean speaking app, 세요. It's great for practicing and improving your Korean speaking skills. And within the app, you will see five different levels, foundational, beginner intermediate advanced and expert and this one is from the intermediate level so give it a listen and try to understand as much as possible

결혼식 몇 시 시작이야? 3시 시작이야. 아직 멀었어. 벌써 2시인데? 늦지 않게 빨리 출발해. 언제 2시가 됐지?

So how was it? Let's break it down. So the first line is from this guy who says, 아직 is still or not yet.

emphasizes it like not yet to also because 도 means also 아직도 it's pronounced as 아직도 like that 아직도 출발 is departure, leaving 출발하다 when you attach the 하다 verb after a noun into many nouns you can form its own verb right so 출발하다 is to leave to depart 출발하다 and then when you want to negate it make a negative form you add in between when it's a noun plus 하다 you separate the noun and 하다 once again to form the negative form you don't really put 안 in front of the whole thing right 안 출발하다

It sounds like a kid or a child talking because children often talk like that before they start reading more and start talking more formally, right? So, 출발 안 했어? Past tense. Question. 아직도 출발 안했어? 결혼식 몇 시 시작이야? 결혼 Marriage, 결혼, and 결혼식. 식 means a ceremony. So 결혼식, together, a wedding ceremony. 결혼식, 결혼식, like that. And 몇 시 is what time? 시작, beginning. And you can say 시작하다 or 시작해 like that as a verb, but it's very common in spoken Korean to hear something like this. 시작이다.

It is the beginning. It is the start. So at what time is it the start? 결혼식 몇 시 시작이야? What time does the wedding start at? And then the girl says 3시 시작이야. 아직 멀었어. 셋이 시작이야. Using the same format. Instead of saying 셋이 시작해 or 셋이 에 시작해. If you were to use the verb form 시작해, you would sound more natural by adding 세시 에, that particle. But here, 세시 시작이야 sounds really natural. It's a three o'clock beginning.

And then 아직 멀었어. 아직 is still or not yet. And in this case, because it's a positive statement, it means still. And look at this one. 멀었어. So 멀다. To be far away. 멀었다. It was far away, but it is one of those phrases that are used in the past tense, even though in other languages, it is used in the present tense. So, 아직 멀었어.

it's still or it still was far away so if you literally translate it it doesn't make as much sense but it means i still have time so you can memorize it remember it as a set expression when you still have a lot of time left before doing something else Or when somebody compliments on your Korean skills, you can also sound very humble by saying,

And when you are going somewhere as well, you can say as a question, 아직 멀었어요? Is it still far away? Or are we there yet? 아직 멀었어요? 아직 멀었어요? So in this case, The girl says, oh, it starts at 3. I still have some time. But then the guy says, 벌써 2시인데? 늦지 않게 빨리 출발해. 벌써 2시인데? Already. 벌써. 2시. 2 o'clock. 인데. 인데, in this case, this ending invites a reaction from the girl. Like, it's already 2 o'clock. What do you say? 늦지 않게 빨리 출발해.

늦지 않다. To not be late. 늦지 않게. Using that K ending. In order to be not late or so that you're not late. 빨리. Quickly. Early. 빨리. So leave soon so you won't be late. And clearly the girl didn't know that it was already 2 o'clock. 언제, when, 언제 2시가 되다. To become 2 o'clock. When did it become 2 o'clock? Why is it already 2 o'clock? 빨리 가야겠다. So this is self-talk. 빨리! As an exclamation, 빨리, soon, quickly, early, 가야겠다. This get expresses intention. I need to get going. 고마워. Thank you.

so that's the whole dialogue how was it for you we broke it down together and looked at some interesting details from various angles and now if you're ready let's listen to it one more time and remember

아직도 출발 안 했어? 결혼식 몇 시 시작이야? 3시 시작이야. 아직 멀었어 벌써 2시인데? 늦지 않게 빨리 출발해 언제 2시가 됐지? 빨리 가야겠다. 고마워 So what do you think? Was it easier for you this time around? I hope it was. And if it wasn't, and if you would like to listen to it one more time, feel free to rewind a little bit and listen and review. Now it's time for today's... word of the day you will find today's word really really interesting even though it is contrary to its meaning because today's word is

문안 originally means not difficult, no trouble. 무, no, nothing, 난, like trouble, difficulty. So 문안 is no difficulty. You will often hear it used in phrases like 문안한 선택. As an adjective, 무난한 선택. Like a safe choice. 무난한 선택. 무난한 답변. It's a safe answer. It's an okay answer. 무난한 스타일. like a style that's safe overall it's all right it's okay and etc like it's an average safe okay personality doesn't stand out doesn't cause

any problems, nothing's wrong with it. But also, at the same time, nothing's especially exciting either. So, 문안, it can be a compliment or it can be some criticism. because it is so safe, in a way, bland. So, some examples. I think you can get a better sense of what it actually means or how it works by looking at more examples. You might hear someone say, 전반적으로 무난해요. Let me repeat that one more time slowly. 전반적, overall. 전반적으로, overall as an adverb.

문안해요. Yeah. Overall, it's okay. Overall, it's 문안. It's very 문안 문안. It's very safe. This can be a compliment if you were looking for safe, but it can also often mean criticism if you mean that there wasn't much passion involved, creativity, or strong impact in. whatever you are looking at so you can be looking at some design some space some architecture like uh you know a piece of art you can look at it and say oh

okay, it's 무난해요. But you weren't very impressed. So that's what it means. The impression is relatively weak. That's why you will also hear expressions like 무난하긴 한데. Yeah, it's 무난. It's okay, but... Or even specifically, 무난한데 임팩트가 없어요. So let's say you saw... a movie or you heard a new song and then you are to give some evaluation or opinion you can say yeah it can be actually a good thing too like birthday presents

You don't want to bring a huge tree into somebody's house when you want to give a birthday present or you don't want to bring something too boring. And maybe... I don't know. Depending on the person's opinion, a gift certificate can be 문안해요? Or a bottle of wine to somebody? 문안해요? I don't know.

So it really depends on the person's opinion, but 문안하다 is in that generic gray area where you strive for safety. So I'm curious, what would you describe as 문안 in your life or something that you've discovered recently?

Like, 문안. It's too 문안해 or it's very positively 문안해. So that's it for today's word of the day. And now it's time to give you the quiz answer, right? Remember the quiz? Okay, let me give you the quiz once again in case you forgot. If you want a group of people to stand up, what number, what Korean number should you say? And the answer is... Okay, in English first. It's five. Why? Because in Korean, it's 다섯. 다섯. 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯. In Sino-Korean numbers, right? 다섯. Because it means 다섯.

다 is all 섣. In a different context, it is a command. 다 섣. Like, of course, you would say... in more daily conversations but in a military setting everybody up like that so that's why that is the answer to today's Korean dad joke Did you like it? I hope you did.

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