Hangeul

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LEVEL 2 LESSON 19
In Level 2 Lesson number 14, we learned how to change a verb into a noun form, in order to learn how to add the meaning of “also” to a verb in Korean. To review a little, in order to add 도 after a verb, you need to add -기 after a verb stem and then add 하다. (i.e. 먹기도 해요.)

In this lesson, we are going to look at a more general way of making nouns out of action verbs. And understanding how this works will help you a great deal in understanding how to form various other expressions in Korean.

-는 것 [-neun geot]
This is the most basic and general way of changing an action verb into a noun. 것 [geot] originally means “a thing” “an object” or “stuff”, but when it is used like this, it can also mean “a fact” or “an act”.

Construction:

- Verb stem + -는 것
By changing verbs into nouns, [verb stem + -는 것] can take many different meanings.
1. “doing” something
2. the act of “doing” something
3. the thing that you “do”
4. what you “do”

Examples:
보다 [bo-da] = to see
보는 것 [bo-neun geot] = seeing, the act of seeing, the thing that you see, what I watch

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TalkToMeInKorean.com - Free Korean Lesson Notes

LEVEL 2 LESSON 19
가다 [ga-da] = to go
가는 것 [ga-neun geot] = going, the act of going

먹다 [meok-da] = to eat
먹는 것 [meok-neun geot] = eating, the act of eating, the thing that you eat, what you eat

사다 [sa-da] = to buy
사는 것 [sa-neun geot] = buying, the act of buying, the thing that you buy, what you buy

Note that this is only for verbs in the present tense. We will look at how to say things like “the thing you will buy” or “the thing you bought” in our future lessons, but for your reference, you use -(으)ㄴ