“좋아하다 (joahada)” “자기야 (jagiya)”, “여보 (yeobo)” [Word of the Day + New Series??]

안녕하세요와! (Annyeonghaseyo!)

Updated 8/8/20

This post gets a lot of traffic and I want to make sure that it’s as accurate as possible. This was one of my earlier posts so I’m saving the original for myself because I still want to be able to look back on how far I’ve come but I’ll be updating this post in its entirety on here. So if you’ve bookmarked this post and noticed that it’s different, that’s why. 

The Word of the Day today is about affection and the basic word to express this is, “좋아하다 (joahada)”.

• 좋아하다 (joahada) | to like something or someone
  • From 좋아 (joa) and 하다 (hada) meaning “to do”
  • You hear this word more often than you realize in Korean shows and songs
  • This is one of the ways to express to express that you like something or even someone
• 좋다 (jota) | to be good; to be nice
  • From 좋아 (joa)
  • This is a way to express a good feeling about something

i.e.,

• 좋아하다 (joahada)
  • 나는 책을 좋아해요 . (naneun chaeg-eul joh-ahaeyo.) | “I like books.”
  • 나는 영화를 좋아합니다. (naneun yeonghwaleul joh-ahabnida.) | “I like movies.”
• 좋다 (jota)
  • 이 영화는 좋다. (이 영화는 좋다.) | “This movie is good.”
  • 케이크는 좋았어요. (keikeuneun joh-ass-eoyo.) | “The cake was good.”

When to use 좋아해 (joh-ahae), 좋아해요 (joh-ahaeyo) vs 좋아합니다 (joh-ahabnida)

• 좋아해 | informal
  • situations that are informal
  • when you are speaking with your friends
• 좋아해요 | informal, polite
  • situations that are informal however you are still required to speak in polite tense
  • the people around you are associates but you are still friendly with them
• 좋아합니다 | formal, polite
  • situations that are formal and require you to speak politely

Expression of Love

• 사랑하다 (saranghada) | to love
  • 사랑 (love) + 하다 (hada)
    • because this is combined with 하다 it’s actually a verb

i.e.,

• 사랑해 (saranghae) | “I love you.”
  • informal
• 사랑해요 (saranghaeyo) | “I love you.”
  • informal, polite

Expression of Dislike/Hate

• 싫어하다 (silh-eohada) | to dislike; to hate
  • 싫어 (silheo) + 하다 (hada)
    • again, this is also another verb
  • expression of strong dislike or hatred
• -하지 (haji) | to not do
  • can be combined to a verb to express a dislike for something
  • can be used in similar situations with 싫어하다 but can’t be used interchangeably
    • you can learn more about how to and when to use this here but I’ll give some examples below

i.e.,

• 싫어하다 (silh-eohada)
  • 나는 운전이 싫어요. (naneun unjeon-i silh-eoyo.) | “I hate driving.” or  “I strongly dislike driving.”
  • 그녀는 옷을 싫어합니다. (geunyeoneun os-eul silh-eohabnida.) | “She hates the clothes.” or “She strongly dislikes the clothes.”
• -하지 (haji)
  • 나는 쿠키를 좋아하지 않아요. (naneun kukileul joh-ahaji anh-ayo.) | “I don’t like cookies.”
  • 나는이 영화를 좋아하지 않아요. (naneun-i yeonghwaleul joh-ahaji anh-ayo.) | “I don’t like this movie.”

Terms of Endearment?

I have seen people asking about these two terms frequently:

• 자기야 (jagiya)

자기야 (jagiya) or 자기 (jagi) are really affectionate terms between couples. So in dramas, you may hear these words being used often between married couples. It’s a way of saying, “honey, sweetie, baby, etc.”

• 여보 (yeobo)

여보 (yeobo) is actually kind of a funny story. I did some serious research on this term because it sounded a lot like, “여보세요? (Yeoboseyo?)” and many of us know that means, “Hello?” when answering the phone. But “여보 (yeobo)” actually means, “Look here.” However, it began to take on a life of it’s own and a new meaning and is another term older married (and sometimes younger married couples) will use to say, “honey” when talking to their spouse.