TeacherJoy

I want to talk about “그 conjunctions.”

All those “그” conjunctions are compound forms, built from a root word and a connective ending. You know Korean adjectives and verbs look the same. I have intuition as a native speaker, but since you don’t, let’s break them down one by one.

First of all, the root “그” points to something we already mentioned.

Now, I’m going to introduce the similar verb and adjective one by one, so listen closely.

“그리하다” is a verb, meaning “to do so,” and its shortened form is “그러다.” In the 요-form, it’s “그래요.”

“그러하다” is an adjective, meaning “to be so,” or “as such.” Its shortened version is “그렇다.” In the 요-form, it’s also “그래요.”

I’m not sure why… but my headcanon says… Korean /ㅎ/ is very weak, so “그리해요” and “그러해요” might have sounded very similar to [그리애요] and [그러애요], and eventually merged into “그래요.” It’s not official. BE AWARE OF IT. It’s just my silly “brain-novel.” Please don’t spread this as official textbook knowledge.

Now, let’s look at the Korean conjunctions you first learn: 그리고, 그래서, 그러니까, 그런데, 그러면.

그리고 (and)

Superficially, “그리고” is a compound of the adverb “그리” and the verb ending “-고.” 

“그리” is another word for the adverb “거기” (there). They are used differently because one is an adverb and the other is a noun. Keep in mind that “이리” is like “여기” (here) and “저리” is like “저기” (over there). 

그래서 (so, therefore)

“그래서” is the shortened form of both “그리하여서” and “그러하여서.” It’s a conjunction formed by combining the respective verb stems with the verb ending “-어서.” Because of the meaning of “-어서,” it is often translated as “therefore” or “so.”

그러니까 (therefore, because) 

“그러니까” is a combination of the verb stem “그러-” and the verb ending “-니까.” Because of the meaning of “-니까,” it is often translated as “therefore” or a strong “because.” When “그러니까” is used alone and not as a conjunction, it’s very often used to mean “That’s what I’m talking about!” The slang version is “그니까!”

그런데 (by the way, but)

This is also a combination of the verb stem “그러-” and the verb ending “-ㄴ데.” Because of the meaning of “-ㄴ데,” it is translated as “by the way” or “but.” It is commonly used to change the topic. The short form is “근데.”

그러면 (then, if so)

This is a combination of the verb stem “그러-” and the verb ending “-면.” Because of the meaning of “-면,” it is translated as “then,” or “if so.” The short form is “그럼.”