🇺🇸 Translation
Let’s live a cute life
📙 Lesson point
How to say “Let’s live a cute life” in Korean
Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn three things today. First, we’ll learn how to change Korean adjectives into adverbs. Next, we’ll learn how to grammatically make suggestions in Korean, by using the expression ‘(Verb)-자.’ Finally, we’ll take a look at the Korean expression ‘(Adjective)-게 살자,’ which is used in this post.
After reading today’s post, not only will you be able to learn how to say “Let’s live a cute life” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how this Korean expression is grammatically formed. Moreover, we’ll look into the actual expression that Giselle of AESPA used for her Instagram post. Let’s begin!
How to change Korean adjectives into adverbs
First of all, let’s learn how to change Korean adjectives into adverbs. Just as we can change English adjectives into adverbs by simply adding ‘-ly,’ we can change Korean adjectives into adverbs by adding ‘-게’ to the stem of the adjectives. This is actually used much more widely than in English. Let’s look at some examples.
귀엽다 : to be cute
귀엽게 : cutely, in a cute manner
카리나는 귀엽게 웃었다
= Karina smiled in a cute way
조용하다 : to be quiet
조용하게 : quietly
지젤은 조용하게 쿠키를 먹었다
= Giselle quietly ate cookies
빠르다 : to be quick
빠르게 : quickly
닝닝은 빠르게 걸었다
= Ningning walked fast
자유롭다 : to be free
자유롭게 : freely
윈터는 자유롭게 시간을 보냈다
= Winter spent time freely
How to make suggestions in Korean
Here, we’re going to look at the simplest way of making suggestion in Korean, using the ‘(verb)-자’ conjugation. Most Korean verbs end with ‘-다’ endings. You can see from the examples like ‘하다’ (to do), ‘가다’ (to go), ‘먹다’ (to eat), ‘놀다’ (to play), etc.
Now, if you delete the original dictionary form ending ‘-다’ and change it to ‘-자’, then you’re making a suggestion to the other person to do the verb together with you. It’s used to suggest doing something informally and casually. Do remember that this is a casual speech tone that you’ll use only for your friends. Let’s take a look at some examples below.
하다 : to do
하자 : Let's do it
우리 6시에 숙제를 하자
= Let's do our homework at 6
가다 : to go
가자 : Let's go
제이미, 우리 동물원에 가자
= Jamie, let's go to the zoo
먹다 : to eat
먹자 : Let's eat
우리 저녁으로 피자를 먹자
= Let's eat pizza for dinner
보다 : to see
보자 : Let's see
우리 내일 아침에 영화 보자
= Let's watch a movie tomorrow morning
Korean expression ‘(Adjective)-게 살자’
Finally, let’s look at the expression ‘(Adjective)-게 살자,’ which is used in this post. This expression is used by changing the adjective into an adverb by adding ‘-게,’ and adding ‘살자.’ Let’s look at some examples to see how this is used.
살다: to live one’s life
살자: let’s live
귀엽게 살다: to live life in a cute way
귀엽게 살자: let’s live a cute life
자유롭다: to be free
자유롭게 살다: to live freely
자유롭게 살자 : let's live freely
특별하다: to be special
특별하게 살다: to live a special life
특별하게 살자: let's live a special life
행복하다: to be happy
행복하게 살다: to live a happy life
행복하게 살자: let's live a happy life
Giselle says : “기엽게 살자”
To conclude, let’s look at the post Giselle of AESPA posted on Instagram. Giselle seems to have written it as the meaning of ‘귀엽게 살자,’ which would mean “Let’s live a cute life.” She wrote ‘귀엽게’ as ‘기엽게’ in order to say it in a cuter manner although doing so is not grammatically correct.