# 살아 / 살어



## idialegre

According to my textbook, the way to say (to a close friend, say) "I live in Korea" is 한국에 살아. But today I was speaking with a native Korean acquaintance, and he said 한국에 살어. I asked him specifically if he shouldn't have said 살아, and he was adamant that it had to be 살어. 

I am confused! Is my book wrong? Or are both versions correct?

Thanks for your help!


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## oloekis

idialegre said:


> According to my textbook, the way to say (to a close friend, say) "I live in Korea" is 한국에 살아. But today I was speaking with a native Korean acquaintance, and he said 한국에 살어. I asked him specifically if he shouldn't have said 살아, and he was adamant that it had to be 살어.
> 
> I am confused! Is my book wrong? Or are both versions correct?
> 
> Thanks for your help!


Hello, idialegre. Here is my opinion.

There is a rule but in some case like you brought, most people have nothing to say to correct even when it's technically wrong. Because it feels like that can be right to most of us, Korean. I think. 

Okay, so the rule I have now found by research, is that, it's right to say "-아" when the stem's last syllable is "ㅏ,ㅗ". And '-어' with the rest of vowel. 

So in the case of "살아", since there is "ㅏ" as in "살", it's right to say "살아" instead of "살어". Your book won


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## Warp3

Usually when this happens there are two possible causes:

1) The native speaker is simply wrong / mistaken (which happens far more than you'd initially think).  Think about the number of native English speakers that you hear speaking incorrectly, but don't seem to notice and/or care.  Those people exist in other languages as well.  While natives are great resources, they aren't 100% accurate.

2) There is a dialect difference at work.  Some Korean dialects do make changes to the pronunciation of word endings which could explain scenarios like this.

Regardless, in standard (Seoul-dialect) Korean 살아 is the correct spelling and pronunciation.


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## oloekis

Warp3 said:


> Usually when this happens there are two possible causes:
> 
> 1) The native speaker is simply wrong / mistaken (which happens far more than you'd initially think).  Think about the number of native English speakers that you hear speaking incorrectly, but don't seem to notice and/or care.  Those people exist in other languages as well.  While natives are great resources, they aren't 100% accurate.
> 
> 2) There is a dialect difference at work.  Some Korean dialects do make changes to the pronunciation of word endings which could explain scenarios like this.
> 
> Regardless, in standard (Seoul-dialect) Korean 살아 is the correct spelling and pronunciation.



I am not sure how much English differs from Korean language when people make obvious /subtle mistake, but I would like to add that in this case of 살어, it sounds so colloquial that  it is uncomfortable to define it is mistake or wrong, or dialect. It is even considered as someone`s style of speaking.


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## Warp3

littlemonyou said:


> I am not sure how much English differs from Korean language when people make obvious /subtle mistake, but I would like to add that in this case of 살어, it sounds so colloquial that  it is uncomfortable to define it is mistake or wrong, or dialect. It is even considered as someone`s style of speaking.



I was really referring more to the "native speaker corrections" often being wrong rather than "native speaker pronunciation" being wrong.  If a native speaker were to tell you that "살어 is the correct way to pronounce that word and 살아 is wrong" then that advice would be wrong as "살아" is indeed correct.

For example, many Koreans pronounce 네가 as 니가 instead (even I have a tendency to do this since I hear it so often and it makes the 내가/네가 distinction more clear), but I still wouldn't expect them to tell you that the "proper" pronunciation of 네가 is "wrong", though, as that wouldn't be true.  The same is true with 똑같아요 > [똑같애요], as well.

Non-standard colloquial pronunciations are quite common in English as well (probably more so than in Korean due to the lack of a standardized letter-to-sound mapping in English).


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## idialegre

Thanks for your answers, which I understand perfectly. 

Does this "indifference" to the -아/-어 ending extend to other verbs and verb forms as well? In other words, is it also common for people to say
받어 instead of 받아, 살어요 instead of 살아요, and 살었어 instead of 살았어?


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## terredepomme

> is it also common for people to say
> 받어 instead of 받아, 살어요 instead of 살아요, and 살었어 instead of 살았어?


We would say 살어 but never say 살어요 or 살었어.

Anyhow, Korean is somewhat flexible when it comes to these 'tails' of verbs. This is because, I think, there is no clear distinction(at least in colloquial scenes) between the regional dialects and the language as a whole, and people tend to integrate the features in their dialects. In my region people often say 뭐여 instead of 뭐야. Not to mention that this is often seen in all other regions as well...

...The tricky part is that these variations usually deliever a subtle difference of nuance. This difference can be that of formality, the locuters' relations, and even of masculin/feminin thing. It is difficult to pin down which variation shows which nuance and it just has to be learned through conversations.

And this feature allows a great latitude of nuance expression that is difficult to grasp for a Westerner whose language often relies solely on syntax, intonation or word choice to convey these things.


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## idialegre

Thanks for your very enlightening answer, Mr. otatoP!


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## oloekis

I agree with Terredepomme.


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