# I don't understand Korean.



## wide12

안녕하세요!

I'd like to know if this simple sentence is correct:

나 한국어 안 이해해요.
The verb "to understand" is 이해하다, but I am not sure if it is conjugated that way ( it sounds weird when pronouncing it), and, I am not too sure I got the grammar part right..
Thanks in advance!


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## coffee99

안녕 하세요!!

I'm no Korean, but I think you could say: 
"나는 한국어 이해 못 해요" 

But I think people would often just say: "한국어 이해 못 해요" or "한국어 못 해요" or "한국어 잘 못 해요" (so, omitting "나는").

못 is a different way of conjugating to express a negative idea. I think "안 해요" sounds like "I don't" in English, whereas "못 해요" is more like "I can't".

Hope that helps


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## wide12

Hi!
Thanks for your answer, but

한국어 잘 못 해요

That sentence is a little confusing for me :
잘 (I don't know what is that, I guess it is a grammar part)
못 can't
해요 = do
So it's like...I can't Korean, right?
I always thought that if you want to negate a verb, you just can add 못 or 안 before the verb (although I know these are the short negations, and there are also the "long" negations)
Thanks!!


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## Snubby

wide12 said:


> Hi!
> Thanks for your answer, but
> 
> 한국어 잘 못 해요
> 
> That sentence is a little confusing for me :
> 잘 (I don't know what is that, I guess it is a grammar part)
> 못 can't
> 해요 = do
> So it's like...I can't korean, right?
> I always thought that if you want to negate a verb, you just can add 못 or 안 before the verb (although I know these are the short negations, and there are also the "long" negations)
> Thanks!!


 
잘 means well, so the sentence is: I can't speak Korean well.
못 is used for negative abilities ("I can't do ___"), whereas 안 negates a descriptive verb (makes something NOT what the descriptive verb describes it to be). At least as far as I know, with my own limitations in Korean.
행복하시기를...


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## 코미디 갤러리

I would say
전 한국말 잘 (either 못해요 or 못합니다.)

한국어 is the language itself in terms of linguistics and classification, whereas 한국말 (or 우리말) has to do with actual spoken/written language.


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## parnassian

Snubby's explanation was comparatively perferct, I believe. 

Thanks.


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## maghanish2

Wouldn't you need to add the direct object particle?  So it would read:
전 한국말*을* 이해 못 합니다?

감사합니다


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## wide12

One question..why is not the verb 이해하다 or the verb 말하다  used ? is it corect to use those verbs in the sentence instead of 하다?


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## nhk9

wide12 said:


> One question..why is not the verb 이해하다 or the verb 말하다  used ? is it corect to use those verbs in the sentence instead of 하다?



both can be used.

there's a tendency to use just "하다" instead of "말하다". It's just convention.

so, "how do you say it?"  is more often rendered as "뭐라고 하느
냐?" instead of "뭐라고 말하느냐?"

이해 can be interpreted as "comprehend".  as you can see, it has a more "formal" feel to it.  since we don't go around and say "i don't comprehend russian", they don't use 이해 much either.  이해 is used in situations where you don't understand a concept.


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