<aside> 📎 Just speaking in simple sentences can get your point across, but wouldn't it be nice to shorten what you are saying and connect sentences together while still being able to express exactly what you want?

One way to accomplish this is by making compound nouns which are also known as “noun phrases” or “nominal phrases”. Of course there are many different ways to make compound nouns depending on what is to be said, but in this lesson, you will learn how the verb ending -고 [-go] is used.

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So what exactly does -고 do? Do you remember the conjunction 그리고 [geu-ri-go]? Yes, 그리고 means “and” or “and then” in Korean, so when using -고 after a verb stem, it has the same meaning as 그리고. By using the verb ending -고 rather than ending the sentence with just one verb and then starting the next one with 그리고, you can save a lot of time and make your sentence structures more practical.

이 책은 재미있어요. 그리고 이 책은 싸요.[i chae-geun jae-mi-i-sseo-yo. geu-ri-go i chae-geun ssa-yo.]= This book is interesting. And this book is cheap.

Since you are talking about the same subject in the second sentence, you can just omit the second “이 책은”.

→ 이 책은 재미있어요. 그리고 싸요.= This book is interesting. And (it is) cheap.

Combine the two sentences together to make it shorter while still getting the point across.

→ 이 책은 재미있고 싸요.

[i chae-geun jae-mi-it-kko ssa-yo.]

= This book is interesting and cheap.

이 책은 재미있고, 싸고, 좋아요.

[i chae-geun jae-mi-it-kko, ssa-go, jo-a-yo.]

= This book is interesting, cheap, and good.

• When making a compound sentence in English using the conjunction “and” to connect smaller sentences, the tenses of the verbs need to agree. However, in Korean, it is not absolutely necessary to have verb tenses match, and sometimes it sounds unnatural to try to use the same tenses for every verb - especially the future tense and the past tense. Most native Korean speakers just use the past tense or the future tense with only the final verb.
• • Also, it is worth nothing that -고 can sometimes sound like “구” in casual, spoken Korean - particularly amongst younger women. Do not get confused however, even if your friend might say it with a “구” sound, it is still written and referred to as -고.

→ 어제 친구를 만났고, 영화를 봤어요.