And, but: joining sentences with -고 and -지만

Two actions, one sentence

어제 영화를 보고 밥을 먹었어요 — yesterday I watched a film and had a meal. 저녁에 밥을 먹고 책을 읽어요 — in the evening I eat and then read a book.

Two things to notice. The first verb ends in 고 instead of 요: 보고, 먹고. And only the last verb shows the time. In the first sentence both actions happened yesterday, yet the past is marked once, on 먹었어요, and it counts for both.

Stem + 고, with nothing to choose

Take the dictionary form, remove 다, add 고: 보다 → 보고, 먹다 → 먹고, 마시다 → 마시고, 하다 → 하고. No vowel test, no extra syllable after a consonant, no merging. This ending, written -고, is the simplest you have met.

That is exactly why it can look odd next to the 해요 form: 봐요 but 보고, 마셔요 but 마시고. The two halves may also have different subjects: 저는 커피를 마시고 친구는 차를 마셔요.

먹고 is pronounced [먹꼬].

Two qualities of one thing

넓어요 is “is spacious” (dictionary form 넓다) and 깨끗해요 is “is clean” (깨끗하다). Join them: 우리 집은 넓고 깨끗해요 — my home is spacious and clean. 김밥은 싸고 맛있어요 — gimbap is cheap and tasty.

Adjectives take 고 exactly as verbs do: stem plus 고. 넓다 → 넓고, 싸다 → 싸고. English joins two adjectives with a separate word, “and”; Korean builds the “and” into the first adjective.

넓어요 is pronounced [널버요], 넓고 [널꼬], 깨끗해요 [깨끄태요].

“But”: stem + 지만

비싸지만 맛있어요 — it’s expensive but tasty. 김치는 맵지만 맛있어요 — kimchi is spicy but tasty.

지만 is built like 고: straight onto the stem. 비싸다 → 비싸지만. The new word is 매워요, “is spicy”. Its dictionary form is 맵다, so its stem is 맵, and that is what 지만 attaches to: 맵지만. Why 맵다 turns into 매워요 is a later lesson; for now, learn 매워요 whole.

맵지만 is pronounced [맵찌만].

After a full stop: 그리고 and 하지만

방이 넓어요. 그리고 깨끗해요. — the room is spacious. And it’s clean. 김치는 매워요. 하지만 맛있어요. — kimchi is spicy. But it’s tasty.

When the first sentence is already finished, you cannot add an ending to it. Instead the next sentence opens with a separate word: 그리고 for “and”, 하지만 for “but”. One more adjective: 피곤해요, “is tired”. 피곤하지만 공부해요 — I’m tired, but I study.