Weather and feelings: 추워요, 더워요, 기분이 어때요?

What’s the weather like?

날씨가 어때요? — what’s the weather like? 오늘은 추워요 — it’s cold today. 오늘은 더워요 — it’s hot today. 날씨가 좋아요 — the weather is nice.

어때요? means “how is it?”, and it asks about the noun marked with 이 / 가. Notice that the answers have no word for “it”. English needs an empty “it” in “it’s cold”; Korean just says 추워요. The same word also means “I’m cold”.

Clear, cloudy, cool

맑아요 is “clear”: 날씨가 맑아요. 흐려요 is “cloudy”: 오늘은 흐려요. 시원해요 is “cool” in the pleasant sense, the relief of a breeze on a hot day, and 바람 is wind: 바람이 시원해요.

Two you already have: 따뜻해요, warm, and 비가 와요, it’s raining. With these you can describe most days.

맑아요 is pronounced [말가요].

Where did the ㅂ go?

Look at four dictionary forms and their 해요 forms: 춥다 → 추워요. 덥다 → 더워요. 맵다 → 매워요. 가깝다 → 가까워요.

Every stem ends in ㅂ, and in the 해요 form the ㅂ is gone and 워요 has appeared. The ㅂ has turned into 우, and 우 + 어요 contracts to 워요. Two of these, 매워요 and 가까워요, you have been using as whole words. Now you can see how they are made.

Difficult and easy

Two new adjectives follow the same pattern. 어렵다 → 어려워요, is difficult. 쉽다 → 쉬워요, is easy.

시험이 어려워요 — the exam is difficult. 숙제가 쉬워요 — the homework is easy. So when a dictionary form in this course ends in ㅂ + 다, expect 워요.

쉬워요 is “is easy”. 쉬어요, without the ㅝ, is “rest”.

Before a noun: 추운, 매운

추운 날씨 — cold weather. 더운 여름 — a hot summer. 매운 음식 — spicy food. 어려운 시험 — a difficult exam. 쉬운 책 — an easy book.

The same change happens before a noun. ㅂ becomes 우, and then the ㄴ you learned for 큰 and 좋은 goes underneath: 추우 + ㄴ → 추운. That is where the 매운 of 매운 음식 came from: 저는 매운 음식을 좋아해요.

The four seasons

봄 is spring and 가을 is autumn; you know 여름 and 겨울. One sentence for each: 봄은 따뜻해요 — spring is warm. 여름은 더워요 — summer is hot. 가을은 시원해요 — autumn is cool. 겨울은 추워요 — winter is cold.

That is a fair description of the Korean year, and a common topic when people ask where you are from.

Yesterday and tomorrow

어제는 추웠어요 — it was cold yesterday. The ㅂ rule comes first, then the past you know: 추우 + 었어요 → 추웠어요.

내일은 비가 올 거예요 — it’s going to rain tomorrow. This is 오다 with ㄹ 거예요. You learned that form for plans; with the weather it is a forecast.

How do you feel? 기분이 어때요?

기분 is your mood, how you feel. The question uses the same word as for the weather: 기분이 어때요? — how are you feeling?

The answers use two adjectives you know: 기분이 좋아요 — I feel good. 기분이 나빠요 — I’m in a bad mood. Literally the mood is good or bad; no “I” is needed.

Happy, sad, angry

행복해요 is “is happy”: 저는 행복해요. 슬퍼요 is “is sad”: 영화가 슬퍼요 — the film is sad. Its dictionary form is 슬프다; the ㅡ drops just as in 바빠요.

화나요 is different: it is a verb, “get angry”. 정말 화나요 — it makes me really angry. English “angry” is an adjective, a state; Korean describes the anger arising.

행복해요 is pronounced [행보캐요].