Learning Korean, but fed up of textbooks? Rather be in the pit than the classroom? I hear you. In this new fortnightly slot we’ll be giving Korean learners some musical motivation – looking at what Kpop songs can teach us about Korean.
This week’s lesson is from GOT7’s Stop Stop It, released in Nov 2014.
Objective: Learn how to say ‘don’t..’ (don’t do, don’t go, don’t cry)
Bonus vocabulary: to go crazy, please
The catchy chorus that sounds like ‘hajima/hajima/haji-haji-ma’ is translated on the MV as ‘stop it’, but we should read it more as ‘don’t do’.
It’s formed from the verb ‘to do’, = 하다 hada
And the ending ‘don’t’ = 지마 jima
don’t do = 하지마 hajima
We can apply the jima ending to any Korean verb if we want to give a ‘don’t’ instruction. Just remember to ditch the 다 da
to go = 가다 kada
don’t go = 가지마 kajima
to cry = 울다 ulda
don’t cry = 울지마 uljima
You can practice both of these soulfully with Hwanhee’s Don’t Go!
Bonus vocabulary from GOT7
to go crazy = 미치다 michida is heard in the form of michigesseo and michilgeot
please = 제발 jebal is also sung by Youngjae after the English line ‘please stop baby stop it’
