With BIGBANG‘s final group comeback before T.O.P enlists, this week we’ll be looking as a useful grammar technique used in their ballad Last Dance.
Objective: Learn some useful grammar tips
BIGBANG sing emotionally about someone they may never see again, and this song is their way of expressing how much they miss the person they’re singing about.
In the chorus, we often hear words that are often ending with 며 myeo. This is a grammar pattern in which you remove the 다 da from a verb and then attach (으) 며 (eu) myeo to the end. This gives the meaning of ‘while’, e.g, 먹으며 meok-eu myeo – while I eat (먹다 meok-da being the verb to eat).
Any verb which ends with a consonant, you add 으며 eu-myeo on the end, and any verb which ends in a vowel, you simply add 며 myeo! It’s as easy as that!
So, let’s look at the grammar pattern within BIGBANG’s – Last Dance.
나는 이 노랠 부르며
na-neun i norael bureu-myeo,
Whilst I sing this song
나는 na-neun – I, me
이 i – This
노랠 norael (an abbreviation from 노래를 noraereul) – Song
부르며 bureumyeo – While I sing, while someone sings (부르다 bureuda being the word for “to sing” or “to call out”).
Here’s another example from the same song.
나는 이 노랠 들으며
na-neun i norael deul-eu-myeo
Whilst I listen to this song
If 들으며 deul-eu-myeo comes from the verb 듣다 deut-da (to listen), can you figure out what this sentence means?
Alternatively, here are a list of words for you to practise with! Feel free to post your sentences, or any questions in the comments below!
Verbs
공부하다 gong-bu hada – To study
생각하다 saeng-gak hada – To think
먹다 meokda – To eat
부르다 bureuda – To sing/to call out
보다 boda – To watch
Nouns
한국어 han-gukeo – Korean (language)
친구 chin-gu – Friend
밥 bap – Rice
노래 norae– Song
영화 yeong-hwa – Movie
Other
나 na – I, me
너 neo – You
우리 uri – We
이 i – This
그 keu – That
