10 Basic Korean Adverbs 🇰🇷

Today we will learn some basic Korean adverbs. Adverb is called 부사 in Korean. Adverbs are very important in everyday conversation. The more you learn Korean adverbs the more you get closer to speaking natural Korean language. We already talked about adverbs of frequency before. If you haven’t watched the video yet please click the link!
Let’s learn other basic and useful Korean adverbs now!

1. 빨리 quickly
빨리 means “quickly” or “fast”. Have you heard of the phrase “빨리빨리”? It means “be quick about it”. Korean people use this expression a lot! We always want things to be done quickly.

(at restaurant)
빨리 밥 먹고 수업 가자. Let’s eat quickly and go to class.
무슨 음식이 빨리 나올까? Which food will be served quickly?

2. 천천히 slowly
Let’s learn the opposite of 빨리. What is the opposite word of “quickly”? Yes! It’s “slowly”, in Korean it’s 천천히. 천천히 means “moving or acting slowly” and also “doing something in no hurry”.

미안! 나 조금 늦을 것 같아. 빨리 가려다가 넘어졌어 ㅠㅠ Sorry! I’m going to be late. I tried to walk fast and tumbled over.
헐! 괜찮아? 천천히 와. OMG! Are you okay? Don’t rush.
천천히 걸어 가고 있어. I am walking slowly now.

3. 일찍 early
일찍 means “early” or “earlier than something”. You probably know the saying “The early bird catches the worm”. In Korean it’s “일찍 일어나는 새가 벌레를 잡는다”.

룩시 님, 오늘 왜 이렇게 일찍 왔어요? Ruxi, you came so early today!
오늘 너무 일찍 일어났어요. I got up earlier this morning.
일찍 출근했으니까 일찍 퇴근하세요. You came to work early, you can go home early.

4. 늦게 late
Now the opposite of 일찍. 늦게 means “late”. This word is from the adjective “늦다”. 늦다 has the meaning of “later than a point in time” and is also used as “slow in speed”. So 늦게 is sometimes used with the meaning of 천천히.

우리 이미 늦었어. 왜 이렇게 늦게 걸어! We are already late. Why do you walk so slowly!
어제 너무 늦게 자서 아직 잠이 안 깼어. I went to bed late last night. I’m still sleeping.

5, 6. 함께, 같이 together
함께 means “together” or “along with”. A similar adverb to 함께 is “같이”. I think 같이 is more often used in daily conversation.

지난 주말에 뭐했어? What did you do last weekend?
온 가족이 함께 제주도 여행 갔어. All of my family members went to Jeju island together.
나도 같이 갔으면 좋았을 텐데.. I wish I were there.

7. 혼자 alone
Here goes another opposite word. The opposite of 함께 and 같이 is 혼자. 혼자 can be used as a noun “the state of being the only person” and as an adverb “alone”. These days Korean people use words that start with “혼” a lot. Such as 혼밥, 혼술, 혼영 and so on. Each word is the abbreviation of “혼자 밥 먹기”, eating alone, “혼자 술 마시기”, “drinking alone” and “혼자 영화 보기”, “watching movies alone”.

너 왜 맨날 혼밥해? Why do you always eat alone?
나는 혼자가 좋아. 혼자만의 시간을 소중히 하고 싶어. I like the state of being alone. I appreciate the alone-time.

8. 따로 separately
따로 can also be the opposite word of 함께 and 같이. 따로 means separately, that something is not together with or is not mixed with other things. There is this expression “따로 또 같이” which means “sometimes individually, sometimes together”. Sometimes people repeat 따로 as 따로따로, to emphasize meaning.

부모님이랑 같이 살아? Do you live with your parents?
우리 가족은 따로따로 살아. 나도 언니도 따로 나와서 살아. My family members live separately. Me and my older sister have separate homes.


9. 조금 a little
Let’s move on to another adverb. 조금 means a little as “a small quantity” or “for a short while”. 조금 can be used both as a noun and as an adverb. The abbreviation of 조금 is 좀.

생각보다 좀 일찍 도착했는데 지금 너희 집 가도 괜찮아? I arrived a little earlier than expected. Is it okay to go to your place now?
나 아직 집 청소하고 있어 ㅠㅠ 조금만 시간을 줘. I am still cleaning my place now. Please give me a little bit of time.

10. 많이 a lot
The opposite of 조금 is 많이. 많이 means “much” or “in large amounts”. Sometimes Korean people use the expression “조금 많이”. This is grammatically wrong, that the meaning is “a little a lot”. In this case “조금 많이” means “more than a lot”.

속이 너무 안 좋아. 어제 술을 조금 많이 마셨어. I don’t feel well. I drank too much yesterday.
왜 그렇게 많이 마셨어? 물을 많이 마시면 숙취에 좋대. Why did you drink so much? Drinking a lot of water is good for a hangover.

These are the 10 basic Korean adverbs. Please repeat and try to memorize them because they are very useful for everyday conversation. Why don’t you leave a comment in Korean using the adverbs we learned today? Don’t forget to click like and subscribe to the channel. Thank you for watching!