5 Korean phrases that are useful for the winter
South Korea often gets cold during the winter times, but not like this. This year, the strongest cold wave turned Korea into a real-life 겨울왕국 (Korean translation of the movie Frozen). Heavy snow is found all across the country, even the famous Han River is frozen. Let me share with you five very useful Korean phrases for you to use this winter.
너무 추워요 = It’s so cold
This is a very practical sentence to use during the winter. 너무 means “very”, and 추워요 is the present polite form of the adjective 춥다 (cold). The polite form is the 요-ending that we often hear.
Example：오늘 날씨 너무 춥다. = It’s very cold today.
따뜻하게 입어요 = Dress warmer
This is the sentence to use when you want to remind people to dress warmer because of the cold weather. 따뜻하게 is the adjective 따뜻하다 (warm) with ~게. This turns the adjective into an adverb. 입어요 is 입다 with the 요-ending.
Example: 밖에 너무 추우니까 따뜻하게 입어요. = It’s cold outside, so dress warmer.
눈이 와요 = It’s snowing
In winter, it often snows in Korea. If you want to tell people around you that it is snowing outside, you can use this sentence. 눈 means “snow”. The verb 오다 has a meaning of “to come”, so it literally means “snow is coming”.
Example:창밖에 눈이 와요. = It’s snowing outside the window.
이불 밖은 위험해요 = It’s dangerous outside the blanket
When it is cold outside, don’t you feel that you don’t want to go anywhere, just want to stay in bed? The phrase 이불 밖은 위험해요 is describing that anywhere outside the blanket is dangerous, so it is better to not go anywhere and stay in bed. This sentence also means staying home. South Korean TV station MBC even used this as the name of one of their variety shows before.
Example: A: 빨리 일어나. B: 싫어, 이불 밖은 위험해. 계속 이럴거야. = A: Get up now! B: No, it’s dangerous outside the blanket. I’m going to stay in here.
집콕 할 거예요 = I am going to stay at home and not go anywhere
Cold winter along with Covid-19 forces us to 집콕 more than ever. 집콕 is the abbreviation of’집’에’콕’박혀있다 (staying at home and not going out). There is also a similar word 방콕. 방 means “room”, so 방콕 means staying in the room and not going anywhere.
Example: A: 이번 주말에 뭐 할 거예요? B: 그냥 집콕 할 거예요. = A: What are you planning to do this weekend? B: I am going to stay at home and not go anywhere.
In this cold weather, it’s the best to just stay home and not go anywhere. Let’s us just 집콕 and binge-watch K-dramas together!
