Hotel word of the day

안녕하세요!

Alright, so we’re back with another in-depth installment of “Kpop Teaches Korean Too”. I really love this song and I find myself listening to it and singing it more often than any other song on my playlist and so I’m really excited to be doing this post. I hope that after Monday’s post you weren’t too confused on how to do this. Have you been practicing this while listening to your music this past couple of days? Still struggling a bit? Have no fear! We’re still practicing it.

Remember, find the words in each line that you understand to help you put the lyrics together.

이 곳은 heartbreak hotel
날 위해 남겨둔 이 공간에
홀로 누워 forget you
눈물 나도 forgive you
오늘 난 checking out
여길 떠날게 Heartbreak hotel
No I ain’t gonna go
No I ain’t gonna go
오늘 난 checking out
여길 떠날게 Heartbreak hotel

i goseun heartbreak hotel
nal wihae namgyeodun i gonggane
hollo nuwo forget you
nunmul nado forgive you
oneul nan checking out
yeogil tteonalge Heartbreak hotel
No I ain’t gonna go
No I ain’t gonna go
oneul nan checking out
yeogil tteonalge Heartbreak hotel

Let’s go through this line-by-line.

이 곳은 heartbreak hotel (i goseun heartbreak hotel)

• 이 곳은 | “this is (the)” or “this place (is the)”

“This is the heartbreak hotel” or “This place is the heartbreak hotel”

This sentence is a bit easier because there are English lyrics added in. This gives you an idea of what is potentially being said here. We’ve talked about these words before but now we get to see it in an “everyday use” fashion.

날 위해 남겨둔 이 공간에 (nal wihae namgyeodun i gonggane)

• 날 | me (possession)
• 위해 | for
• 이 | this
• 에 | location particle

남겨둔 and 공간에 may not be very familiar to you. If it is then you probably already know what this line means, but if it’s something you haven’t heard before or you can’t quite remember what it means, write it down and look up the definitions.

• 남겨둔 | “leave behind/remains”
• 공간 | “space”
  • 공간에 | signifies that this “space” is an actual location

“In this space for me that remains”  or “In this space that remains for me”

Quick Grammar Note | I added 둔 in the complete translation of this word, however 남겨둔 are two words put together to create the meaning, “leave behind” or “remains”. 둔 by itself is a past determinative. We haven’t talked about this before during any Grammar sessions so I won’t go into detail to confuse you. 

홀로 누워 forget you (hollo nuwo forget you)
눈물 나도 forgive you (nunmul nado forgive you)

• 홀로 | alone
• 눈물 | tears
• 나도 | “Even I/I also/Me too”

Again, these two lines are a bit easier because we’ve been given English phrases to kinda help up determine what these lines mean.

Potentially unfamiliar word: 누워 | comes from the verb 눕다 (nupda) meaning “to lie down”.

“Laying down alone, forget you” or “I lay alone, forget you”

“Tears fall but I forgive you” 

오늘 난 checking out (oneul nan checking out)

여길 떠날게 Heartbreak hotel (yeogil tteonalge Heartbreak hotel)

• 오늘 | Today
• 난 | I am
• 여길 | this place

I’m adding this as a grammar note because it’s a combination of things, 떠날게. 떠나다 means, “To leave”, 날게 is actually a grammar concept we’ve discussed before. I won’t go into too much detail here but it insinuates that you want to do something. So 떠날게, “I want to leave”. Again, we’re seeing a grammar concept in everyday application.

“Today I’m checking out”

“I want to leave this place (Heartbreak Hotel)” 

So this one was a bit longer but I hope this was helpful. Remember, pick out words that you understand and jot down words that you don’t know to help you figure out what’s being said in a song. You’ll be surprised with how much you understand and eventually, you won’t even need the translated lyrics because you’ll automatically know!

That’s it for today!

If there’s a song that you would like to see featured in the “Kpop Teaches Korean Too” posts, comment below!