You can add -고 to an honorific base in -(으)시-.
| Plain Base | 가- | go |
| Honorific Base | 가시- | |
| Honorific -고 form | 가시고 | [someone esteemed] goes, and |
In the past tense, you add -고 to the past honorific base:
| Plain Base: | 가- | go |
| Honorific Past base: | 가셨- | |
| Honorific Past -고 form: | 가셨고 〔가셔꼬〕 | [someone esteemed] went, and |
16.1.2. The Meaning of -고 Forms
The Korean -고 form is used for joining sentences, and can take on two meanings.
a. does or is [so-and-so], and . . . [i.e., and also]
b. having done or been [so-and-so], and . . . [i.e., and then]
16.1.3. Uses of the -고 Form: And
A - 고 form is a way of breaking a sentence into parts and linking the parts with and. The implication may be that the separate actions happen more or less alongside each other [. . . and also], as in:
| 1. | 나한테는 책을 줬고，어머니한테는 꽃을 드렸어요. He gave me a book and gave my mother some flowers. |
| You could also do this sentence without the past base in the first clause. | |
| 2. | 나한테는 책을 주고, 어머니한테는 꽃을 드렸어요. He gave me a book and gave my mother some flowers. |
| Or it may imply that one action happens necessarily in sequence after/later than the other [. . . and then], as in: | |
| 3. | 나는 세수하고 면도했어요. I got washed up and (then) shaved. |
| 4. | 옷을 입고 머리를 빗어요. I get dressed and (after that) comb my hair. |
When a -고 form is used in the middle of a sentence we have a situation that is common in Korean: a word or phrase that is a compact unit in Korean corresponds to things that in English may be separated from each other. For example, a noun with the particle 도 must be pronounced as a unit—나도 I, too—though the English equivalent may place these parts at opposite ends of the sentence: I [do so-and-so], too. Another example is the -지만 construction you have learned: 가지만 goes, but. . . , for example, is an indivisible unit in Korean that may however be translated in widely separated English equivalents: He goes to the movies every evening in the week, but . . .
The same is true of Korean -고 forms, and as you will see, it is true also of nearly every other Korean verb form that is used in the middle of sentences.
주의!
The -고 form has no tense of its own.
The -고 form gets its tense meaning from the next verb in the sentence that carries any tense—usually the verb at the end of the sentence.
| 5. | A. | 어제 뭘 했어요? What did you do yesterday? |
| B. | 아침을 먹고 학교에 갔어요. I ate breakfast, and [then] went to school. | |
| 6. | A. | 언제 학교에 가요? When do you go to school? |
| B. | 날마다 아침을 먹고 학교에 가요. Every day I eat breakfast, and [then] go to school. |
In a similar way, a final command or suggestion usually carries through onto any preceding -고 forms.
| 7. | 아침을 먹고 학교에 갑시다! Let’s eat our breakfast and [then] go to school! |
16.1.4. Negative - 고 Forms
To make a - 고 form negative, you attach the -고 ending to the negative verb (or you just use the short negation pattern with 안).
| 사고 | buys, and . . . | 사지 | 않고 | or | 안 사고 | doesn’t buy, and . . . |
| 사지 | 못 하고 | or | 못 사고 | can’t buy, and . . . | ||
| 팔고 | sells, and . . . | 팔지 | 않고 | or | 안 팔고 | doesn’t sell, and . . . |
| 팔지 | 못 하고 | or | 못 팔고 | can’t sell, and . . . | ||
| 많고 | many, and . . . | 많지 | 않고 | or | 안 많고 | aren’t many, and . . . |
Since the copula does not normally take the long negation pattern, we find only:
| 내 책이고 | 내 책이 아니고 |
| It is my book, and . . . | It is not my book and (nor) . . . |
주의!
Negative -고 forms in this use have flexible English equivalents and tend to translate as instead of . . . ing, or without . . . ing.
| 8. | 공부하지 않고 잡지를 읽었어요. | |
| I didn’t study — (but) I read a magazine instead. | or: | |
| Instead of studying, I read a magazine. | or: | |
|
I read a magazine without doing my studying.
|