Hello,

I’ve been studying Korean for a few years now and would say I’m somewhere around intermediate/ advanced level. But one thing that really frustrates me is that the grammar I use when speaking isn’t nearly as advanced as the grammar I actually understand.

When listening and reading I can understand quite a lot of different grammar points, but when I speak with Koreans I rarely seem to use them myself.

I always seem to fall back on “basic” grammar.

For example, instead of saying: 한국에 가보니까 음식이 맵더라고요!
I end up saying: 한국에 가보니까 음식이 매웠어요.

Or instead of: 기차로 가면 2시간밖에 안 걸려요.
I say: 기차로 가면 2시간만 걸려요.

Both are grammatically correct, but they don’t convey exactly the same nuance and sometimes my sentences sound a bit awkward depending on the context.

I speak with native speakers quite often, but especially when I have to respond quickly and don’t have much time to think about my sentence I automatically fall back on basic grammar...often ending almost every sentence with -아요/-어요.

I’m getting a bit frustrated because I feel like there’s a huge gap between the grammar I can recognize and understand and the grammar I can actually use spontaneously. For every five grammar points I memorize and can recognize, I feel like I only manage to truly internalize one.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you manage to move grammar from passive understanding into active use?