Adding Ideas With 그리고 (“And”)
그리고 (geurigo) links two separate sentences the way “and” or “and then” does in English — useful for stringing together a sequence of actions or simply adding one more thought to what you just said.
Contrasting Ideas With 하지만 (“But”)
하지만 (hajiman) introduces a contrast — “but” or “however” — signaling that what comes next pushes back against or complicates what came before.
또 and Other Repetition Words
또 (ddo) means “again” or “also,” marking repetition or an additional point being tacked on. Used alongside particles like 에/에서 (e-eseo) — which mark location and origin — and combining conjunctions like 하고/와/과 (hago-wa-gwa) (“and,” used to link nouns rather than sentences), these small words do a disproportionate amount of the work in stringing coherent Korean together.
Practice: Building Longer Sentences
Try chaining a few together: “학교에 갔어요. 그리고 밥을 먹었어요. 하지만 시간이 없었어요.” — “I went to school. And I ate. But there wasn’t time.” Three short sentences, one connected thought — which is really the whole point of learning these words in the first place.