The vast majority of literature written by Koreans before — and even during the early years of — the latter half of the twentieth century is in Classical Chinese, or Hanmun (漢文, 한문) as it is called in Korean. To understand the grand patrimony of Korean culture, it is thus important to be able to read and understand Classical Chinese texts. Those that wish to read Classical Chinese texts, however, find themselves frustrated by the lack of suitable primers. Most Classical Chinese primers for English speakers are written for those who are fluent in Mandarin. Those that are studying the Korean language and culture that do not know Mandarin are therefore highly inconvenienced and disadvantaged.

This grammar primer is intended to resolve this need and is written for those with an intermediate proficiency in Korean. The author has Korean-Americans, who wish to learn more about their patrimony, and English-speaking expats, who wish to learn more about Korean history, as  the target audience of this grammar primer. It is important to note that this primer will not teach Chinese characters, or Hanja (漢字, 한자), as there are already a number of good online and print references for doing so. Learning Classical Chinese through Korean has a number of distinct advantages compared to Mandarin. For example, Korean pronunciation is more conservative than Mandarin, and maintains the tones of Classical Chinese.

I will try to do one post per week. A rough outline of the primer is present below and will be updated as I progress.

Fundamentals (基本, 기본)

1. Introduction to Characters
2. Four Tones of Classical Chinese
3. Words and Characters
   1. Monosyllabic Words
   2. Polysyllabic Words
4. Basic Word Order
5. Part of Speech
   1. Pronouns
   2. Verbs
   3. Auxiliary Verbs
   4. Adverbs
   5. Adjectives
   6. Conjunctions
   7. Prepositions
   8. Postpositions
   9. Terminals
   10. Interjections

Primer on Prose (漢文, 한문)

1. Declaratory
2. Negative
3. Prohibitive
4. Restrictive
5. Interrogative
6. Passive
7. Conditional
8. Comparative
9. Exclamatory

Primer on Poetry (漢詩, 한시)

1. Classifications of Classical Chinese Poetry
2. Ancient Style Poetry
3. Recent Style Poetry
   1. Tonal Meter Rules
   2. Truncated Verse Poetry (絶句, 절구, Jeolgu)
   3. Regulated Poetry (律詩, 율시, Yulshi)

Reading Hyeonto (懸吐解法, 현토해법)

1. Introduction
2. Cases
3. Mood
4. Conjuctions
5. Poetry Use

Appendix (附錄, 부록)

1. How to Use a Dictionary
2. List of Functional Words (虛辭, 허사)

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