Why Korean speakers say "I am agree" and "discuss about it": verbs that don't take a preposition
Korean students add "am" to agree and "about" to discuss because Korean sentences build those ideas with a particle before the verb. English puts the meaning inside the verb itself, so the extra word has to go.
Park English2026-10-242 min read
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Every Park English teacher hears this by week two: "I am agree," "Let's discuss about it," "He married with her." The students aren't guessing randomly. They're translating a pattern that works perfectly in Korean and breaks in English.
Why this happens
In Korean, many of these ideas are built with a particle (like 와/과, meaning "with," or 에 대해, meaning "about") sitting right before the verb. 토론하다 (discuss) almost always shows up with 에 대해 in front of it, so "discuss about" feels complete to a Korean brain the same way "talk about" does to ours. 동의하다 (agree) gets taught early as a feeling-word, so kids reach for "am" the way they would for "happy" or "tired."
English already packed that meaning into the verb. "Discuss" means "talk about." "Agree" doesn't need "am" in front of it, because it's an action, not a state. Marry, answer, enter, and attend work the same way: the preposition students want to add is already living inside the English word.
The verbs that trip students most
| Korean instinct | Correct English | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I am agree | I agree | Agree is a verb, not an adjective. No "am" needed. |
| Discuss about it | Discuss it | "Discuss" already means "talk about." |
| Marry with him | Marry him | No "with." The person is the direct object. |
| Answer to the question | Answer the question | Only use "answer to" for a person ("answer to your boss"). |
| Enter into the room | Enter the room | Drop "into" for places you walk into. |
| Attend to the class | Attend the class | "Attend to" means "take care of," a different meaning. |
A quick way to say this to a class of ten-year-olds: "These English verbs are hungry. They eat the person or thing right after them. No extra word in between."
Drills, easy to hard
- Circle the correct one. (I am agree / I agree) with you.
- Delete the extra word. "We discussed about the trip." (Students cross out "about.")
- Choose the right verb form. She ___ (enter / enters) the classroom at 9.
- Fix the sentence. "He married with my sister last year." → students rewrite it.
- Build your own. Give students the frame "I ___ because ___" and have them use agree, discuss, or answer correctly.
Start every class with level 1 or 2. Don't jump to level 4 until a majority of the class gets level 2 right without help, usually after two or three short sessions spread across a week.
One thing worth admitting: a few of these verbs do take a preposition in some contexts (you can "agree with a person" even though you can't say "I am agree"). Don't over-explain the exception in one class. Let it come up naturally when a student asks, and keep drilling the clean pattern until it's automatic.