-고
-go
One thread, many beads: the ending -고
The picture Beads going onto a single thread, one after another. The thread never breaks. -고 threads two beads side by side, while -아서/어서 glues the first so it flows into the second — 손 씻고 먹어 is just order, but 늦어서 죄송해요 is a reason flowing on.
Where the picture shows up in -고
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two beads side by side
저는 김치찌개 먹고 친구는 냉면 먹었어요.
jeo-neun gim-chi-jji-gae meok-go chin-gu-neun naeng-myeon meo-geo-sseo-yo
I had kimchi stew and my friend had cold noodles.
A bowl of kimchi stew and a bowl of cold noodles sitting side by side on the same table.
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beads in order
손 씻고 밥 먹어.
son ssit-go bap meo-geo
Wash your hands, then eat.
Hands still wet from the tap reaching straight for the spoon — one motion running into the next.
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qualities on one thread
이 방은 넓고 조용해요.
i bang-eun neol-go jo-yong-hae-yo
This room is spacious and quiet.
A wide, bare room with sunlight across the floor and not a sound in it.
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still on you
코트를 입고 나갔어요.
ko-teu-reul ip-go na-ga-sseo-yo
I went out with my coat on.
Walking out the front door with the coat buttoned up; it stays on the whole way.
입고 나갔다 means leaving while wearing the coat, not putting it on and then taking it off.
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the thread keeps running
지금 회의하고 있어요.
ji-geum hoe-ui-ha-go i-sseo-yo
I'm in a meeting right now.
People still around the meeting table, voices going back and forth right now.
-고 있다 is the progressive. Don't confuse it with -어 있다 (앉아 있다, to be seated).
All of it in one picture
-고 is a single thread. Hang two bowls on it side by side and you are listing; hang washed hands and a spoon in order and you are sequencing; hang 'wide' and 'quiet' on the same stretch and you are stacking qualities. Let the thread drag a coat out the door and it becomes 'with it still on'; leave the thread on a meeting unbroken and it becomes 'happening right now'. So whatever -고 attaches to does not finish and disappear — it keeps hanging on the thread until the sentence ends.