Intermediate Korean Grammar Recap
This is a summary of all the intermediate level Korean grammar points I learned this summer, as well as their respective posts (if there is one). I’ll try to make the others as soon as possible and add them as I go.
~(으)ㄹ 걸요: used when the speaker states an unconfirmed assumption or supposition about a future event or something he or she is not sure about.
~는 바람에: used when the preceding clause descrives the cause or reason for the statement in the following clause (“due to…”).
~는 탓에: indicates that the preceding clause is the clause or reason why the negative event described in the following clause occured (“because of…”)
~고 해서: this expression means that the reason given in the preceding clause is just one if a number of reasons for the behavior described in the following clause (“due to … among other things”)
~다고 하던데: combination of ~는다고 하다 (citation) and 던데 (recollection), it is used when recalling or confirming something you heard somebody else say previously (“I heard that…”).
~(으)ㄹ까 하다 : this is used to indicate the speaker’s vague intention or rough plan that has yet to be finalized (“I’m thinking of doing…”).
~(으)려던 참이다: this expression is used to express the fact that not only had the speaker been intending to do the very thing the other person is suggesting, but that he or she was just about to do it at that very movement or intended to do so very soon (“I was just about to…”).
~(으)ㄹ 겸 ~(으)ㄹ 겸 (해서): this expression is used to indicste the speaker’s intention to do at least two actions or behaviors (“… as well as…”).
~지 그래요?: this expression is used to suggest that someone do somsthing, but is a much weaker and softer expression than ~도록 하다 (“Why not… ?”)
~더라고요: this expression is used to express the speaker’s recollection of something that he or she previously directly saw, heard or felt.
~아/어지다: this expression is used when the subject’s action or behavior occurs either because of an action performed by someone else or because of some other indirect action performed by some person or some thing (“He is closing the door” -> “The door was closed”).
~게 하다: this expression is used to indicate that the subject makes someone else do some behavior (“I am angry” -> “He made me angry”).
~아/어야: in this expression, the preceding clause states the condition(s) necessary to realize the situation stated in the following clause (“In order to…, you have to…”).
~거든: this expression has a meaning of “if the statement (in the preceding clause) is actually true, then…”.
~(으)ㄴ/는 데다가 or (으)ㄴ/는 데다: this expression indicated that the action or state in the following clause occurs in addition to that stated in the preceding clause (“On top of…”).
~조차: this expression is used to express “not only others but also the most primary one” and refers generally to extreme situations that the speaker did not expect or could not anticipate. (Ex: I don’t even know his name -> 그 사람 이름조차 몰라요).
~만 해도: this expression is used when providing examples to explain a situstion or statement made previously (“even just…”)
~만 하다: used with nouns denoting a size, number or amount, this expression indicates that the noun under discussion is approximately the same in size, amount or degree as the noun (“as … as” “… is worth …”).
~아무 + (이)나/아무 + 도: the word 아무 is used to express the not choosing of any specific thing in the sense of “any” (eg. anything, anyone).
~(이)나: this expression is used to indicate that although something is not really one’s first choice, it is fine as the second best option (“… or something”).
~(이)라도: this expression is used to indicate the speaker’s choosing of something that will suffice even though it is not the best option among the available choices (“at least” “even”).
~든지 ~든지: this expression is used when expression that any of the stated choices are fine (“whether it’s … or …”).
~만에: this expression is used to indicate that somthing occured a certain amount of time after a previous event occured (“in (the span of)”).
~아/어 가지고: this expression indicated the doing of the action in the following clause based on the result of completing the action in the preceding clause (“because of…”). It also expresses the speaker’s reason for a certain action or state of affairs.
~아/어다가: this expression indicates that the action in the following clause is done based on the result of first completing the action in the preceding clause (“do… then (based on that action) do…”).
~고서: this expression is used to indicate that the first action completed before the subsequent action stated (‘I did… and then…“).
~고 보니(까): this expression is used to indicate that the speaker learned something new, discovered some new piece of information, or found out something was contrary to what was previously thought after some action or even occured (“Seeing… I realized that…”).
~다(가) 보니(까): this expression is used to indicate that the speaker learned something new after doing some action or behavior continuously from some time in the past, or that a certain situation has occured as a result of that behavior (“After doing… (continuously), I realized that…”).
~다(가) 보면: this expression indicates that if the action or behavior in the previous clause continues, then the result in the following clause will occur (“If you keep…”).
~더니: this expression is used when the speaker wants to refer to something directly seen or experimented in the past when describing how that thing has subsequently changed. (“This was… but now it is…”).
~았/었더니: this expression is used to indicate that something happened as a result of something the speaker did or said previously (“Because I… [something happened]”).
~다가는: this expression is used to express the speaker’s view that if the action in the preceding clause continues, then an adverse result or state of affairs will occur in the future (“If you keep… [negative result] will occur”).
~(으)ㄴ/는 셈이다: this expression is used when the speaker, after considering a number of possible situations, concludes that something could be considered more or less the same as the topic or subject that has been mentioned (“It’s almost as though…”).
~아/어 놓다 or ~아/어 두다: these expressions are interchangeable and used to indicate either the continuation of a state after doing an action or the maintaining of a previous state of being.
~답다: it is attached to nouns and used to indicate that something has the qualities or characteristics of the noun (“…-like”).
~(이)야말로: this expression is used to strongly emphasize the meaning of the preceding noun, especially as a prime exemple among a number of other possible choices.
~고 말다: this expression refers to an unplanned event or action that continued until it was completed or thoroughly finished in a way undesired by the speaker (“[something] ended up…”).
~나 마나: this expression is used when doing the preceding action is of no value of use (“It’s of no use…”).
~아/어 봤자: this expression is used to indicate that there’s no use even trying what is stated in the preceding clause or that doing so would not live up to expectations (“It doesn’t matter if you…”).
