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~았/었어도 되다: One could have done, but did not
Negative sentences
Vocabulary
Nouns
쟁반 = food tray
Examples:
쟁반을 가져갔어도 돼요
= You could have taken a tray
쟁반에 사고 싶은 빵을 담아서 가져와 주세요
= Please bring a tray with the bread you want to buy
양력 = solar calendar
Common Usages:
양력생일 = solar calendar birthday
양력으로 생일을 새다 = to celebrate one’s birthday using the solar calendar
Examples:
서양에서는 양력이 주로 사용돼요
= The solar calendar is mainly used in the Western world
오늘은 나의 생일이 맞긴 하지만 양력생일 말고 음력생일이 더 중요하다고 생각해서 선물을 안 샀어도 됐는데
= Today is my birthday but I find my “lunar calendar” birthday, not my “solar calendar” birthday more important so you didn’t need to buy me a present
음력 = lunar calendar
Common Usages:
음력 생일 = lunar calendar birthday
음력으로 생일을 새다 = to celebrate one’s birthday using the lunar calendar
Examples:
중국에서는 음력이 중요한 날짜로 인식돼요
= The lunar calendar is regarded as significant for dates in China
오늘은 나의 생일이 맞긴 하지만 양력생일 말고 음력생일이 더 중요하다고 생각해서 선물을 안 샀어도 됐는데
= Today is my birthday but I find my “lunar calendar” birthday, not my “solar calendar” birthday more important so you didn’t need to buy me a present
사방 = all around, all directions
Common Usages:
사방에 적이 있다 = for the enemy to be in all directions
사방을 두리번거리다 = to look everywhere (around in all directions)
Examples:
사방을 살피고 저쪽으로나 이쪽으로 가세요
= Look both ways (all ways) and then go this way or that way
슬기는 남동생을 찾기 위해 사방을 두리번거렸어요
= Seulgi looked everywhere (around in all directions) to find her younger brother
결국은 열쇠가 내 주머니에 있어서 굳이 사방을 안 찾아 다녔어도 됐어
= In the end, the key was in my pocket, so I didn’t need to go around everywhere looking for it
언론 = the press, the media
Common Usages:
언론사 = a press, media company
언론 통제 = press control
언론을 통제하다 = to control the media/press
쓰레기언론 = garbage media
Examples:
언론의 자유는 민주주의의 중요한 요소 중 하나예요
= Freedom of the press is one of the important elements of democracy
언론이 안 와서 결국은 진술서를 준비 안 했어도 됐어요
= The media ended up not coming, so we didn’t need to prepare a statement
언론사 = a press, media company
Examples:
그 언론사는 신뢰할 만한 정보를 제공해요
= That media company provides reliable information
언론사가 대통령을 인터뷰했어도 됐어요
= The media could have interviewed the president
기둥 = pillar
Notes: When I worked at a Korean school, there was a chemistry teacher who was notoriously very difficult. His exams were so hard that students who didn’t study and guessed on the final exam often got better scores than students who studied and tried to answer questions. Some students at the school came up with the “기둥” method which was to simply answer “A” (or any other letter) on the machine-read answer paper. They called this method the “기둥” method because it looked like a pillar.
Common Usages:
불기둥 = pillar of fire
창조의 기둥 = Pillars of Creation (in astronomy)
Examples:
그 건물의 기둥은 아름다움이 잘 들어나요
= The pillars of the building show beauty
여기에 아무 것도 없을 거라서 기둥을 세웠어도 돼요
= There won’t be anything here, so you could have erected a pillar here
진술 = statement
Common Usages:
일관된 진술 = consistent statement
Examples:
사건에 대한 진술을 해 주세요
= Please tell us a statement about the incident
고소인이 어쩐지 사건에 대해 진술하는 것을 무서워하는 것 같아요
= The plaintiff somehow seems scared to give a statement about that matter
진술서 = a written statement
Examples:
언론이 안 와서 결국은 진술서를 준비 안 했어도 됐어요
= The media ended up not coming, so we didn’t need to prepare a statement
경찰서에서는 용의자로부터 진술서를 받았어요
= The police station received a written statement from the suspect
해충 = pest, insect
Common Usages:
해충제 = pest repellent
해충을 박멸하다 = to exterminate pests
Examples:
애벌레가 해충이 아니라서 살충제를 안 뿌렸어도 돼요
= Caterpillars are not pests, so you didn’t need to spray pesticides
해충 방제를 위해 독특한 방법을 사용하는 연구가 진행 중이에요
= Research is underway using unique methods for pest control
애벌레 = caterpillar
Examples:
애벌레가 해충이 아니라서 살충제를 안 뿌렸어도 돼요
= Caterpillars are not pests, so you didn’t need to spray pesticides
정원에 애벌레가 많이 모여 있어요
= There are many caterpillars gathered in the garden
살충제 = pesticide
Common Usages:
살충제를 뿌리다 = to spray pesticide
살충제를 살포하다 = to spray pesticide
Examples:
이 야채에 살충제를 안 뿌려서 안 씻어도 돼요
= There isn’t/wasn’t pesticides sprayed on these vegetables, so you don’t need to wash them
농부들은 살충제를 뿌려 해충을 없애고 있어요
= Farmers are spraying pesticides to get rid of pests
출장비 = business travel expenses
Examples:
출장비를 줄 테니까 돈을 안 챙겨도 돼요
= I’m going to give you business travel expenses, so you don’t need to bring money
출장비를 청구할 때에는 모든 영수증을 제출해야 해요
= You must submit all receipts when claiming business travel expenses
Verbs:
세차하다 = to clean one's car
Common Usages:
세차장 = car wash (place)
손세차 = hand car wash
기계 세차 = machine car wash
자동 세차 = automatic car wash
Examples:
먼지가 많아서 세차를 해야 했어요
= There is so much dust, I should have cleaned my car
토요일에는 자동차를 세차하기로 했어요
= I decided to clean my car on Saturday
해지하다 = to cancel/close an account
Common Usages:
계약을 해지하다 = to cancel a contract
멤버십을 해지하다 = to cancel a membership
Examples:
그 계좌에 돈이 아예 없어서 해지했어도 돼요
= There is no money in that account at all, so you could have closed it
계약을 해지하려면 일정한 절차를 따라야 해요
= To cancel a contract, you need to follow a certain procedure
예열하다 = to pre-heat
Common Usages:
오븐을 예열하다 = to pre-heat an oven
Examples:
이 오븐은 금방 뜨거워져서 예열을 안 했어도 됐어요
= This oven gets hot quickly/immediately/right away, so you didn’t need to pre-heat it
오븐을 예열해야 파이가 완벽하게 익습니다
= You need to pre-warm the oven for the pie to cook perfectly
제거하다 = to remove/eliminate
Common Usages:
폭탄 제거 = the removal of a bomb
곰팡이 제거제 = mold removing disinfectant
Examples:
생선 냄새를 제거하기 위해 창문을 열었어도 됐어요
= In order to get rid of the fish smell, you could have opened the window
배꼽떼를 억지로 제거하면 배가 아플 수도 있어요
= If you pick out your belly button lint too much, your belly can be sore
단속하다 = to crack down on
Common Usages:
주차 단속 = parking crackdown
불시 단속 = a random/unexpected crackdown
과속 단속 = cracking down on speeding
Examples:
불법정차단속이 끝났으니까 거기에 잠깐 멈췄어도 됐어요
= They (the police) have finished the illegal no-stopping crack-down, so you could have left me off there
경찰은 도로에서 속도 위반을 단속하고 있어요
= The police are cracking down on speeding on the roads
정차하다 = to stop a car
Examples:
운전자는 신호에 따라 차를 정차해야 해요
= Drivers must stop their cars according to the signals
불법정차단속이 끝났으니까 거기에 잠깐 멈췄어도 됐어요
= They (the police) have finished the illegal no-stopping crack-down, so you could have left me off there
헌혈하다 = to donate blood
Common Usages:
헌혈증 = blood donor card
긴급 헌혈 = emergency donation of blood
Examples:
오늘 헌혈을 하고 싶다니? 컨디션이 너무 안 좋아서 몸이 회복하고 하는 게 낫지 않을까?
= Donate blood today? You don’t feel well, wouldn’t it be better for your body to recover?
헌혈하는 것이 위험한 수술이 아니라서 오기 전에 아무거나 먹었어도 돼요
= Giving blood is not a dangerous surgery, so you could have eaten anything before you came
과속하다 = to go too fast
Common Usages:
과속 단속 = cracking down on speeding
과속 금지 = no speeding
Examples:
손님을 태운 택시가 과속으로 달리다가 사고가 나고 말았어요
= The taxi, with passengers, was speeding and then ended up getting into an accident
결국 일찍 도착해서 과속을 안 했어도 됐는데
= We ended up arriving early, so we didn’t need to speed/hurry
착오하다 = to make an error
Common Usages:
시행착오 = trial and error
Examples:
제 착오로 다른 상품을 보냈어요
= I sent out a different product by mistake
시행착오란 정확한 해결 방법을 몰라 문제를 해결하기 위해 계속해서 시도하고 반복하는 것을 말한다
= Trial and error refers to when one don’t know the exact solution to a problem, but to keep trying and trying in order to solve it
제비뽑기하다 = to draw straws
Examples:
저희는 누가 이번에 술을 마실지 제비뽑기를 했어요
= We drew straws to see who would drink this time
제비뽑기를 해서 일을 맡기는 것 대신에 그냥 저한테 맡겼어도 돼요
= Instead of assigning that job by drawing straws, you could have just assigned it to me
Adjectives
마렵다 = the feeling of having to go to the bathroom
Common Usages:
오줌이 마렵다 = to have the feeling that one needs to urinate
똥이 마렵다 = to have to go poo
Examples:
애기가 똥이 마렵다고 해서 빨리 집에 가야 돼요
The baby says he has to poop, so we have to go home quickly
아이가 쉬가 마려워서 화장실로 뛰어갔어요
= The kid needed to pee so he ran to the bathroom
축축하다 = to be damp/wet/moist
Common Usages:
옷이 축축하다 = for clothes to be wet
이불이 축축하다 = for a blanket to be wet
Examples:
비가 온 후에는 공기가 축축해요
= The air feels damp after the rain
옷이 많이 축축하지 않아서 그냥 입었어도 됐는데
= The clothes aren’t even that wet, you could have just worn them
Adverbs:
듬뿍 = an adverb to indicate that an action is done “a lot” or with a lot of a noun
Common Usages:
듬뿍 넣다 = to put a lot in
듬뿍 바르다 = to spread a lot (of peanut butter, for example)
Examples:
볶음밥이 많이 남아서 듬뿍 가져갔어도 됐어요
= There is a lot of fried rice left, so you could have taken a lot of it
이 소스에는 사과주스를 듬뿍 넣어요
= We put plenty of apple juice in the sauce
굳이 = an adverb that is used to indicate that one doesn’t have to do something
Examples:
제가 지금 듣는 수업과 그 수업에 중복되는 내용이 많아서 굳이 그 수업 둘 다 안 들어도 될 것 같아요
= The contents of the class I am taking now overlaps a lot with the contents of that class, so I probably don’t need to take both of them
결국은 열쇠가 내 주머니에 있어서 굳이 사방을 안 찾아 다녔어도 됐어
= In the end, the key was in my pocket, so I didn’t need to go around everywhere looking for it
For help memorizing these words, try using our mobile app.
Introduction
In this lesson, we will add complexity to a very common grammatical principle. ~아/어도 되다 was introduced in Lesson 49 as a way to indicate that one may do an action. Two lessons ago, I broke down the purpose of ~아/어야. In the previous lesson, I introduced the idea of including ~았/었 before ~아/어야. In this lesson, you will expand on these ideas to create sentences that end in ~았/었어도 되다. Let’s get started.
~았/었어도 되다: One could have done, but did not
With your knowledge of from the previous lesson, you should be able to interpret the difference between the following two sentences:
먼지가 많아서 세차를 해야 했어요
먼지가 많아서 세차를 했어야 해요
In the first sentence, because there was a lot of dust, the person should have gotten a car wash – and did. In the second sentence, the person should have gotten a car wash, but didn’t. Adding ~았/었~ before ~어야 allows the speaker to indicate that the judgement came after the action was completed. Therefore, because correct judgment wasn’t applied, the wrong thing was done (i.e. the person should have gotten the car wash, but didn’t).
That same logic can be applied to adding ~았/었~ before ~아/어도 되다. Let’s first remember the purpose of adding ~아/어도 되다. In Lesson 49, you saw how adding this to the end of a clause allows the speaker to indicate that there is not a problem if the action before ~아/어도 되다 is done. For example:
출장비를 줄 테니까 돈을 안 챙겨도 돼요
= I’m going to give you business travel expenses, so you don’t need to bring money
오줌이 마려우면 지금 화장실에 가도 돼요
= If you have to go pee, you can go to the bathroom now
Let’s look at the effect of adding ~았/었 between the stem of the verb and ~아/어도 되다.
——–
Let’s say that you are at your school’s cafeteria. You take three plates of food, and are fumbling around with trying to carry them all at once. The lady at the counter could say to you:
쟁반을 가져갔어도 돼요 = You could have taken a tray
As we saw in the sentences earlier using ~았/었어야 하다, the ~았/었 indicates that the incorrect judgment was used and therefore the wrong action was performed. We see the same effect when adding ~았/었어도 되다. In the sentence immediately above, you could have taken the tray. There would have been no problem if you did take the tray – but you didn’t.
It is usually more natural to also conjugate the final 되다 in sentences like this.For example:
쟁반을 가져갔어도 됐어요 = You could have taken a tray
Let’s look at another example:
——–
Let’s say that you are driving with your friend and are looking for a good place to drop him off. You can’t just stop the car because you are in a “no stopping zone,” and the police have recently been cracking down on illegal stopping. You end up driving far away to drop him off. Later, you hear that the cracking down has stopped. Your friend could tell you:
불법정차단속이 끝났으니까 거기에 잠깐 멈췄어도 돼요, or
불법정차단속이 끝났으니까 거기에 잠깐 멈췄어도 됐어요
= They (the police) have finished the illegal no-stopping crack-down, so you could have left me off there
As we saw in the sentences earlier using ~았/었어야 하다, the ~았/었 indicates that the incorrect judgment was used and therefore the wrong action was performed. We see the same effect when adding ~았/었어도 되다. In the sentence immediately above, you could have stopped there. There would have been no problem if you did stop there – but you didn’t.
Below are many more examples:
언론사가 대통령을 인터뷰했어도 됐어요
= The media could have interviewed the president
그 계좌에 돈이 아예 없어서 해지했어도 돼요
= There is no money in that account at all, so you could have closed it
볶음밥이 많이 남아서 듬뿍 가져갔어도 됐어요
= There is a lot of fried rice left, so you could have taken a lot of it
옷이 많이 축축하지 않아서 그냥 입었어도 됐는데
= The clothes aren’t even that wet, you could have just worn them
생선 냄새를 제거하기 위해 창문을 열었어도 됐어요
= In order to get rid of the fish smell, you could have opened the window
여기에 아무 것도 없을 거라서 기둥을 세웠어도 돼요
= There won’t be anything here, so you could have erected a pillar here
제비뽑기를 해서 일을 맡기는 것 대신에 그냥 저한테 맡겼어도 돼요
= Instead of assigning that job by drawing straws, you could have just assigned it to me
현혈하는 것이 위험한 수술이 아니라서 오기 전에 아무거나 먹었어도 돼요
= Giving blood is not a dangerous surgery, so you could have eaten anything before you came
Negative sentences
In Lesson 49, you also saw that you can create negative sentences with the construction ~아/어도 되다. By doing this, the speaker can indicate that it is okay if something does not happen. For example:
이 야채에 살충제를 안 뿌려서 안 씻어도 돼요
= There isn’t/wasn’t pesticides sprayed on these vegetables, so you don’t need to wash them
It is also possible to use negative sentences with ~았/었어도 되다. You can use either ~지 않다 or 안, but I feel that it is more commonly done with 안.
The same logic applies as above, but it’s just the opposite now. It wasn’t necessary for something to be done. It would have been okay if it were not done, but it was.
Let’s say you borrow your friend’s car. Like a good person, you put gas in it after you’re done with it. Your friend could say to you:
기름을 안 넣었어도 됐어요
기름을 넣지 않았어도 됐어요
= You didn’t need to put gas in it
(It would have been okay if you didn’t put gas in it)
Again, the ~았/었 indicates that the incorrect judgement was used and therefore the wrong action was performed. In the sentence immediately above, you could have not put gas in. There would have been no problem if you didn’t put gas in – but you did.
Below are many more examples:
결국 일찍 도착해서 과속을 안 했어도 됐는데
= We ended up arriving early, so we didn’t need to speed/hurry
이 오븐은 금방 뜨거워져서 예열을 안 했어도 됐어요
= This oven gets hot quickly/immediately/right away, so you didn’t need to pre-heat it
애벌레가 해충이 아니라서 살충제를 안 뿌렸어도 돼요
= Caterpillars are not pests, so you didn’t need to spray pesticides
언론이 안 와서 결국은 진술서를 준비 안 했어도 됐어요
= The media ended up not coming, so we didn’t need to prepare a statement
결국은 열쇠가 내 주머니에 있어서 굳이 사방을 안 찾아 다녔어도 됐어
= In the end, the key was in my pocket, so I didn’t need to go around everywhere looking for it
오늘은 나의 생일이 맞긴 하지만 양력생일 말고 음력생일이 더 중요하다고 생각해서 선물을 안 샀어도 됐는데
= Today is my birthday but I find my “lunar calendar” birthday, not my “solar calendar” birthday more important so you didn’t need to buy me a present
That’s it for this lesson!