Lesson 142: ~ㄴ/는다니 – Responding in Surprise or Displeasure

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Vocabulary
Introduction

Responding in Surprise or Displeasure: ~ㄴ/는다니
Adding ~다니 to Adjectives
Adding ~다니 to Adjectives
Adding this Grammatical Principle to Other Endings

 

 

Vocabulary

Nouns:
예측 = forecast, prediction

미풍 = gentle breeze

솜털 = soft, fine hair (“peach fuzz”)

요약 = summary

대머리 = bald

바닷물 = sea water

다용도 = multi-purpose

다용도실 = utility room

Verbs:
베다 = to rest one's head on

조리다 = to boil in sauce, to simmer

다듬다 = to trim (nails/hair)

좌절하다 = to be frustrated

차단하다 = to block, to obstruct, to stop

소송하다 = to sue

상승하다 = to rise/increase

급락하다 = to plummet

급상승하다 = to soar

급강하하다 = to plummet

Adjectives:
흐릿하다 = to be blurry/cloudy/gray/faint

넉넉하다 = to be sufficient/enough

찝찝하다 = to feel uncomfortable/awkward

담백하다 = to be light/clean in taste

민망하다 = to be embarrassed/ashamed

못마땅하다 = to be unhappy/displeased with

Adverbs:
기껏 = at most

기껏해야 = at most

For help memorizing these words, try using our mobile app.

 

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn a simple and common way to end your sentences with a bit of attitude. You will learn the subtle meaning of ending your sentences ~ㄴ/는다니, ~다니, ~(이)라니, ~자니, ~(느)냐니 and ~(으)라니. Let’s get started.

 

 

Responding in Surprise or Displeasure: ~ㄴ/는다니

Imagine your friend comes to your house. He has been at your house for an hour, and you expect him to stay for a while longer because the two of you are having a lot of fun. Suddenly, your friend says he is going to leave. He says to you;

내가 이제 갈게! = I’m leaving now

You’re surprised. You’re a little shocked. You’re a little displeased. Why is he leaving so early? He just got here! Do you even believe him? In one very quick response, it is possible to express all of this emotion to your friend:

지금 간다니? = You’re going now? You just got here! Why are you leaving so early?

Conversation Audio

The grammatical principle that is added to the stem of 가다 in this case is technically ~ㄴ다니. However, a simple way to look at this is simply the plain form conjugation followed by ~니. By adding ~ㄴ다니 to the stem of verbs ending in a vowel you can create a meaning that implies the speaker’s surprise, displeasure, or astonishment to what was said immediately before. Let me provide another situation.

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Imagine you are talking to your friend on the phone at 1:00 in the morning. You assume that your friend is in bed. All of a sudden, he says that he is out at a restaurant eating by himself. You’re surprised. You’re a little shocked. (You probably aren’t displeased in this situation). Why is your friend eating by himself at 1:00 in the morning? Do you even believe him? It sounds like there is no background noise over the phone. In one very quick response, it is possible to express all of this emotion to your friend:

지금 먹는다니? = You’re eating now? There’s no way! It’s 1:00am. I don’t hear any background noise!

The grammatical principle that is added to the stem of 먹다 in this case is technically ~는다니. However, a simple way to look at this is simply the plain form conjugation followed by ~니.

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Below are more examples:

지금부터 싫어하는 친구들을 메신저에서 차단할 거야
차단한다니? 그 친구들이랑 연락해야 하면 어떻게 할 건데?
= I’m going to block the friends I don’t like on messenger from now on
= Block? What happens if you need to contact them?
Conversation Audio

내일 주식이 다 급상승할 거예요
급상승한다니? 모든 예측은 주식이 내일 다 급락할 거라고 하는데
= All of the stocks are going to skyrocket tomorrow
= Skyrocket? All of the forecasts say that the stocks will all plummet tomorrow
Conversation Audio

It is also possible to add this grammatical principle to verbs conjugated to the past tense. Imagine your friend comes over to your house again. You planned to have dinner together. He comes over and informs you that he already ate. You’re surprised. You’re a little shocked. You’re a little displeased. Why did he already eat? You were supposed to eat together! In one very quick response, it is possible to express all of this emotion to your friend:

이미 먹었다니! = You already ate! We were supposed to eat together! Why did you already eat?

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Here is another situation:

이 시험을 한번에 통과하지 못해서 좌절했어
좌절했다니? 그 시험을 한번에 통과하는 사람은 거의 없어
= I’m frustrated that I couldn’t pass the test on the first try
= Frustrated? There aren’t many people who pass that test on the first try
Conversation Audio

 

 

Adding ~다니 to Adjectives

Earlier, you saw how the additions of ~ㄴ다니 and ~는다니 are simply ~니 added to the plain form conjugation of verbs. This same idea can be applied to adjectives. Remember that the plain form conjugation adjectives is simply the dictionary form of that word. Therefore, when using this grammatical principle with adjectives, you don’t need to do anything but attach ~니 to 다. For example:

우리가 같이 있어서 민망해요
민망하다니?
= I’m embarrassed because I am with you
= Embarrassed?
Conversation Audio

이번 주에 애기 머리를 다듬고 싶어요
다듬고 싶다니? 애기 머리에 솜털밖에 없다
= I want to trim the baby’s hair this weekend
= You want to trim her hair? There is nothing but peach fuzz on her head
Conversation Audio

이 피자가 느끼하지 않고 아주 단백해요
단백하다니? 기름이 엄청 많은데
= This pizza isn’t greasy, it’s very clean/light
= Light? There is so much grease
Conversation Audio

걱정하지 마! 물이 아주 넉넉해
넉넉하다니? 너무 없어서 곧 바닷물을 마셔야겠다
= Don’t worry, there is more than enough water
= Enough? There is so little I’m going to have to start drinking sea water soon
Conversation Audio

내 남자친구를 부모님이 못마땅해해서 속상해
못마땅하다니? 너 남자친구보다 더 좋은 사람이 어디 있어
= My parents aren’t happy with my boyfriend, so I’m upset
= Aren’t happy? Who could possibly be better than your boyfriend?
Conversation Audio

너무 짜! 조금 덜 조렸어야지
짜다니? 소금을 아예 안 넣었어
= It’s so salty! You need to let it simmer less
= Salty? I didn’t put any salt in it at all
Conversation Audio

날씨가 너무 흐릿해서 안 나가고 싶어
흐릿하다니? 아주 맑은데
= It’s so cloudy, I don’t want to go outside
= Cloudy? It’s really clear
Conversation Audio

이 베개를 베는 것은 찝찝해요
찝찝하다니? 어제 빤 건데
= I feel uncomfortable using this pillow
= Uncomfortable? I washed it yesterday
Conversation Audio

 

 

Adding ~라니 to Nouns

In Lesson 52, you learned how to quote sentences. You may be thinking that the rules for quoting a verb or adjective are very similar to the rules for adding the grammatical principle that we are using in this lesson. A table will help show these similarities.

Notice that I have four types of words in this table. A verb with a stem ending in a vowel; a verb with a stem ending in a consonant; an adjective with a stem ending in a vowel; and an adjective with a stem ending in a consonant.

	가다	먹다	행복하다	작다
Quoting	간다고	먹는다고	행복하다고	작다고
Responding with surprise	간다니	먹는다니	행복하다니	작다니

In Lesson 52, you also learned how to quote 이다. As you can expect, the rules for adding our new grammatical principle to 이다 are the same as when we want to quote with 이다. The only difference is the 니 and the 고. For example we can see how this works when 이다 is attached to a noun that ends in a vowel and when it is attached to a noun that ends in a consonant.

	머리	밥
Quoting	머리라고	밥이라고
Responding with surprise	머리라니	밥이라니

You can see how ~(이)라니 is added to nouns by looking at the table above, but I will state it just to be sure:

If the noun that 이다 is attached to ends in a consonant, “이” is placed between ~라니 and the noun.

선생님이 기껏해야 30살이실 것 같아
30살이라니? 지금 45살이야!
= The teacher seems like he is barely 30 years old
= 30? He is 45 years old!
Conversation Audio

If the noun that 이다 is attached to ends in a vowel, “이” is not used and ~라니 is attached directly to the noun.

그 사람은 나의 여자 친구야
여자 친구라니? 어제 만났잖아
= That person is my girlfriend
= Girlfriend? You met her yesterday
Conversation Audio

In the two exchanges above, 이다 was actually part of the meaning of what the speaker wanted to say.

What do you mean I am thirty years old?
What do you mean she is your girlfriend?

Often times, you just want to express your surprise or displeasure to a noun and don’t necessarily need the “이다.” However, you can’t just add ~라니 directly to a noun. In these cases, “이다” is used, but the meaning of 이다 isn’t really there.  Instead, the speaker is simply showing his/her surprise/displeasure to a particular noun that was just spoken. For example:

돈을 다용도실에 놔뒀어요
다용도실이라니?! 거기 놔두면 아무나 가져갈 수 있잖아
= I put the money in the utility room
= Utility room?! If you put it there, anybody could just take it
Conversation Audio

Notice how I wouldn’t translate the response in the example above to “What do you mean it is a utility room!” In the first sentence, Person 1 never said that is a utility room. Person 1 said to put it into the utility room. Even though “이다” was used, it’s really only used because ~라니 can’t attached directly to the noun. In these situations, I would simply translate the response to the word itself, but with an exclamation mark and question mark. For example:

돈을 다용도실에 놔뒀어요 = I put the money in the utility room
다용도실이라니?! = Utility room!?

Below are many more examples:

다음 주에 소개팅할 남자가 대머리야
대머리라니?
= The man you are going on a blind date with tomorrow is bald
= Bald?
Conversation Audio

방이 너무 더워서 선풍기를 미풍으로 틀었어
미풍이라니? 바람이 너무 센데!
= The room was too hot, so I turned the fan onto light
= Light? It’s blowing really hard!
Conversation Audio

이 책자에서 그 영화의 줄거리 요약을 찾을 수 있어
요약이라니? 이 책자에서 그 영화에 대한 내용이 백 페이지인데!
= You can find that movie’s plot summary in this booklet
= Summary? The content in this booklet about that movie is 100 pages!
Conversation Audio

지금 금방 갔다 올게! 기껏해야 10분 걸릴 거야
10분이라니? 거기 가는 데만 15분 걸려
= I’ll be back soon! It’ll barely take 10 minutes
= 10 minutes? It takes 15 minutes just to get there
Conversation Audio

 

 

Adding this Grammatical Principle to Other Endings

In Lesson 52, you learned how to quote with verbs, adjectives and 이다. In Lesson 53, you learned how to quote suggestions using ~자고. By replacing 고 with 니, you can your surprise/displeasure to a suggestion. Let’s see how this pattern compares to the quoting rules you learned in Lesson 53.

	가다	먹다
Quoting suggestions	가자고	먹자고
Responding with surprise to a suggestion	가자니	먹자니

Here are some examples of ~자니 in use:

지금 나가자니? 날씨가 너무 추워
= Let’s go outside, you say? The weather is so cold

커피를 더 마시자니? 돈이 넉넉하지 않잖아
= Let’s drink coffee, you say? We don’t have enough money

그 회사에 소송하자니? 변호사가 얼마나 비싼지 알아?
= Let’s sue that company, you say? Do you know how expensive a lawyer is?

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In Lesson 53, you learned how to quote questions using ~(느)냐고. By replacing 고 with 니, you can your surprise/displeasure to a question. Let’s see how this pattern compares to the quoting rules you learned in Lesson 53.

	가다	먹다	행복하다	작다
Quoting questions	가느냐고	먹느냐고	행복하냐고	작으냐고
Responding with surprise to a question	가느냐니	먹느냐니	행복하냐니	작으냐니

Here are some examples of ~(느)냐니 in use:

그 사람이 누구냐니? 우리가 그 남자를 어제 만났잖아
= Did you ask who that person is? We met that man yesterday

이 물을 마셔도 되느냐니? 바닷물이야
= Did you ask if we could drink this water? It’s seawater

내가 포기했냐니? 새벽부터 이 문제를 고치려고 일하고 있었어
= Did you ask if I gave up? I was working on fixing this problem since sunrise

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In Lesson 54, you learned how to quote commands using ~(으)라고. By replacing 고 with 니, you can your surprise/displeasure to a command. Let’s see how this pattern compares to the quoting rules you learned in Lesson 54.

	가다	먹다
Quoting questions	가라고	먹으라고
Responding with surprise to a command	가라니	먹으라니

Here are some examples of ~(으)라니 in use:

모자를 벗으라니? 내가 대머리인지 알지?
= Did you tell me to take off this hat? Do you know that I’m bald?

이 책을 요약하라니? 이 책은 너무 길어!
= Did you tell me to summarize this book? This book is too long!

That’s it for this lesson!

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson!