Jump to:
Vocabulary
Nouns:
얘 = this kid
질 = quality
약물 = medical products, medical drug
손끝 = fingertip
입속 = inside a mouth
앞길 = road ahead, future
이놈 = this guy
술잔 = alcohol cup
박자 = beat in music
소통 = communication
물기 = droplets of water
매분 = each minute
매순간 = each moment
팔짱 = for arm’s to be intertwined
몸짓 = gesture, motion
손길 = hand
효과적 = effective
Verbs:
작용하다 = to act on/effect
퇴임하다 = to retire
Adjectives:
악하다 = to be evil/bad/wicked
달리다 = to be different
Adverbs and Other Words:
소중히 = preciously, with great care
Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn how to use a familiar grammatical principle, ~느냐 to create a more complex meaning than what you already have learned. Furthermore, you will learn to add ot ~느냐 to make it even more complex. Let’s get started!
~느냐: Whether or Not
In Lesson 53, you first learned about ~느냐 as a way to indicate an indirect quote of a question. That is, to indicate that one asks a question. For example:
입속에 뭐가 있느냐고 묻는 아이가 있었어요
= There was a kid asking what’s inside my mouth
얘가 어디 가느냐고 물어봤어요
= They asked where this kid was going
Questions by nature are speculative. The fundamental purpose of ~느냐 is to indicate speculation. The ability of ~느냐 to indicate speculation allows it to have more uses than just indicating that one asks a question. ~느냐 can be used to speculate “whether” something something occurs. For example:
그들이 모두 화해하느냐는 모두가 관심 있어 하는 주제예요
= The topic of whether they will all reconcile is something everyone is interested in
Here you see ~는 attached to ~느냐. This is to indicate that the entire speculation of “whether they reconcile or not” is itself the subject of the sentence. The use of a particle on ~느냐 is no different than when you saw ~고 attached to it when forming quoted questions. In the example sentences later (and in the next few lessons), you will see typical particles ~를, ~가 or ~에 attached to ~느냐 depending on its purpose in a sentence.
Very often, two opposite words are used with ~느냐 to indicate whether one is true, or the other. For example:
물기가 아직 남아 있느냐 없느냐는 문제가 아니예요
= It’s not a problem whether or not there are still droplets left
Below are many more examples:
팔짱을 끼느냐 풀느냐는 그의 태도에 달려 있어요
= Whether he intertwined his arms or let them loose depends on his attitude
술잔을 비우느냐 남기느냐가 그의 결심을 보여 줄 것이에요
= Whether he empties or leaves the alcohol cup will show his determination
매순간을 소중히 여기느냐 대충 사느냐가 삶의 질을 결정해요
= Whether you cherish or just simply live each moment determines the quality of life
이 약물이 효과적으로 작용하느냐가 치료의 성공 여부를 좌우해요
= Whether this medicine acts effectively will determine the success of the treatment
물기가 아직 남아 있느냐 없느냐가 문제예요
= The issue is whether there are still droplets left or not
그 몸짓에 의미가 있느냐 없느냐를 확인해 봐야 해요
= We need to check whether that gesture has meaning or not
그는 언제 퇴임하느냐를 궁금해하는 사람이 많아요
= Many people are curious about when he will retire
You saw in Lesson 53 that ~느냐 can’t be added to adjectives. This is true here as well. Instead, ~(으)냐 is added to adjectives. For example:
손끝이 따뜻하냐 차가우냐가 문제예요
= The issue is whether the fingertips are warm or cold
이 박자가 맞느냐 틀리느냐 가 중요해요
= Whether this beat is right or wrong is important
이놈이 정말 악하냐 아니냐를 판단하기 어려워요
= It’s hard to judge whether this guy is truly evil or not
입속이 깨끗하냐 더러우냐를 확인해야 해요
= We need to check whether the inside of the mouth is clean or dirty
That’s it for this lesson!