Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but any grammar you can’t understand will eventually be introduced in later lessons. Use these sentences to give yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the grammar that you will be learning shortly.
A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.
Examples: 문제를 이해하지 못하면 감독관에게 물어봐도 돼요
= You may ask the supervisor/proctor if you don’t understand the question
감독관은 시험시작 20분전까지 각 교실로 입장해 주세요
= Would all of the (exam) proctors please enter each (their respective) classrooms 20 minutes before the start of the exam
Common Usages:
심장마비 = heart attack
심장이식 = heart transplant
심장박동 = heart beat
심장이 뛰다 = for a heart to be pounding
Examples: 심장수술이 잘 됐어요? = Did the heart surgery go well?
말이 날뛰듯이 그의 심장이 뛰었다 = His heart was racing, as if a horse were bucking
심장이 멈춘 듯이 가슴이 아파요 = My chest hurts as if my heart has stopped
제가 20분이상 쉬지 않고 달리면 심장이 빨리 뛰기 시작해요 = When I run for more than 20 minutes without resting, my heart starts to race
Common Usages:
염소수염 = goatee
수염을 깎다 = to trim one’s facial hair
수염을 기르다 = to grow facial hair
Examples: 이 직장에서 수염을 길러도 돼요 = You are allowed to have a beard at this job 수염을 안 깎아도 돼요? = You don’t need to shave your beard?
수염이 길면 음식을 먹을 때마다 수염에 음식이 묻어서 깨끗하지 않아요 = When your facial hair is long, every time you eat food, it gets stuck in your beard so it’s not clean
Common Usages:
명예를 얻다 = to gain honor
명예퇴직 = “retiring with honor” (usually used when somebody retires before the regular retiring age. The opposite of this [to retire at the regular retiring age] is정년퇴직)
Examples: 내일 시합에서 명예를 회복해도 돼요 = You can regain your honor during tomorrow’s game
오늘 저희 선생님 중 한 분이 명예퇴직을 하셔서 회식이 있을 거예요
= Today, one of our teachers is retiring (early) so there will be a staff dinner
이 선수는 세상에서 가장 빠른 선수라는 명예를 올림픽을 통해 얻었어요
= This athlete received/gained the honor of being the fastest sprinter/athlete in the world through the Olympics
Common Usages:
당구대 = pool table
당구장 = pool hall
당구공 = pool ball
Examples: 당구를 여기서 쳐도 돼요 = You are allowed to play pool here
형이랑 (같이) 당구를 하면서 술을 마셨어요 = I drank alcohol with my brother while playing pool
내일 친구랑 같이 당구를 칠 계획이 있어서 회사에 갈 수 없어요 = I have plans to play pool with a friend tomorrow, so I can’t go to work
Examples: 우리가 탁구를 해도 돼요? = May we play table tennis?
체육시간에 배우는 스포츠 중 가장 흔한 스포츠는 탁구예요 = The most common sport to play/learn during P.E. class is table tennis
Common Usages:
재시합 = rematch
시합에 나가다 = to participate in a competition
시합에 이기다 = to win a match
시합에 지다 = to lose a match
Examples: 내일 시합에서 명예를 회복해도 돼요 = You can regain your honor during tomorrow’s game
연습을 많이 해도 시합에서 질 거예요 = Regardless of how much you practice, you will lose the match
오늘 시합에서 이기면 결승전에 진출할 수 있습니다 = If we win the match today, we can advance to the finals
Notes: “증” refers to some sort of proof that one can, or is allowed to do something. For example:
면허증 = drivers licence (a card showing that one can/is allowed to drive)
학생증 = student card (a card showing that one is a student)
As such, 자격증 is a document that shows proof that one is qualified in something.
Common Examples:
자격증을 따다 = to get a certification/certified
Examples: 자격증을 안 보여줘도 돼요? = I don’t need to show you my certification?
한국에 젊은이들은 취업을 하기 위해 많은 자격증을 따요 = Young people in Korea obtain a lot of certificates to get hired
Common Usages:
먹이사슬 = the food chain
먹이를 찾다 = to hunt/search for prey
먹이를 먹다 = to eat one’s prey
Examples: 얼룩말에게 먹이를 줘도 돼요? = May I give feed to the zebras?
생태계는 먹이사슬을 바탕으로 존재합니다 = The ecosystem is based on the food chain
나는 아빠에게 부탁해서 펭귄 먹이를 사달라고 했다. 펭귄 점심 시간에 먹이가 있으면 직접 펭귄에게 먹이를 줄 수 있기 때문이다.
= I asked my dad for a favor, I asked him to buy me some penguin bait/feed. Because, if you have bait during the penguin lunch time, you can feed the penguins yourself.
Common Usages:
교도소에 입소하다 = to be put in jail
교도소에 가다 = to go to jail
교도소에서 석방되다 = to be released from jail
Examples: 죄수를 보러 교도소에 들어가도 돼요? = May we go into the prison to see the prisoners?
이 교도소는 많은 살인자가 있는 곳으로 유명해요 = This prison is famous for having a lot of murderers
교도소 주변에는 아무도 살고 싶지 않기 때문에 아파트가 없어요
= There are no apartments in the area of prisons because nobody wants to live there
Common usages:
죄수 = prisoner
범죄 = crime
범죄자 = criminal
Example:
옛날에는 큰 죄를 저지른 사람에게는 벌로써 독약이 담긴 음식을 먹게 했어요
= A long time ago, as punishment for commitment of serious crimes, people were forced to eat poisoned food
Common Usages:
죄수를 석방하다 = to free a prisoner
죄수를 감시하다 = to watch a prisoner
Examples: 죄수를 보러 교도소에 들어가도 돼요?
= May we go into the prison to see the prisoners?
이 교도소에는 총 100명의 죄수가 수감되어 있습니다
= There are 100 prisoners in total locked in this prison
이 남자는 살인을 저지른 죄수로 곧 감옥에 수감될 예정입니다.
= This man is scheduled to be immediately locked up in prison as a convicted killer (prisoner who has committed murder)
Verbs: 파악하다 = to understand, to grasp, to figure out
The pronunciation of this word is closer to “파아카다”
Common Usages:
분위기 파악을 하다 = to understand an atmosphere
아이를 동반한 가족은 이 곳에서 기다리면 더 빠르게 입장할 수 있습니다
= If families with accompanying children wait here, they can enter more quickly
이 약은 두통을 동반할 수도 있으니 이 약을 먹은 후 커피를 마시지 마세요
= Head pain can be accompanied (as a side effect, for example) with this medicine, so after taking this medicine, don’t drink coffee
The noun form of this word (“회복”) translates to “a restoration.”
The pronunciation of this word is closer to “회보카다”
Common Usages:
건강을 회복하다 = to restore one’s health
컨디션을 회복하다 = to restore one’s condition “컨디션” is used in Korean to indicate that one’s body “condition” is good or not good (usually to indicate that one is sick or not sick)
Examples: 내일 시합에서 명예를 회복해도 돼요
= You can regain your honor during tomorrow’s game
저는 피곤할 때마다 컨디션 회복을 위해 아침에 조깅을 가요
= When I am tired, in order to recover my condition, I go jogging in the morning
1년 전에 자동차 사고를 당한 동료는 건강을 회복하고 다시 출근했어요
= My co-worker that got into a car accident a year ago has recovered his health and is coming to work again
어제 백화점에서 물건을 살 때 수수료에 대한 설명을 해주지 않아서 불쾌했어요
= When I bought an item at the department store yesterday, they didn’t explain about the fees, so it wasn’t nice
전철에서 술에 취한 사람이 옆에 앉으면 냄새 때문에 불쾌해서 저는 자리에서 일어나요
= Because of the smell, when drunk people sit beside me on the subway, it is unpleasant so I get up from my seat
Examples: 고기에 그 단단한 부분을 먹어도 돼요
= You can/may even eat that hard/stiff part of the meat
저는 말랑말랑한 바나나보다 단단한 바나나가 더 맛있어요
= To me, hard bananas are more delicious than soft bananas
나무가 생각보다 단단해서 톱을 이용해서 반으로 잘랐어요
= The tree is harder (“stiffer”) than we thought so we used a saw and cut it in half
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Introduction
In this lesson, you will build on your understanding of ~아/어도 to make sentences using 되다. Using these concepts, you will be able to indicate that here is no problem if something is or is not done. Let’s get started.
Another meaning of 되다
In previous lessons, you learned some uses of the word “되다.” For example in Lesson 9 you learned that it can be used as a stand-alone verb which means “to become:”
Another usage of “되다” is to indicate that there is “no problem” with something. Common translations for this can be “for something to be going well” or “for something to be working (well).” You can typically place “되다” after a noun to indicate that there is no problem with that noun. The word “잘” is often included in these sentences as its nature to mean “well:” For example:
This same usage is often used to say that something has “finished” doing whatever it should be doing, for example
밥이 됐어요? = Is the rice ready?/Has the rice finished cooking?
You can also use 되다 to tell somebody to stop giving you something. For example, if somebody is filling up a glass of water for you, and you want to say “Okay! That’s enough!” you can just say “됐어(요)!”
If you wanted to say the opposite – that is – that something is not going well, not working or is not finished, you should use the word 안 (even though the usual opposite of “잘” is “못”). “잘” can also be included in these sentences along with “안” (just like how “잘” can be used alongside “못”). For example:
Person 1: 축구 경기를 내일 보러 갈래요? = Shall we go to see a soccer game tomorrow?
Person 2: 저는 가고 싶지만 내일은 안 돼요 = I want to go, but I can’t go tomorrow (tomorrow doesn’t work for me)
I want to talk about this usage of 되다 and how it can be applied in sentences with ~아/어도.
To be allowed to do: ~아/어도 되다
In the previous section, you learned how 되다 can be used to indicate that there is “no problem” with something.
In the previous lesson, you learned how to attach ~아/어도 to the stem of a clause to create the meaning of “regardless of…” For example:
네가 일찍 가도 … = Regardless of if you leave early…
되다 (in the usage described in this lesson) is commonly used after ~아/어도 to indicate that there is no problem with the action being done. For example:
네가 일찍 가도 돼 = Regardless of if you leave early, there is no problem
This typically translates to “one may” or “one is allowed to.” For example:
네가 일찍 가도 돼 = “You may go early,” or “You are allowed to go early”
These types of sentences can also be used to ask questions. Here, the speaker is asking if there is any “problem” with an action occurring. For example:
제가 일찍 가도 돼요? = Regardless of if I go early, is there any problem?
These types of questions typically translation to “May…?” or “Is it alright if…” For example:
The final clause of all of these example sentences has been in the present tense. It is possible to conjugate 되다 to the past or future tenses to indicate that there would have been no problem if an action had been done, or will be done in the future. For example:
그때 나가도 되었어요 = It would have been okay if you left at that time 문을 열어도 되었어요 = It would have been okay if you opened the door
그때 나가도 될 거예요 = It will be okay if you leave at that time 문을 열어도 될 거예요 = It will be okay if you open the door
One doesn’t have to: 안 ~아/어도 되다
In the previous section, you learned how to indicate that there will be “no problem” if some action was completed. In order to indicate that there will be “no problem” if some action doesn’t occur, you can conjugate the verb before ~아/어도 negatively using 안 or ~지 않다. For example:
네가 빨리 안 가도 돼 = Regardless of if you don’t leave quickly/early, there is no problem
This typically translates to “it is okay if one does not” or “one doesn’t have to.” For example:
You could also generally see this form as the opposite of ~아/어야 하다, which you learned in Lesson 46. Notice the opposite meanings that these sentences have:
In all of the sentences in this lesson using ~아/어도 되다, the common meaning applied to all sentences is “it is okay if…” or “there is no problem if.” Instead of using 되다, other words that have a similar meaning can be used as well. The two most common substitutes for 되다 in this usage are 좋다 and 괜찮다. For example:
