Lesson 68: Only: 유일하다/유일하게

Common Usages:
단골고객 = regular customer
단골손님 = regular customer

Examples:
우리가 그 식당 단골이라서 갈 때마다 서비스를 받아요
= We are regular customers of that restaurant, so every time we go, we get free food

저는 그 식당에서 먹는 사람 중에 유일한 단골고객이에요
= Of all people who eat at that restaurant, I am the only regular customer

Examples:
동물원에 돼지가 많았어요 = There was a lot of pigs at the zoo
동물원에 카메라를 갖고 입장해도 돼요? = Am I allowed to enter the zoo with a camera?

저는 서울에서 있는 유일한 동물원에 가서 기린과 사자를 봤어요
= I went to the only zoo in Seoul and saw the giraffes and lions

하지만 펭귄이 있는 곳은 동물원 입구에서 멀다고 하니 아빠와 나는 우선 다른 동물들을 먼저 봤다
= But (because) the place the penguins are was said to be far from the zoo entrance, so Dad and I saw other animals first

Notes: The first line of a very common children’s song in Korean goes “산토끼 토끼야 어디를 가느냐?”

Common Usages:
산토끼 = wild rabbit

Examples:
토끼는 큰 귀가 있어요 = Rabbits have big ears
토끼가 어두운 숲으로 사라졌어요 = The rabbit disappeared into the dark forest
그 토끼의 서식지가 다 없어졌다니 안됐다 = It is too bad that that rabbit’s habitat disappeared
강아지가 울타리를 뛰어 넘고 토끼를 뒤따라갔어요 = The puppy jumped over the fence and chased after the rabbit

Common Usages:
목장갑 = cotton gloves (usually worn by people when doing manual labor)
고무장갑 = rubber gloves
일회용장갑 = disposable (one-time use) gloves
장갑을 끼다 = to put on gloves

Examples:
날씨가 쌀쌀해서 장갑을 끼고 나갔어요
= The weather is a little bit chilly, so I put gloves on and went out

사람들이 보통 헬스를 할 때 장갑을 끼고 해요
= When people workout (in a gym), they usually wear gloves (put gloves on and do it)

Examples:
저는 동물원에서 자지 않은 유일한 당나귀를 탔어요
= At the zoo, I rode the only donkey that wasn’t sleeping

당나귀는 말과 비슷하지만 힘이 말처럼 그렇게 세진 않아요
= Donkeys are similar to horses, but they’re not as strong/powerful

Examples:
독수리는 미국 상징 동물입니다 = The eagle is the symbolic animal of America

독수리는 하늘에서 날아다니면서 땅에서 기어 다니는 쥐도 볼 수 있어요 = As eagles fly around in the sky they can also see mice crawling around on the ground

제가 동물원에서 유일하게 보고 싶은 것은 도마뱀과 개구리예요
= The only things I want to see at the zoo are snakes and frogs

요즘에는 집에서 도마뱀을 강아지나 고양이처럼 키우는 것이 유행이에요
= These days, it is popular/common/a trend to raise a snake at home (as a pet) like a puppy or a cat

Examples:
코끼리는 제일 큰 육지에 사는 포유 동물이에요
= The elephant is the largest mammal that lives on land

코끼리가 음식을 코로 잡아서 입에 넣는 것은 신기해요
= It is cool/amazing that elephants grab food with their nose and put it into their mouth

Examples:
기린의 목 길이는 거의 2미터 가까이 돼요
= The length of a giraffe’s neck an almost reach two meters

기린이 무서워 보지만 아주 얌전한 동물이에요
= Giraffes look scary but they are very tame animals

기린의 털 때문에 기린이 노란색 옷을 입은 것 같이 보였다. 나는 기린이 목이 길어서 무서울 줄 알았는데 오히려 귀여웠다.
= Because of their fur, it looked like the giraffes were wearing yellow clothes. Giraffes have long necks, therefore I thought they would be scary, rather, they were cute.

Examples:
사자는 아프리카 먹이사슬에서 제일 높은 곳에 위치한 동물이에요
= The lion is the animal that is (located at) the top of the food chain in Africa

나는 사자를 보는 게 무서웠지만 어쨌든 우리는 사자가 있는 곳에 도착했다. 하지만 사자는 낮잠을 자고 있었다.
= I was afraid of seeing the lions, but, at any rate, we arrived at the place where the lions were. However, the lions were taking a nap.

Common Usages:
우물 안 개구리 = when somebody is the best at something, but only in their area (a big fish in a little pond)

Examples:
개구리가 시냇물에서 천천히 헤엄쳤어요
= The frog swam slowly in the stream (water)

Common Usages:
흑염소 = black goat

Examples:
그 농장에는 염소 세 마리가 있어요
= There are three goats at/on that farm

어떤 나라는 일반 우유가 아니라 염소 우유를 많이 마셔요
= Some countries drink a lot of goats milk, not regular (cow) milk

Notes: The song “Baby Shark” got very popular in Korea in 2018. This coincided with me having a baby, which meant this song was playing all the time in my house/car. In Korean, the song goes “아기 상어 뚜루뚜뚜뚜…”

Examples:
제가 바다에서 유일하게 무서운 것은 상어예요 = The only thing I am afraid of in the ocean is sharks

상어는 사람을 무는 이유는 사람을 대부분 물개로 착각하기 때문이에요 = The reason why sharks bite humans is mostly because they mistake them/us for seals

Common Usages:
몫을 챙기다 = to take/get one’s portion

Examples:
저의 몫만 먹었어요 = I only ate my share
자기 몫을 챙겨서 가세요 = Get your portion, and then leave

Notes: A 방울 is a counter for a “drop” of something. Before 방울, we have “비,” which means “rain.” In between 비 and 방울 is a사이시옷. For more information on this “ㅅ,” see Lesson 131.

Common Usages:
굵은 빗방울 = heavy rain (where the rain drops are big)

Examples:
내 머리에 빗방울이 떨어지는 것이 느껴져 = I can feel raindrops falling on my head
빗방울이 바람막이에 갑자기 떨어지기 시작했어요 = All of a sudden, raindrops started falling on the windshield

Examples:
회사에서 유일하게 입을 수 있는 복장은 정장이에요
= The only thing/clothing that you can wear at work is a suit

내일 회사에서 중요한 회의가 있는 날이라 복장에 특별히 신경을 쓸 거예요
= There is an important meeting tomorrow at the office, so I am going to put care into my clothes (what I wear)

Common Usages:
물가상승률 = inflation rate

Examples:
물가가 비싸지자 사람들이 그 도시에 안 가요
= People don’t go to that city because the price of goods is getting expensive

미국 물가가 아주 비싸서 당신을 위해 산 유일한 기념품은 이 목걸이예요
= The price of goods in America is very expensive, so the only souvenir I bought for you is this necklace

Examples:
그 아이가 우리 반에서 유일하게 이기적인 학생이에요
= That kid is the only selfish student in our class

친구들이랑 좋은 관계를 유지하고 싶으면 이기적으로 행동해서는 안돼요
= If you want to maintain/continue good relationships with your friends, you should not act selfishly

Notes: This is obviously two words, but I wanted to include it as a separate entry. I figured it didn’t fit well enough under the heading of “바람” or “피우다,” so I wanted to talk about this one meaning separately.

Examples:
저는 아내한테 바람을 피웠다고 어쩔 수 없이 말했어요
= I had no choice but to tell my wife that I cheated on her

그 여자의 남편이 비서랑 바람을 피운다는 소문이 있어요
= There is a rumor that that woman’s husband is having an affair with his secretary

Examples:
저는 그 글을 확인하지 않고 쓰자마자 바로 전송했어요
= I didn’t check the message and just sent it as soon as I wrote it

저는 이메일을 그 회사에서 기한 안에 전송하는 유일한 사람이에요
= I am the only person who sent the email in that company within/by the deadline

Common Usages:
힘을 합하다 = to combine powers/efforts/strengths

Examples:
우리는 힘을 다 합해서 일을 마무리했어요
= We put together all of our efforts and finished/wrapped up that job/task

우리가 유일하게 할 수 있는 것은 우리 힘을 다 합하고 해 보는 거예요
= The only thing that we can do is combine our strength/efforts/power together and try

Notes: It’s hard to come up with a one-word translation that fits the meaning of 반성하다. When I do something silly and my wife gets mad at me, once she is ready to forgive me, she will ask me “반성했어?” This translates to something like “did you think about what you did wrong?”

Common Usages:
진심으로 반성하다 = to sincerely self-reflect

Examples:
그 남자가 바람을 피우고 그의 행동에 대해 진심으로 반성했어요
= That man cheated on his wife, and then sincerely thought about (self-reflected) about what he did

한 학생이 친구를 심하게 괴롭혀서 반성하는 의미로 그 친구에게 사과 편지를 썼어요
= A student severely bothered/bullied his friend, and as a way of self-reflecting about what he did wrong, he wrote an apology letter (to his friend)

Notes: One of the funniest text-messages I have ever sent in Korean included the word “유지” and I still remember it to this day. My wife sent me a message to tell me she had finally finished filing her taxes. At this time, we were about to get married, and she only had a few days of work left before she quit. Also, I call her a “bear” because she is cute like a bear. When she sent me the message telling me she finished her taxes, she simply said “세금신고 완료!” (tax reporting – finished!). I hilariously responded with:

세금신고 완료, 근무 완료, 미혼 완료, 베어 상태 유지

It is hard to translate this directly into English, but it would be something like:

Tax reporting – finished, Work – finished, Being single – finished, Being a bear – still ongoing

Examples:
제가 운동하는 유일한 이유는 몸무게를 유지하는 것이에요
= The only reason I exercise is to maintain/keep my weight

허벅지 근육은 균형을 유지하는 데 중요한 역할을 해요
= The muscles of your inner-thigh play an important role in maintaining one’s balance

그 부부가 1년 동안 계속 결혼 생활을 유지할 수 있을지도 몰라요
= I don’t even know if that couple can stay married (continue married life) for one year

Notes: This feels like it should be an adjective, but it is actually a verb.

손이 모자라다 = to not have enough hands (people)

Examples:
돈이 모자라서 그것을 못 사요 = I can’t buy that because I don’t have enough money
혹시 손이 모자라면 알려주세요 = If you need a hand, let me know