Lesson 58: Or: ~(이)나, ~거나

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Vocabulary
Introduction

(Noun) or (Noun): ~(이)나
(Verb) or (Verb): ~거나

 

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. 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.

Nouns:
줄거리 = summary, plot

체육관 = gymnasium

조직 = organization

양식 = a form to fill out

중간 = middle

중간고사 = midterm exam

중간지점 = halfway point

기말고사 = final exam

나머지 = the remainder

빈손 = empty hands

채소 = vegetables

Verbs:
Conjugate 기록하다 = to record

Conjugate 등교하다 = to go to school

Conjugate 하교하다 = to leave school

Conjugate 고민하다 = to worry

Conjugate 활동하다 = to do an activity

Conjugate 수정하다 = to correct, to modify, to fix

Conjugate 데려다 주다 = to take a person somewhere

Conjugate 덧붙이다 = to add one more thing on top of

Conjugate 살피다 = to see, to watch closely

Conjugate 차다 = to kick

Conjugate 고치다 = to fix, to repair

Conjugate (첫눈에) 반하다 = to fall in love at first sight

Adjectives:
Conjugate 부지런하다 = to be diligent

Conjugate 희미하다 = to be dim, to be faint, to be vague

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Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn about the grammatical principles ~(이)나, and ~거나. Both of these can be used in sentences to have similar meanings, but their usages are different. Let’s get started.

 

 

(Noun) or (Noun): ~(이)나

~(이)나 can be attached to words to create a few different meanings depending on the usage. A common usage of ~(이)나 is to indicate that it hasn’t been decided which noun/object will be acted on. Let’s look at a simple example:

저는 빵이나 밥을 먹고 싶어요

Here, the speaker hasn’t decided if he/she wants to eat bread or rice. The typical English translation for ~(이)나 is “or.” For example:

저는 빵이나 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat bread or rice

Below are some examples:

저는 술이나 콜라를 마시고 싶어요 = I want to drink alcohol or a soft drink (cola)
딸이나 아들을 낳고 싶어요? = Do you want to have (give birth to) a daughter or a son?
저는 저 남자나 저 여자를 뽑을 거예요 = I’m going to choose/hire that man or that woman
양식이나 그런 것을 작성 안 해도 돼요? = I don’t need to fill out a form or something like that?

대학교에서 철학이나 화학을 공부하고 싶어요?
= In University, do you want to study philosophy or chemistry?

오늘 학생들이랑 체육관에서 재미있는 활동이나 게임을 할 거예요
= Today I’m going to do a fun activity or game in the gymnasium with the students

In those examples, ~(이)나 is attached to the object of the sentence. It is also possible to attach ~(이)나 to the subject in order to indicate that it hasn’t been decided which subject will perform the action. The translation of “or” is still appropriate. For example:

우리 엄마나 우리 아빠가 저를 차로 거기까지 데려다 줄 거예요
= Either mom or dad will take me there by car

저 선수나 이 선수가 오늘 새로운 기록을 세울 것 같아요
= Either that athlete or this athlete will probably set a new record today

In all the examples so far, the sentences show ~(이)나 being used when some sort of a decision is made between two nouns. It is also possible to attach ~(이)나 to one word in a sentence, and to not have it followed by another word that needs to be decided on. For example:

밥이나 먹을래?

In these cases, the speaker would rather do something else, but is choosing the thing specified as a last resort. Here, ~(이)나 is expressing that the option specified is the best choice among all remaining options. For example:

밥이나 먹을래? = Well… I guess we could eat rice?

The sentence above could be said in a variety of situations. One example could be if you wanted to eat pizza or a hamburgers, but maybe it is too late and can’t get a delivery at this time. As a last resort, you could say “well, shall we just eat rice?” It’s not the best option, but it’s the best among the remaining options.

It’s hard to come up with a simple English translation that I can use in my examples to illustrate this meaning. In the examples below, I put “(Well…)” in the English translations, but try to focus more on the Korean sentences:

저는 공부나 할 거예요 = (Well…) I’m going to study
산책이나 할래요? = (Well…) Shall we go for a walk?
영화나 보자 = (Well…) Let’s go see a movie
그냥 줄거리나 설명해 주세요 = (Well…) Just explain the plot to me
운동이나 할래? = (Well…) Shall we exercise?
돈이나 주세요 = (Well…) Give me money

Actually, you already learned about ~(이)나 in Lesson 25. In that lesson, you learned about the following constructions (which I often refer to as “words” for simplicity):

아무 거나
아무 데나
아무 때나

In these words, ~(이)나 is attached to the nouns 거 (thing), 데 (place), and 때 (time) to create the following meanings:

아무 거나 = anything
아무 데나 = anywhere (any place)
아무 때나 = anytime

With your new-found understanding of ~(이)나 and the meaning it can create, I think it is worthwhile to review these words to see where their meanings come from. Essentially, the words above could be translated to;

아무 거나 = there’s no specific thing, but “any” thing would be okay I guess
아무 데나 = there’s no specific place, but “any” place would be okay I guess
아무 때나 = there’s no specific time, but “any” time would be okay I guess

Here are some sentences from Lesson 25, but this time I have provided an additional translation:

저는 아무 거나 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat anything (I’d eat anything)
This could also be translated to “there’s no specific thing I’d like to eat – I’d eat anything”

저는 아무 데나 가고 싶어요 = I want to go anywhere (I’d go anywhere)
This could also be translated to “there’s no specific place I’d like to go, I’d go anywhere”

아무 때나 좋아요 = Anytime is good
This could also be translated to “there’s no specific time, anytime is good”

So far, you’ve seen ~(이)나 and how it can be attached to nouns. It is also possible to attach ~나 to adverbs, or on-top of other grammatical principles that change words into adverbs.

A simple definition of an adverb is a word that identifies where something happens, when it happens, how it happens, or to what degree it happens. The word “집” is a noun, but when ~에서 is attached to it, the whole construction is referred to as an adverb in Korean (because it can tell us that an action occurred in the house). This isn’t exactly how it is done in English because in English we don’t attach particles to nouns like that. Annnyways…

When only one option is indicated (and not two), you can commonly see ~(이)나 attached to other grammatical principles that change words into adverbs. For example:

중간지점에나 데려다 주는 게 어때요? = Well, how about I take you to the halfway point

However, if two options are given, it is more natural to add ~(이)나 directly to the first option without the extra grammatical principle in between. For example, if we look at the following two sentences:

저는 캐나다에서나 미국에서 일하고 싶어요
저는 캐나다나 미국에서 일하고 싶어요
= I want to work in Canada or America

In the first example you can see ~(이)나 attached to ~에서, which in turn is attached to “캐나다.” Notice how ~에서 is also indicated in the second option (미국). It is not necessary to add ~에서 twice, and it can be omitted from the first option.

Therefore, both examples above can be seen as grammatical correct, but all Korean people would prefer to say the second example. It is much more natural to omit the grammatical principle between the noun and ~(이)나 if it is going to be attached to the upcoming noun anyways.

Here is another example:

저는 버스로나 택시로 갈 거예요

Here, the speaker is indicating that he will go “by bus” or “by taxi.” In the example above, ~(이)나 is attached to both “버스로” and “택시로.” It is not necessary to add ~(으)로 twice, and it can be omitted from the first option. The following sentence is much more natural:

저는 버스나 택시로 갈 거예요 = I will go by bus or by taxi

Below are some other examples:

농구를 체육관이나 밖에서 하고 싶어?
= Do you want to play basketball in the gymnasium or outside?

선생님! 시험을 어렵게나 길게 만들지 말아 주세요!
= Teacher, please don’t make the exam difficult or long

주위를 살피고 저쪽으로나 이쪽으로 가세요
= Look around (at your surroundings) and then go this way or that way

 

 

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(Verb) or (Verb): ~거나

In the examples you have seen so far, ~(이)나 has been attached to nouns or adverbs. With ~(이)나, the speaker can indicate that something hasn’t been decided between two nouns or adverbs. By attaching ~거나 to a verb, the speaker can indicate that it hasn’t been decided which action will be completed. Here is a very simple example:

여자 친구를 위해 편지를 쓰거나 선물을 사 줄 거예요
= I will write a letter, or buy a present for my girlfriend

When using ~(이)나, the focus is on which of the two nouns (or adverbs) will be acted on. When using ~거나, the focus is on which action will take place. For example, if we look at our simple sentence from before:

저는 빵이나 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat bread or rice

In this sentence, it has probably already been decided that you will eat. The focus is now on what you will eat, and the decision is between “bread” or “rice.” However, when ~거나 is used, it hasn’t been decided which action will be done. For example, our sentence from above:

여자 친구를 위해 편지를 쓰거나 선물을 사 줄 거예요
= I will write a letter, or buy a present for my girlfriend

In this sentence, you are not deciding between two objects, but rather two different actions. Below are many other examples:

신발끈을 묶거나 신발을 벗으세요 = Tie your shoes or take them off
오래된 차를 고치거나 새로운 차를 사야 돼요 = I need to fix my old car or buy a new one
제가 하는 말에 뭔가를 덧붙이거나 수정하고 싶으면 지금 말씀하세요 = If you want to add something to what I said, or modify it, please tell me now

I kept saying that ~거나 can be attached to verbs, but it can also be used with adjectives as well. For example:

이 문제가 너무 어렵거나 도움이 필요하면 교무실로 오세요
= If this question/problem is too difficult or you need help, come to the office

고객님이 호텔에 계실 때 불편하거나 필요한 것이 있으면 이 번호로 연락하면 됩니다
= When you (the customer) are at the hotel, if you are uncomfortable or need something, you can contact us using this number

A lot of the signs on buses in Korea have a warning message on them, and the warning message has this ~거나 grammatical principle in the sentence. It says something like this:

문이 완전히 열릴 때까지 버스에서 내리거나 문에 기대지 마세요
= Until the door is completely opened, don’t get off the bus or lean on the door

 

I’d like to discuss two trends that I’ve noticed regarding the use of ~거나. You can find these discussions below

———————————–

In the examples used so far, ~거나 (and ~(이)나) is used once in each sentence. As you have seen, it is generally used to separate two actions that could be completed.

It is also possible to include ~거나 (or ~(이)나) twice in the same sentence – attached to both possible actions (or options). For example:

비가 오거나 안 오거나 중요하지 않아요
= It’s not important if it rains or not (doesn’t rain)

I thought long and hard to try to come up with an explanation as to why ~거나 is used twice in this sentence, but only once in other sentences. I literally sat in my chair for an hour to try to wrap my head around a simple way to explain it. I think I’ve got it.

~거나 is used once in a sentence to indicate that one action will occur, or the other. For example:

여자 친구를 위해 편지를 쓰거나 선물을 사 줄 거예요
Here, either you will write a letter, or you will buy a present

~거나 is used twice in a sentence (attached to both verbs) when the speaker wants to discuss the choice in and within itself. It is still possible that one action might occur or the other, but the speaker is focused more on describing the choice itself, and how he/she might react/feel/act as a result of this choice. For example:

(비가 오거나 안 오거나) 중요하지 않아요

The part of the sentence in parentheses is the part of the sentence that the speaker wants to talk about. By putting ~거나 on both verbs, the speaker isn’t saying that one action will occur and another won’t, but rather wants to discuss what will happen as a result of either action occurring. Below are many other examples. I have included the sentence twice (one with parentheses and the other without) to make it easier to identify that the speaker is discussing the two options outlined in the parentheses.

I use the word “discuss” to broadly mean that the speaker could really say anything about the choices outlined. The speaker might say that the two options “are not important,” that he “doesn’t care about either of them,” that he “is worried” about them, and so on…

나한테 선물을 주거나 아무 것도 안 해 주거나 나는 행복해 보여야 돼
(나한테 선물을 주거나 아무 것도 안 해 주거나) 나는 행복해 보여야 돼
= If they give me a present or don’t do anything, I need to look happy

학생들이 수업 시간에 자거나 열심히 공부하거나 선생님들이 수업을 해야 돼요
(학생들이 수업 시간에 자거나 열심히 공부하거나) 선생님들이 수업을 해야 돼요
= If students sleep or study during class time, teachers (still) need to do classes

나머지를 먹거나 버리거나 결정해야 돼요
(나머지를 먹거나 버리거나) 결정해야 돼요
= You need to decide if you’re going to eat the rest or throw it out

선물을 사거나 파티에 빈손으로 들어가거나 어떻게 할지 고민 중이에요
(선물을 사거나 파티에 빈손으로 들어가거나) 어떻게 할지 고민 중이에요
= I’m not sure what/how to do it – I might go to the party with a present, or go empty handed

생선이나 고기나 모두 좋아할 거예요
(생선이나 고기나) 모두 좋아할 거예요
= It doesn’t matter if it is fish or meat, everybody will like it

이 영화나 저 영화나 둘 다 괜찮아요
(이 영화나 저 영화나) 둘 다 괜찮아요
= Either this movie or that movie, both are fine

기말고사를 부지런히 공부하거나 안 하거나 시험을 잘 못 볼 거예요
(기말고사를 부지런히 공부하거나 안 하거나) 시험을 잘 못 볼 거예요
= If I study diligently for the final exam or not, I’ll still do poorly on the exam

반말을 쓰거나 존댓말을 쓰거나 모든 한국 사람들이 이해할 수 있을 거예요
(반말을 쓰거나 존댓말을 쓰거나 모든 한국 사람들이) 이해할 수 있을 거예요
= Regardless of if you use informal speech or honorific speech, all Korean people will be able to understand you

In most of these types of sentences, it would be very natural to use the phrases “I don’t care if…” or “it doesn’t matter if…”. I will show you more examples of ~거나 and ~(이)나 in Lesson 74 and Lesson 75 where you learn how to create these types of sentences in Korean.

Using ~거나 twice in a sentence like this is commonly done with the verb 말다 (which was first introduced in Lesson 40). When the speaker wants to discuss the choices of doing an action and not doing an action, the positive action is commonly used, followed by 말다 to indicate the negative action. For example:

A personal note about ~거나 말거나: This is more likely to be used when the outcome of doing the action or not doing the action is irrelevant (or doesn’t matter), as you can see below. It’s typically not used to say that one is thinking about doing one action, or not doing that action. This would more likely be used with ~ㄹ/을까 말까, which will be discussed in a later lesson.  

대학교에 가거나 말거나 공부를 해야 돼요
= You need to study if you go to University or not

네가 나를 사랑하거나 말거나 나는 떠날 거야
= Regardless of if you love me or not, I’m leaving

기말고사를 부지런히 공부하거나 말거나 시험을 잘 못 볼 거예요
= If I study diligently for the final exam or not, I’ll still do poorly on the exam

I hope you liked this observation I’ve made. I’d like to discuss another observation I’ve made.

———————————–

Every time I write a lesson, I try to organize sentences/examples into different usages or categories. When trying to organize this lesson, I kept creating examples that wouldn’t fit into the different usages I created based on Korean dictionaries.

I taught you that (one of) the general meanings of ~(이)나 and ~거나 is to indicate that it hasn’t been decided which noun will be acted on, or which action will be performed. For example, let’s look at the first sentence I showed you in this lesson:

저는 빵이나 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat bread or rice
Here, the speaker hasn’t decided if he/she wants to eat bread or rice.

I tried to make another example:

무기나 칼이 없어요 = I don’t have a weapon or a knife
Here, it’s not a decision between two objects, but rather that you don’t have either object.

I saw a similar phenomenon with ~거나 when applied to verbs. For example, let’s look at the first sentence I showed you with ~거나:

여자 친구를 위해 편지를 쓰거나 선물을 사 줄 거예요
= I will write a letter, or buy a present for my girlfriend
Here, the speaker hasn’t decided if he wants to write a letter or buy a present

I tried to make another example:
저는 눕거나 앉을 수 없어요 = I can’t lay down or sit down
Here, it’s not a decision between two actions, but rather that both actions can’t happen

It might seem obvious to you now that I’ve presented it, but I really meddled with this in my head for a while. It seems that when ~(이)나 and ~거나 are used with negative ending sentences, the speaker is not deciding between two things/actions, but rather stating that neither of them are chosen/performed. Here are a bunch of examples (using both ~(이)나 and ~거나) with various negative endings you’ve learned so far:

희미한 빛이나 소리도 없었어요
= There wasn’t even a glimmer of light or sound
Here, it’s not a decision between light or sound. Neither of them exist.

기말고사를 볼 때 말을 하거나 밥을 먹어서는 안 돼요
= You shouldn’t talk or eat while writing the final exam
Here, it’s not a decision between speaking or eating. Both actions shouldn’t happen.

등교를 늦게 하거나 하교를 일찍 하면 안 돼요
= You shouldn’t come to school late or leave school early
Here, it’s not a decision between going to school late or leaving early. Both actions shouldn’t happen.

저는 그 남자를 보거나 생각하지 않을 거예요
= I’m not going to look at that man or think about him
Here, it’s not a decision between looking at the man or thinking about him. Both actions won’t happen.

Again, I hope you found this observation helpful.

That’s it for this lesson!

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