Lesson 59: Difficult words: 어쩌면, 아무래도, 가꾸다, 연세, 뵈다, 차림, 즉

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Introduction
Vocabulary

 

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn some difficult words that don’t fit into one particular lesson or another. There have been a few lessons like this up to this point, and the goal is to introduce you to difficult words that you wouldn’t otherwise understand if you just saw them in a vocabulary list. Just like I do when I teach you grammatical principles, I will explain each word and how it can be used in every day Korean conversation. Let’s get started with the list of words.

Vocabulary

어쩌면 = maybe, perhaps

아무래도 = probably

Conjugate 가꾸다 = to grow/cultivate crops

Conjugate 가꾸다 = to make oneself look nice

연세 = age

Conjugate 뵈다 = to see (high respect)

차림 = what one is wearing

– 옷차림 = outfit

– 잠옷 = pajamas

– 운동복 = exercise clothes

즉 = i.e./in other words…

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Perhaps: 어쩌면

In earlier lessons, you have learned about some words that can be placed in sentences that don’t have any real meaning. These types of words are often used in sentences for feeling and to help the listener expect what the speaker will say. Two specific examples that you have already learned are “만약” and “아무리.”

In Lesson 43, you learned about “만약” and how it is often used in sentences when the result of a sentence can’t be certain. For example:

만약 내가 공부했으면 시험을 합격했을 것이다 = If I studied, I would have passed the test
만약 내가 밥을 먹었으면 배고프지 않았을 것이다 = If I ate, I wouldn’t have been hungry

Furthermore, in Lesson 48 you learned about the word “아무리” and how it can be added to sentences that have “아/어도” in them. For example:

아무리 그 제품을 반값으로 줘도 저는 안 살 거예요
= Regardless of if you give me that product at half price, I’m not going to buy it

어쩌면 is another one of these words. If you look “어쩌면” up in the dictionary, you will probably see a definition of “maybe” or “perhaps” (just like you would see the definition “if” if you looked up the word “만약”). However, 어쩌면 can be taken out of sentences without any real change of meaning.

어쩌면 is often placed in sentences where the speaker is not sure about something, but is making a guess about a situation. Because of the nature of this usage, 어쩌면 is often used in sentences that end in ~ㄹ/을지(도) 모르다, which you learned about in Lesson 30. For example:

어쩌면 그녀가 올지도 몰라요
= She might come
= I don’t know if she will come
= Perhaps she will come

어쩌면 그녀의 남자 친구가 그녀를 위해 선물을 살지 몰라요
= Her boyfriend might buy her a present
= I don’t know if her boyfriend will buy her a present
= Perhaps her boyfriend will buy her a present

어쩌면 우리가 내일 갈 수 있을지도 몰라요
= We might be able to go (or might not be able to go) tomorrow
= I don’t know if we will be able to go tomorrow
= Perhaps we will be able to go tomorrow

어쩌면 can also be used to stress one’s amazement at some fact, almost as if the speaker is saying “Wow! Look at that!” In Lesson 23, you learned how 이렇게, 그렇게 and 저렇게 are often used in sentences to stress why something occurs. For example:

왜 일찍 가요? = Why are you going early?
왜 이렇게 일찍 가요? = Why are you going so early (like this)?

어쩌면 is often added to sentences to stress “how” something is possible – often in combination with 이렇게, 그렇게 and 저렇게. For example:

어쩌면 이렇게 일찍 왔어요? = How is it possible that you came this early?
어쩌면 비가 저렇게 많이 왔어요? = How is it possible that it rained that much?
어쩌면 밥을 그렇게 많이 먹을 수 있어요? = How is it possible that you can eat that much?
어쩌면 시험을 그렇게 잘 봤어요? = How is it possible that you did that well on the exam?

It is possible to use 어쩌면 in these situations, but you’d be more likely to hear “어떻게” placed in that situation to have the same meaning. For example:

어떻게 이렇게 일찍 왔어요? = How is it possible that you came this early?
어떻게 비가 저렇게 많이 왔어요? = How is it possible that it rained that much?
어떻게 밥을 그렇게 많이 먹을 수 있어요? = How is it possible that you can eat that much?
어떻게 시험을 그렇게 잘 봤어요? = How is it possible that you did that well on the exam?

Let’s move on to a similar word in 아무래도.

 

 

Perhaps: 아무래도

아무래도 is often used in sentences where the speaker “thinks” something will occur. Because of the nature of this usage, 아무래도 is often used in sentences that end in 것 같다. You learned all about “것 같다” in Lesson 35. For example:

아무래도 그녀가 우리를 만나러 안 올 것 같아요 = She probably won’t come to meet us
아무래도 그가 벌써 떠났을 것 같아요 = He probably already left

There are technically two types of usages for 아무래도. One of them is an adverb, which is shown in the examples above. Another usage of 아무래도 comes from bending the word 아무러하다. While we are on the subject of 아무래도, I would like to discuss the word 아무러하다 with you, and how it can bend into아무래도.

The lengthy explanation that follows is fairly complex. In Lesson 25, you learned about 아무 and how it can be placed before nouns and followed by a negative ending. For example:

저는 아무 것도 먹고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to eat anything/I want to eat nothing
아기는 아무 데도 가지 않았어 = The baby didn’t go anywhere/The baby went nowhere
저는 아무 말도 하지 않았어요 = I didn’t say anything/I said nothing

The adjective 아무러하다 acts similar to 아무, but more broadly indicates that “no form” of that particular noun occurs. For example:

우리가 일어났을 때 아무러한 소리도 안 냈어요
= When we woke up, we didn’t make any (form of) sound

일을 할 때 아무러한 문제가 안 생기게 조심하게 하세요
= When you work, be careful to make sure that no (form of) problem comes up

남자가 자기 엄마가 죽은 것을 봤을 때 아무러한 느낌이 없었어요
= When the man saw his mother die, he didn’t have any (form of) feeling

아무러하다 is often contracted to 아무렇다, and can replace 아무러하다 in these types of sentences. In fact, some Korean people said that the above sentences looked unnatural because of the use of “아무러하다.” They said that it would be more natural to use “아무렇다” instead. Take what you want from that, but officially 아무러하다 and 아무렇다 have the same meaning – as 아무렇다 is just a contraction of 아무러하다. For example:

아무렇다 follows the ㅎ irregular from Lesson 23.

우리가 일어났을 때 아무런 소리도 안 냈어요
= When we woke up, we didn’t make any (form of) sound

일을 할 때 아무런 문제가 안 생기게 조심하게 하세요
= When you work, be careful to make sure that no (form of) problem comes up

남자가 자기 엄마가 죽은 것을 봤을 때 아무런 느낌이 없었어요
= When the man saw his mother die, he didn’t have any (form of) feeling

~아/어도 (Lesson 48) can be added to 아무러하다. The resulting construction (아무러해도) is often added to sentences where the speaker indicates that – “regardless of what sort of thing happens, everything will be okay or there will no problem.” For example:

늦게 해도 일이 아무러해도 문제가 없을 거예요
= It doesn’t matter if you do it late, the work/task won’t have a problem

When ~아/어도 is added to 아무렇다 it changes to 아무래도 because of the ㅎ irregular (Lesson 23). Therefore, in addition to being placed in sentences where the speaker “thinks” something will occur (as shown at the very beginning of this section using 것 같다), it is also possible to use 아무래도 in these types of sentences. For example:

늦게 해도 일이 아무래도 문제가 없을 것 같아요
= It doesn’t matter if you do it late, the work/task won’t have a problem

—————————

Because 아무러하다 and 아무렇다 are adjectives, ~게can be attached to it to change it into an adverb. When ~게 is added to these words, ~나 (Lesson 58) is often attached on top of ~게. For example:

아무러하게나
아무렇게나

It is difficult to come up with a translation for these constructions when used in a sentence. A speaker would put these constructions in a sentence to describe that an action is done “hastily, without much thought.” For example, if I said:

일을 아무렇게나 하지 마!

I would, in effect, be telling somebody to do something properly, and to not do it “hastily without much thought.” For example:

4시까지 다 하려고 학생이 숙제를 아무렇게나 하고 선생님께 드렸어요
= In order to do it all by 4 o’clock, the student did the homework hastily without much thought and gave it to the teacher

4시까지 다 하려고 학생이 숙제를 아무러하게나 하고 선생님께 드렸어요
= In order to do it all by 4 o’clock, the student did the homework hastily without much thought and gave it to the teacher

집에 들어가서 들고 있었던 물건을 바닥에 아무렇게나 놓았어요
= I went into the house, and hastily, without much thought, just threw the items I was carrying on the floor

집에 들어가서 들고 있었던 물건을 바닥에 아무러하게나 놓았어요
= I went into the house, and hastily, without much thought, just threw the items I was carrying on the floor

 

 

To grow/To make look pretty: 가꾸다

가꾸다 has a few different usages that are hard to connect to each other. Generally, 가꾸다 can be used to indicate that:

• One grows or cultivates some sort of crops
• One dresses up to make themselves look pretty

When used as the first usage above, it usually acts on the word “정원” (garden) or some sort of fruit or vegetable. For example:

나이가 먹으면 정원을 가꾸는 것은 좋은 운동이에요
= When you get older, gardening is good exercise

우리는 옛날에 우리 집에서 채소를 가꿨어요
= A long time ago we grew/raised vegetables at our house

When used as the second usage above, it usually acts on the word “외모” or some similar word meaning “body” or “appearance.” For example:

여자들이 파티에 가기 전에 예쁘게 가꿨어요
= Before the girls went to the party, they dolled themselves up all pretty

일주일 후에 데이트를 할 거라서 지금부터 외모를 가꿔야 돼요
= Because I have a date in a week, I have to make myself look nice

 

 

Age: 연세

연세 is the formal equivalent of the word “나이.” When talking to older people (much older people), you should use the word “연세” to refer to their age. Using this word is a delicate science, because if you use the word “나이” on a very old person, he/she might be offended. However, if you use the word 연세 on somebody who isn’t very old, he/she might be offended as well.

My wife says that up until about 65 years old, you would be safe to use the word “나이.” Anything after that and you should be safe using the word “연세.” The difficulty here is also how old the person looks. If the person looks really really old (like 80 or above), you should definitely use 연세 instead. Haha, this is why Korean is crazy.

연세 is a noun, and is commonly placed with 많다 or 들다 (or the formal 드시다) to describe that one is old. For example:

할아버지가 연세가 많아서 걷기가 힘들어요
할아버지가 연세가 드셔서 걷기가 힘들어요
= Grandpa is old, so it is difficult (for him) to walk

When asking about someone’s age using 연세 it is common to use 되다. For example:

연세가 어떻게 되세요? = How old are you?

Notice that ~세요 is being used to ask a question. To review the grammar within this, check Lesson 40.

 

 

 

To see: 뵈다

“뵈다” is the honorific equivalent of “보다” (to see). 뵈다 is used when the person being looked at deserves a high amount of respect. For example:

저는 어제 선생님의 할아버지를 뵈었어요 = I saw your (the teacher’s) grandpa yesterday
(This sentence would be spoken to a teacher, about seeing the teacher’s grandfather).

Remember with these honorifics, the sentence can still be conjugated with low-form honorifics depending on who you are speaking to. For example:

나는 어제 너의 할아버지를 뵈었어 = I saw your grandpa yesterday
(This sentence could be spoken to a friend about seeing the friend’s grandfather).

The conjugation of 뵈다 is the same as 되다. Below are the official ways of conjugating 뵈다:

Addition	Conjugation
뵈다 + ~아/어	뵈어
뵈다 + ~았/었어	뵈었어
뵈다 + ~ㄹ/을	뵐
뵈다 + ~는	뵈는
뵈다 + ~ㄴ/는다	뵌다

Like 되다, when ~아/어 (or a derivative of it like ~았/었) is added to 뵈다, the ~아/어 can merge with the stem. The following conjugations are seen as acceptable:

Addition	Conjugation
뵈다 + ~아/어	봬
뵈다 + ~았/었어	뵀어
뵈다 + ~ㄹ/을	뵐
뵈다 + ~는	뵈는
뵈다 + ~ㄴ/는다	뵌다

Korean people often make the following mistakes when conjugating 뵈다:

They often write 뵈어 or 봬 as “뵈.” This is an incorrect conjugation
They often write뵈었어 or 뵀어 as “뵜어.” This is an incorrect conjugation

Another similar word is “뵙다.” 뵙다 and 뵈다 have the same meaning and function, but 뵙다 is slightly more formal (whatever that means). 뵙다 is a completely different word than 뵈다, and therefore does not follow any of the acceptable “merging” conjugations seen with 뵈다. In fact, 뵙다 can only be used when the conjugation or grammatical principle added to it begins in a consonant.

Because of this, “뵙어” or “뵙었어” are incorrect
Korean people might also write “봽어” or “봽었어” which are incorrect for two reasons

Again, only additions that begin with a consonant can be added to 뵙다. For example:

뵙겠다
뵙는
뵙고

뵙다 is a common way to politely say “see you (sometime in the future)” using 겠다. For example:

내일 뵙겠습니다 = See you tomorrow
나중에 뵙겠습니다 = See you later

 

 

 

Wearing…: 차림으로

차림 as a noun technically refers to one’s clothes. It is often used as “옷차림” to generally refer to one’s outfit. For example:

그 여자의 옷차림이 아주 예뻐요 = That girl’s clothes/outfit is very pretty

차림 is often placed after an indication of a type or article of clothing, for example:

잠옷 차림 (pajamas)
교복 차림 (school uniform)
정장 차림 (a suit)
운동복 차림 (exercise clothes)

~(으)로 is often added to these constructions to indicate that one does an action while “wearing” the specified article of clothing. For example:

그는 잠옷 차림으로 밖에 나갔어요
= He went outside wearing his pajamas

저는 매일 교복 차림으로 학교에 갔어요
= I went to school every day wearing my uniform

면접을 보러 정장 차림으로 들어오는 사람이 많아요
= There are many people coming in wearing suits to do the interview

운동복 차림으로 교회에 들어가서는 안 됩니다
= You shouldn’t go into church wearing exercise clothes

 

 

In other words/i.e.: 즉

This one is a pretty easy word and concept, but one that most people wouldn’t understand just by looking at it. Knowing this one is good to know, but it really isn’t very common (especially in speaking). You may come across this time to time when reading books or newspapers.

By placing the word “즉” between two sentences (either separated by a comma or a period), you can create the meaning of “in other words.” The first sentence generally describes some situation, and the second sentence usually clarifies any ambiguity being presented. For example:

그녀는 자기 남자 친구에게 그녀의 집에서 나가라고 했어요. 즉 그들은 헤어졌어요.
= She told her boyfriend to get out of her house. In other words, they broke up

날씨가 매우 추웠을 때, 즉 지난 겨울에 나무가 다 죽어버렸어요
= When the weather was very cold, by that I mean last winter, all the trees died

엄마가 전화를 갑자기 끊었어요. 즉 저랑 통화하기 싫어하는 것 같아요
= Mom suddenly hung up the phone. In other words, it seems that she doesn’t want to talk with me (on the phone)

That’s it!

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All entries are linked to an audio file. You can download all of these files in one package here.

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