Lesson 123: ~아/어 보니(까)

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Now that I have done…/Having done… ~아/어 보니(까)

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:
양심 = conscience

Common Usages:
양심적 = to be conscientious
양심을 팔다 = to go against one’s conscience (“to sell one’s conscience”)
양심에 걸리다 = to have a guilty conscience

Examples:
= 범죄를 저지른 사람이 양심에 가책을 느낄 거라서 곧 자수하겠지 뭐
People that commit crimes will feel the guilt on the conscious and will eventually turn themselves in

양심적으로 장사를 해 보니까 자연스럽게 손님이 늘었어요
= After having tried running my business conscientiously, customers just started coming in naturally

장사 = business

Common Usages:
장사가 잘 되다 = for a business to do well

Examples:
원산지를 속이고 장사를 하면 벌금을 낼 수도 있어요
= If you lie (trick) about where your food comes from and run a business, you might have to pay a fine

양심적으로 장사를 해 보니까 자연스럽게 손님이 늘었어요
= After having tried running my business conscientiously, customers just started coming in naturally

유가 = price of oil

Examples:
최근에 유가가 상승했어요
= The price of oil has risen recently

유가의 가격을 강제적으로 낮춰 보니까 시장에 문제가 생겼어요
= After having tried forcing the price of oil down, I now realize that it created problems in the market

저자 = writer/author

Examples:
그 책의 저자는 유명한 소설가예요
= The author of the book is a famous novelist

저자가 다른 작가에 좌우되지 않고 책을 더 잘 쓰기 위해 자신에 더 집중해 보니까 더 진지하게 작품을 쓸 수 있게 됐어요
= In order to write his own book well, the writer realized that not allowing himself to be influenced by other works allowed him to write his piece more seriously.

원동력 = driving force

Common Usages:
삶의 원동력 = the driving force in one’s life

Examples:
인내심은 성공의 원동력이 될 수 있어요
= Patience can be the driving force behind success

에너지를 발산하려고 운동을 해 보니까 삶의 원동력이 생겼어요
= After having exercised to burn off some energy, I now have a will to live

강제 = force, by force

Common Usages:
강제적 = to be forced, to be compulsory
강제로 뺏다 = to take away against one’s will

Examples:
이 식당은 식품위생법 위반으로 영업이 강제로 종료됐어요
= This restaurant was forced to shut down business because they broke food sanitation rules

유가의 가격을 강제적으로 낮춰 보니까 시장에 문제가 생겼어요
= After having tried forcing the price of oil down, I now realize that it created problems in the market

강제적 = to be forced, to be compulsory

Examples:
그 여자는 강제적으로 그 남자와 결혼했어요
= That woman was forced to marry that man

유가의 가격을 강제적으로 낮춰 보니까 시장에 문제가 생겼어요
= After having tried forcing the price of oil down, I now realize that it created problems in the market

획기적 = to be groundbreaking

Examples:
이 프로젝트는 회사의 미래에 획기적인 영향을 줄 것이에요
= This project will have a ground-breaking impact on the company’s future

그 회사가 획기적으로 건물 디자인을 구축해 보니까 사람들이 반응이 더 좋았어요
= After that company constructed a ground-breaking design for their building, they realized people’s reactions were better

양심적 = to be conscientious

Examples:
우리 아빠는 항상 양심적으로 행동해요
= Our dad always acts according to his conscience

양심적으로 장사를 해 보니까 자연스럽게 손님이 늘었어요
= After having tried running my business conscientiously, customers just started coming in naturally

Verbs:
낮추다 = to lower, to drop, to reduce

Examples:
이번 주 연료 가격이 다소 낮춰졌어요
= Fuel prices dropped slightly this week

유가의 가격을 강제적으로 낮춰 보니까 시장에 문제가 생겼어요
= After having tried forcing the price of oil down, I now realize that it created problems in the market

염색하다 = to dye one’s hair

Examples:
한번 머리를 염색해 보니까 염색이 생각만큼 간단하지 않다는 걸 알게 됐다
= Now that I have tried/attempted to dye my hair, I realize/can assert that doing so is not as simple as one thinks

염색을 밝은 색으로 하면 주기적으로 뿌리염색을 해야 해서 귀찮아요
= It is annoying when you dye your hair a bright color because you need to dye your roots periodically

연애하다 = to go out with

Common Usages:
장거리 연애 = long distance relationship

Examples:
장거리 연애는 서로를 자주 못 보기 때문에 단거리 연애보다 더 힘들어요
= In a long distance relationship, you can’t see each other often so it is more difficult than a “short” distance (regular) relationship

연애를 한번 해 보니까 남자들을 더 잘 이해하게 되었다
= Now that I have tried/attempted having a boyfriend, I became able to understand men better

원만히 연애를 하고 결혼하는 커플이 더 행복하게 살곤 해요
= Couples who have an amicable relationship and get married often live happily

좌우하다 = to influence, to sway

Examples:
선수의 입김이 대회의 결과를 좌우했어요
= The player’s words influenced the results of the competition

행진하다 = to march, to parade

Examples:
시위대는 거리를 행진하며 요구사항을 외쳤어요
= The demonstrators marched down the street, shouting their demands

공연을 진행할 때 더 활발하게 행진해 보니까 사람들이 더 환호했어요
= When I ran the performance, when we marched more actively people cheered more

구축하다 = to construct

Examples:
이 회사는 새로운 시스템을 구축하기 위한 계획을 세웠어요
= The company has plans to construct a new system

발산하다 = to radiate, to emit, to give off

Examples:
그 사람의 연설은 긍정의 힘을 발산했어요
= That person’s speech emitted positive energy

에너지를 발산하려고 운동을 해 보니까 삶의 원동력이 생겼어요
= After having exercised to burn off some energy, I now have a will to live

검증하다 = to verify

Examples:
이 가설은 실험을 통해 검증되어야 해요
= This hypothesis needs to be verified through experiments

과학 공부를 해 보니까 많은 과학 서적 내용이 검증이 필요하다는 걸 알게 됐다
= Having studied science, I now know that the material in science books require a lot of verification

Adjectives
진지하다 = to serious

Examples:
그 주제에 대해 진지하게 토론했어요
= They seriously debated about that topic

활발하다 = to be active

Examples:
우리 애기가 항상 활발하고 에너지 넘치는 사람이에요
= Our baby is always active and full of energy

공연을 진행할 때 더 활발하게 행진해 보니까 사람들이 더 환호했어요
= When I ran the performance, when we marched more actively people cheered more

완연하다 = to be definite, to be obvious, to be clear

Example:

요즘에는 돈으로 모든 게 가능하다는 생각이 완연해요
= These days, it is common to think that anything is possible with money

Adverbs and Other Words:
어김없이 = without fail

Examples:
우리 애기가 매일 어김없이 아침 일찍 일어나요
= Our baby wakes up early without fail every morning

살을 빼려고 무리하게 다이어트를 해 보니까 어김없이 요요가 왔어요
= After having tried dieting too much in order to lose weight, I now realize that just causes the yo-yo effect

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Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn another grammatical principle that contains 보다. In this lesson, you will learn how to use ~아/어 보니까. Let’s get started.

Now that I have done…/Having done… ~어/어 보니(까)

In Lesson 81, you learned how to add ~(으)니(까) between two clauses. As you saw in that lesson and the previous lesson, one of its functions is to provide the listener with information from the previous clause.

Notice that in the previous two lessons you learned grammatical principles that were connected like this:

~다(가) 보면
~다(가) 보니

In those grammatical principles, the word 보다 that is being used literally means “to see” or “to reflect.”

However, in this lesson, you should recognize that we are connecting 보다 to the preceding verb using ~아/어. This is not the same verb as above. Remember from Lesson 32 that this has the meaning of “to try/to attempt”.

Therefore, the meaning that this entire grammatical principle expresses is not related to “seeing or reflecting” as it was in the previous two lessons. Rather, the meaning is related to attempting or trying an action.

You should remember from Lesson 81 that the meaning of ~(으)니(까) is something like “because…” or “now that I have…”.

By using ~(으)니까 and ~아/어 보다, we combine their meanings. When used in a sentence, you can indicate that, now that one has tried/attempted an action stated in the first clause, he/she realizes or can state/assert the second clause.

Let’s look at a simple example:

아이폰을 써 보니까 다른 핸드폰을 사용할 수 없다
= Now that I’ve used an iPhone, (I realize that) I can’t use another phone | or | Having tried (using) the iPhone, I can (no longer) use another phone

Here, the speaker can state/assert that they can no longer use some other non-iPhone phone. They can only state this after having tried the iPhone itself.

Below are many more example sentences:

연애를 한번 해 보니까 남자들을 더 잘 이해하게 되었어요
= Now that I have tried/attempted having a boyfriend, I became able to understand men better

양심적으로 장사를 해 보니까 자연스럽게 손님이 늘었어요
= After having tried running my business conscientiously, customers just started coming in naturally

밤을 새워 보니까 잠을 자는 것이 얼마나 중요한지 깨달았어요
= Now that I’ve attempted to stay up all night, I realized how important sleep is

유가의 가격을 강제적으로 낮춰 보니까 시장에 문제가 생겼어요
= After having tried forcing the price of oil down, I now realize that it created problems in the market

에너지를 발산하려고 운동을 해 보니까 삶의 원동력이 생겼어요
= After having exercised to burn off some energy, I now have a will to live

10킬로 마라톤을 뛰어 보니까 뭐든지 할 수 있다는 자신감이 생겼어요
= Now that I have tried/attempted running a 10km race, I have the confidence to do anything

I was contemplating not including this example sentence in the lesson because of the 요요가 왔다 at the end. I didn’t really want to include the word 요요 in the vocabulary list, as it’s simply the word “yo-yo” written into Korean. It’s referring to the yo-yo effect, where one’s weight goes up and down (like a yo-yo). My wife asserts that every Korean person would know what this means.

외국에서 생활해 보니까 내가 한국사람이라는 게 너무 자랑스러웠어요
= Now that I’ve tried/attempted living in a foreign country, (I know that, I can assert that, I realized that) I am very proud to be Korean

공연을 진행할 때 더 활발하게 행진해 보니까 사람들이 더 환호했어요
= When I ran the performance, when we marched more actively people cheered more

대학생이 되어 보니까 고등학교 생활이 얼마나 좋았는지 느낄 수 있었다
= Now that I have been a University student, I can feel (realize) how good my high school life was

한번 머리를 염색해 보니까 염색이 생각만큼 간단하지 않다는 걸 알게 됐다
= Now that I have tried/attempted to dye my hair, I realize/can assert that doing so is not as simple as one thinks

그 회사가 획기적으로 건물 디자인을 구축해 보니까 사람들이 반응이 더 좋았어요
= After that company constructed a groundbreaking design for their building, they realized people’s reactions were better

Just one quick thing before we finish. This grammatical principle can also be written/said as ~아/어 보니. However, I feel that it is more common as ~아/어 보니까.

That’s it for this Lesson!

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