Lesson 127: To be done in a divisible quantity – ~씩

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Vocabulary
Introduction

To Be Done in a Divisible Quantity: ~씩
Using ~씩 with an Indication of Time
Using ~씩 with 조금 and 가끔

 

 

Vocabulary

Nouns:
법 = way, method

사료 = feed (for animals)

중고 = second hand, used article

가지 = branch (of a tree)

낙엽 = fallen leaves

맥박 = pulse

항목 = heading, clause in a contract

자두 = plum

수직 = vertical

수평 = horizontal

계약서 = contract

세탁기 = washing machine

쇠사슬 = chain

건포도 = raisin

Verbs:
붓다 = to pour

엉키다 = to get tangled

운반하다 = to carry something for a distance

취득하다 = to acquire

대비하다 = to prepare for

쫓아내다 = to kick, chase out

소장하다 = to own, to possess

출퇴근하다 = to commute (to work)

Adverbs:
골고루 = evenly

유심히 = attentively, closely

번갈아 = one at a time, taking turns

한꺼번에 = all at once

For help memorizing these words, try using our mobile app.

 

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn how to attach  ~씩 to indicate that an object, time or action (or something else) will be divided into a specific quantity or regular intervals. Later in the lesson, you will see how ~씩 can be applied to the words 조금 and 가끔. Let’s get started.

 

 

To Be Done in a Divisible Quantity: ~씩

~씩 is often attached to something that can be divided quantitatively. For example, the following are indications of a number of objects, time periods and actions that can be divided into “one:”

한 개 = one thing
한 시간 = one hour
한번 = one “time” (once)

한번 is considered a word by itself, which is why there is no space.

~씩 can be attached to these types of words that can be divisible like this. For example:

한 개씩
한 시간씩
한번씩

As in the above examples, ~씩 is commonly attached to a counter which is in turn preceded by a number. This is not always the case (as you will see in examples later), but if you keep this in mind while learning about ~씩, I think it will be helpful.

~씩 indicates that the object, time or action will be divided into the quantity specified and then acted on by the predicating verb. Let’s break it down.

In its most simple example, you can use ~씩 to talk about giving a certain amount of things to people. Let’s look at the following sentence:

저는 아이들에게 과자를 줄 거예요 = I will give cookies to the kids

In this simple sentence, there is no indication of how many cookies each kid will receive. By placing ~씩 after an indication of quantity, you can specify how many cookies you will give to each kid. For example:

저는 아이들에게 과자를 한 개씩 줄 거예요

This sentence indicates that specifically one cookie will be given to each kid. When using ~씩 the translation to English usually includes the word “each” even though the typically word for “each” in Korean (각 or 마다) is not used. Nonetheless, both of the following sentences have the same general meaning, and it is usually more natural in English to include the word “each.”

저는 아이들에게 과자를 한 개씩 줄 거예요 = I will give one cookie to each kid
저는 각 아이들에게 과자를 한 개 줄 거예요 = I will give one cookie to each kid

Another common translation for “~씩” is “at a time.” For example:

저는 아이들에게 과자를 한 개씩 줄 거예요 = I will give cookies to the kids one at a time

“한 개씩” can also be written as “하나씩.” For example:

저는 아이들에게 과자를 하나씩 줄 거예요 = I will give one cookie to each kid

If you want to indicate that you will give more than “one” cookie to each kid, you can change the quantity before the counter. For example:

저는 아이들에게 과자를 두 개씩 줄 거예요 = I will give two cookies to each kid

If you are dividing a type of food (or anything) that divides in some other way, it is possible to substitute another counter instead of “개.” For example:

저는 아이들에게 국을 한 그릇씩 줄 거예요 = I will give one bowl of soup to each kid
저는 아이들에게 피자를 한 조각씩 줄 거예요 = I will give one piece of pizza to each kid
저는 아이들에게 종이를 한 장씩 줄 거예요 = I will give one piece of paper to each kid

Below are many other examples:

저는 자두를 나무에서 하나씩 땄어요
= I plucked the plums from the tree one at a time

건포도를 애기들에게 몇 개씩 주면 되죠?
= How many raisins should I give to the babies?

우리는 모든 행성에 대해 하나씩 배울 거예요
= We will learn about all of the planets one by one

세탁기가 망가져서 셔츠를 하나씩 빨아야 돼요
= I need to wash my shirts one at a time because the laundry machine is broken

우리 아빠가 쥐를 집에서 한 마리씩 쫓아냈어요
= Our dad chased the rats out of our house one by one

그 후보자가 필요한 자격증을 하나씩 취득했어요
= That candidate acquired the certifications he needed one by one

오래된 나무에서 낙엽과 가지가 하나씩 떨어졌어요
= The leaves and branches fell from the old tree one by one

쇠사슬이 엉키지 않게 하나씩 분리해서 놓아 주세요
= Please separate all the chains and put them down one by one so that they don’t tangle

우리는 서울박물관이 소장하는 그림을 하나씩 복구했어요
= We restored the pictures housed at the Seoul Museum one at a time

사료를 돼지에게 하나씩 골고루 안 주면 돼지들이 다 싸워요
= If we don’t give the feed to the pigs evenly one at a time, the pigs all fight

계약서에 서명하기 전에 모든 항목을 하나씩 유심히 읽었어요
= Before I signed the contract, I read all of the headings/clauses closely

명단을 잃어버려서 친구 연락처를 하나씩 찾을 수밖에 없어요
= I have no choice but to add/find my friend’s contacts one by one (now that I) because I lost my contact list

이 종류의 세탁기는 매우 무거워서 배달을 하러 나갈 때 한 개씩 운반해야 돼요
= This type of washing machine is very heavy, so when you go out to deliver it, you have to transport it one at a time

In all of the above examples, the object of the sentence is the item that is being separated into a divisible quantity. It is also possible to use ~씩 to indicate that the subject of a sentence will do an action in divisible quantities. For example:

두 명씩 올라가면 됩니다 = Two people at a time can go up
차 두 대씩 들어가세요 = Go in two cars at a time
문이 두 개씩 열립니다 = The doors open two at a time

오늘부터 한 명씩 개별면담이 진행될 예정이니 가능한 시간을 알려 주세요
= From today, we will are scheduled to have one on one interviews, so let me know a time that you can do it (a possible time)

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~씩 can also attach to “번” or other counted actions to indicate that the action occurs in those divisible actions at regular intervals. For example:

저는 한 달에 두 번씩 병원에 가야 돼요
= I need to go to the hospital twice in a month

Notice that I included the word “regular intervals” in the description above. When ~씩 is placed on “번” like this, there is a feeling that the action is reoccurring or repeating at those regular intervals. Therefore, the translation above might be better if it were changed to the following:

저는 한 달에 두 번씩 병원에 가야 돼요
= I need to go to the hospital twice a month, every month, or
= I need to go to the hospital twice per month

Below are many more examples:

저는 매주 한 번씩 병원에서 봉사를 해요
= I volunteer once per week (every week) at the hospital

한국에서는 매년 두 번씩 제사를 지내요
= In Korea, people do 제사 twice a year

저는 1주일에 한번씩 여자 친구의 집에 가요
= I go to my girlfriend’s house once per week

맥박을 쟀는데 맥박이 1초에 두 번씩 뛰어요
= I measured your pulse, and your heart is beating twice per second

우리는 이런 시련을 한 단계씩 극복할 수 있어요
= We can overcome this difficult time one step/stage at a time

아기들이 처음으로 걷는 법을 배울 때 한 걸음씩 걸어요
= When babies learn how to walk for the first time, they learn one step at a time

 

Using ~씩 with an Indication of Time

~씩 can also be attached to an indication of time to indicate that an action will occur for a certain amount of time at regular intervals. The interval that the action occurs at does not need to be stated. For example:

학생들이 30분씩 운동해요 = Students exercise for 30 minutes
학생들이 하루에 30분씩 운동해요 = Students exercise for 30 minutes in a day

Again, I included the word “regular intervals” in the description above. When ~씩 is placed on an indication of time like this, there is a feeling that the action is reoccurring or repeating at those regular time intervals. Therefore, the translation above might be better if it were changed to the following:

학생들이 하루에 30분씩 운동해요 = Students exercise for 30 minutes a day, every day, or
학생들이 하루에 30분씩 운동해요 = Students exercise for 30 minutes per day

Let me tell you about an experience I had when creating this type of sentence. When I first learned about ~씩, I wanted to create a sentence that said something like “the bells rings every hour.” My first attempt was to create a sentence like this:

종이 한 시간씩 울려요

However, the sentence above – which could be correct depending on the situation – indicates that the bell rings for an hour (at regular intervals). When you attach ~씩 to a time, it indicates that the action is done for that length of time. Therefore, if I wanted to create my sentence of “the bells rings every hour,” I should say:

종이 한 시간에 한번씩 울려요 = The bell rings every hour

The Korean sentence above would be an acceptable translation to my English sentence. However, it just indicates that the “bell rings every hour.” I could include more information to indicate for how long the bell rings every hour. For example:

종이 한 시간에 1초씩 울려요 = The bell rings for one second every hour
종이 한 시간에 1분씩 울려요 = The bell rings for one minute every hour

Below are more examples:

저는 영어를 하루에 두 시간씩 공부해요
= I study English 2 hours a day, every day

우리는 번갈아 한 시간씩 애기를 돌봐요
= We take turns looking after the baby one hour at a time

단기다이어트계획으로 우선 하루에 한 시간씩 걸어서 출퇴근할 거예요
= My short term diet plans are first to walk to and from work for an hour every day

사무실에서 일하면 한 시간에 10분씩 자리에서 일어나서 가벼운 운동을 하는 것이 바람직합니다
= If you work in an office, it is good if you get up and do light exercises for ten minutes every hour

In all of the examples above, you saw ~씩 used in sentences where an object, action or time could be separated into divisible quantities using numbers. Most of the time ~씩 is used it is used after some counted, divisible unit. However, two other words that ~씩 is commonly attached to are 조금 and 가끔. Let’s talk about these next.

 

 

Using ~씩 with 조금 and 가끔

When ~씩 is attached to 조금, the object being discussed is divided into “small” divisible pieces. This is commonly translated to “a little bit at a time” or “little by little.” For example:

배가 아프니 밥을 조금씩 드세요
= Only eat a little bit of rice at a time because your stomach is sore

돈을 아르바이트로 조금씩 벌 수 있어요
= You can earn money little by little with a part-time job

엄마가 아이들의 시리얼 그릇에 우유를 조금씩 부었어요
= The mother poured a little bit of milk in the kids’ cereal bowls

한꺼번에 그렇게 많이 사는 것 대신에 조금씩 살 거예요
= Instead of buying a lot at once like that, I am going to buy a little bit at a time

재해를 대비하여 잘 안 상하는 식품을 조금씩 사기 시작하고 있어요
= To prepare for disaster, little by little I am starting to buy food products that don’t go bad easily

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It is also common to attach ~씩 to 가끔. 가끔 means “sometimes” in English. For example:

저는 낮잠을 가끔 자요 = I take naps sometimes

~씩 is often added to 가끔, for example:

저는 낮잠을 가끔씩 자요 = I take naps sometimes

I can’t describe any significant difference between “가끔” and “가끔씩.” Because of the use of ~씩, in my head I feel like “가끔씩” would be used to describe an action that happens in divisible intervals. In essence, it might happen today, then two days from now, then four days from now. However, in my mind, this is what “sometimes” (and “가끔”) means to begin with. As such, I am not able to describe any significant difference between 가끔 and 가끔씩. My wife also agrees, and says that the pairs of sentences below are identical to each other:

저는 가끔 옷을 중고로 사요
저는 가끔씩 옷을 중고로 사요
= Sometimes I buy used clothes

제가 울다가도 가끔 웃음이 나요
제가 울다가도 가끔씩 웃음이 나요
= Even when I cry I laugh sometimes

가끔은 규칙을 어기는 것이 괜찮아요
가끔씩은 규칙을 어기는 것이 괜찮아요
= Sometimes it is okay to break the rules

그는 가끔 자기방어로 거짓말을 해요
그는 가끔씩 자기방어로 거짓말을 해요
= He lies sometimes to defend himself

사람은 가끔 새로운 것을 시도해야 하는 것 같다
사람은 가끔씩 새로운 것을 시도해야 하는 것 같다
= It seems that people need to try new things every once and a while

인생에서는 직진뿐만 아니라 가끔은 돌아가는 것도 필요해요
인생에서는 직진뿐만 아니라 가끔씩은 돌아가는 것도 필요해요
= In life, heading straight forward is not the only way – at times, it is necessary to turn back

That’s it for this lesson!

Okay, got it! Take me to the next lesson!