Lesson 25: Anybody, Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, etc.

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Vocabulary
Introduction

Everything/Everywhere/Every time/Everyone

Something/Somewhere/Sometime/Somebody

아무: Any, No

Each (마다)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

The following words are kept in the order below because this lesson presents them in that order:

모든 = every

모든 것 = everything

어디나 = everywhere

언제나 = every time

누구나 = everyone

뭔가 = something

어딘가 = somewhere

언젠가 = sometime, some day

누군가 = somebody

아무나 = anybody

아무 거나 = anything

아무 데나 = anywhere

아무 때나 = anytime

아무도 = nobody

아무 것도 = nothing

아무 데도 = nowhere

마다 = each

모두 = all

다 = all

데 = place

언제든지 = anytime

Nouns:
젓가락 = chopsticks

혀 = tongue

지갑 = wallet, purse

기숙사 = dorm

주소 = address

메뉴 = menu

아시아 = Asia

동남아시아 = south east Asia

눈물 = tears

회의 = meeting, conference

고향 = hometown

휴일 = holiday

아기/애기 = baby, infant

Verbs:
Conjugate 산책하다 = to go for a walk

Conjugate 사귀다 = to go out with, to date

Adjectives:
Conjugate 무관심하다 = to be indifferent

Conjugate 심하다 = to be severe, to be extreme

Adverbs and Other Words:
하루 종일 = all day long

예전 = old days, past

관심이 있다 = to be interested in

이때 = at this moment

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

 

Introduction

Once again, the vocabulary list of this lesson is the lesson. While all slightly similar, these words are very difficult to understand on their own, so I dedicated an entire lesson to making you understand them. Here, you will learn how to say:

Every-
(everybody, every time, everywhere, etc…)

Any-
(anybody, anytime, anywhere, etc…)

Some-
(somebody, sometime, somewhere, etc…)

No-
(nobody, nowhere, nothing)

I left spaces in the vocabulary list between different sets of these words (for no reason other than to make it organized).

 

 

Everything/Everywhere/Every time/Everyone

Everything/All

모든

The most common way to say “every _____” is to place the word ‘모든’ before a noun. 모든 looks, sounds, and acts like an adjective, but it can not be used to predicate a clause or sentence. This means that you won’t see the word “모든” at the end of a sentence, just like in English. For example, you can’t say something like:

He is every…

Even though 모든 ends in ~ㄴ (which is the same as all adjectives when placed immediately before a noun to describe them – 예쁜, 아름다운, 똑똑한), the dictionary form of 모드다 does not exist.

However, as I mentioned, (like an adjective) “모든” can be placed before a noun. If you place “모든” before a noun, it has the meaning of “every _____.” For example:

모든 것 = everything
모든 사람 = all people/every person
모든 과일 = all fruits/every fruit
모든 선생님 = all teachers/every teacher

Those can now go in sentences very easily:

모든 아시아 사람들은 젓가락을 잘 쓴다 = All Asian people use chopsticks well
모든 학생들은 하루 종일 잤어 = All students slept all day

 

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다

Another possible word to use in similar situations is 다. 다 is used as an adverb in sentences to indicate that “all” of something is done.

One way this is done is to use it in a sentence with an object to indicate that some action was completed without leaving anything behind. For example:

저는 라면을 다 먹었어요 = I ate all the ramen
저는 숙제를 다 했어요 = I did all of my homework
저는 소설을 다 읽었어요 = I read the whole book – or – I read all the books
저는 월급을 이미 다 썼어요 = I already spent all of my paycheque

In these situations using “모든” and “다” create a slightly different meaning. ‘다’ is more about doing one action to completion and leaving nothing behind. 모든 is indicating that the action was performed on all possible nouns after “모든”. For example, if I say:

저는 라면을 다 먹었어요 = I ate all of the ramen

In this sentence, I am indicating that I have completed the action of “eating ramen” and nothing was left behind. In other words, there is no ramen left in my bowl because I ate it all.

However, in this sentence:

저는 모든 라면을 먹었어요 = I ate every ramen

This sentence is a little bit ambiguous and a little but unnatural because in most situations you wouldn’t say this. However, bear with me as I use it to explain the difference in nuance. In this situation, there might have been many different types of ramen at my house. I would use this sentence to indicate that I ate/tried “every one of them.” It is ambiguous as to whether or not I finished eating them, which means that there could still be some left – either in my bowl or in the cupboard.

If you did actually eat every one of them and finished all of the ramen in your house, it would be more natural to use “저는 라면을 다 먹었어요” because the action was completed and nothing was left behind.

This is why I provided two translations for this sentence:

저는 소설을 다 읽었어요 = I read the whole book
저는 소설을 다 읽었어요 = I read all the books

Depending on the situation, that sentence could be translated to either of those English translations. In the first sentence, the action of ‘reading’ was completed on the subject (one book) without leaving any pages behind within that book. In the second sentence, the action of ‘reading’ was completed on the subject (more than one book) without leaving any pages behind in any of those books.

However, by just saying:

저는 모든 소설을 읽었어요

I am more indicating that I have tried reading every book, but there is no indication on if I have finished reading any of them.

다 can also be used to indicate that all the members/things that represent a subject do some action (or are some adjective). For example:

사람들이 다 왔어요 = All the people have come
사람들이 다 죽었어요 = All the people died
부모님은 다 그래요 = All parents are like that
남자들은 다 게을러요 = All men are lazy
학생들은 다 공부하고 있어요 = All of the students are studying
애기들이 다 낮잠 자고 있어요 = All the babies are taking a nap

In these cases, I have noticed that there is effectively no difference between using 다 or 모든. For example, each of these sentences would have the same meaning:

모든 사람들이 왔어요 = All the people have come
모든 사람들이 죽었어요 = All the people died
모든 부모님은 그래요 = All parents are like that
모든 남자들은 게을러요 = All men are lazy
모든 학생들은 공부하고 있어요 = All of the students are studying
모든 애기들이 낮잠을 자고 있어요 = All the babies are taking a nap

The only difference I can feel is that ‘모든’ is considering the subjects (although groups of people) almost as unique individuals/things within the group, whereas ‘다’ is describing the subjects a groups. At this point, this is not something you need to worry about. Understanding the precise nuance is more about feeling (which you will develop with time).

The similarities in these usages allow them to be used in the same sentence. For example:

모든 사람들이 다 왔어요 = All the people have come
모든 사람들이 다 죽었어요 = All the people died
모든 부모님은 다 그래요 = All parents are like that
모든 남자들은 다 게을러요 = All men are lazy
모든 학생들은 다 공부하고 있어요 = All of the students are studying
모든 애기들이 다 낮잠 자고 있어요 = All the babies are taking a nap

All of these can also be used in negative sentences, for example:

사람들이 다 안 왔어요 = Not all the people have come
저는 라면을 다 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat all of the ramen
저는 숙제를 다 하지 못했어요 = I couldn’t do all of my homework

다 can also be used as a noun. In this form, it is usually placed before 이다 or 아니다 to indicate that something is (or isn’t) “all.” For example:

그게 다야? = Is that all
이게 다가 아니야 = This isn’t all

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모두

There is also another word that you should be aware of: “모두,” which has the meaning of “all.” It can generally be used in the following ways:

As an adverb
In these cases, 모두 essentially has the same meaning as “다.” For example:

선생님들은 모두 똑똑해요 = All teachers are smart, which could also be written as:
선생님들은 다 똑똑해요 = All teachers are smart, or
모든 선생님들은 똑똑해요 = Every teacher is smart

In this adverb form, 다 can also be placed after 모두 in the same sentence. For example:

선생님들은 모두 다 똑똑해요 = All teachers are smart

In this adverb form, you would not see particles attached to it.

As a (pro)noun
In these cases 모두 typically means “everybody” or “everything.” Particles are usually attached to it. For example:

모두가 이해했어요 = Everybody understood
모두가 산책하고 있어요 = Everybody is going for a walk

Here’s the part that is a bit confusing. Often times when the sentence structure is just Subject – 모두 – Verb, the ~를 is omitted from 모두. For example:

나는 모두를 이해했어 would be better said as:
나는 모두 이해했어 = I understood everything

And

저는 모두를 먹고 싶어요 would be better said as:
저는 모두 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat everything

It took me a long time to come to this conclusion, but my explanation as to why this is done is because in these cases 모두 is acting as an adverb. Therefore, it is not so much that the ~를 is being omitted, but rather that the 모두 is serving a different function (and the sentence ends up having the same meaning anyways).

Just like how you would not see ~를 attached to 다 in the following sentences:

나는 다 이해했어 = I understood everything
저는 다 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat everything

Often times a word that represents a group of people is placed before 모두. In these cases, ~를 is usually attached to 모두. For example:

저는 가족 모두를 사랑해요 = I love all of my family
저는 학생 모두를 가르쳤어요 = I taught all of the students

The same structure works when the group of people is the subject of a sentence. For example:

학생 모두가 기숙사로 갔어요 = All of the students went to the dorm
가족 모두가 고향에 갔어요 = All of the/my family went to the/our hometown
선생님 모두가 회의에 갔어요 = All of the teachers went to a meeting

Other particles can be attached to it as well, for example:
저는 선물을 모두에게 주었어요 = I gave a present to everybody

 

 

Everywhere/Every time/Everyone

~나 can be added to the words ‘where,’ ‘when,’ and ‘who’ to mean ‘everywhere,’ ‘every time,’ and ‘everyone.’ Particles are usually not added to these words. For example:

어디 = where
어디나 = everywhere

나는 한국에서 어디나 여행하고 싶어 = I (would) want to travel everywhere in Korea
우리는 동남아시아에 어디나 갈 거예요 = We will go everywhere in South East Asia
밥은 어디나 맛이 똑같아요 = Rice tastes the same everywhere

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언제 = when
언제나 = every time/always

그녀는 언제나 늦게 와요 = She comes late every time
저는 언제나 똑같은 메뉴를 먹어요 = I always eat the same menu
저는 언제나 똑같은 시간에 일어나요 = I always wake up at the same time

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누구 = who
누구나 = everyone

누구나 그 여자를 알아요 = Everybody knows that girl
누구나 우리 애기를 보고 싶어요 = Everybody wants to see our baby
누구나 한국을 좋아해요 = Everybody likes Korea

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Something/Somewhere/Sometime/Somebody

~ㄴ가 can be added to the words ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when,’ and ‘who’ to mean ‘something,’ ‘somewhere,’ ‘sometime,’ and ‘somebody.’ For example:

뭐 = what
뭔가 = something

The subject and object particles in general can be omitted from any sentence (although I don’t suggest omitting particles until you have a very deep understanding of Korean), but they seem to be more commonly omitted from these types of sentences. Many examples:

나는 방금 뭔가(를) 봤어 = I just saw something a minute ago
등에 뭔가(가) 있어요 = There is something on your back
등에 뭔가(가) 있나요? = Is there something on my back?
저는 팔에 뭔가(가)느껴져요 = I feel something on my arm
저는 뭔가(를) 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat something
저는 뭔가(를) 말하고 싶어요 = I want to say something

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어디 = where
어딘가 = somewhere

By the nature of the word “somewhere,” you are most likely to use the particles ~에 or ~에서 in these sentences. It would be acceptable to omit the particle ~에 from 어딘가 but less acceptable to omit the particle ~에서. Many examples:

열쇠를 어딘가(에) 뒀어 = I left my keys somewhere
전쟁이 아시아 어딘가에서 났어요 = A war broke out somewhere in Asia
피가 어딘가에서 나오고 있어요 = Blood is coming out of somewhere
저는 그릇을 어딘가(에) 두었어요 = I put the bowl in some place
선생님들이 회의를 어딘가에서 하고 있어요 = The teachers are having a meeting somewhere
저는 휴일에 어딘가에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go somewhere on the holiday
저는 어딘가에서 커피를 마시고 싶어요 = I want to drink a cup of coffee somewhere

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언제 = when
언젠가 = sometime/someday

~에 is typically not attached to 언젠가. Many examples:

그 날이 언젠가 올 거예요 = The day will come sometime
구름이 언젠가 걷힐 거예요 = The clouds will clear eventually/sometime
저는 언젠가 경찰관이 되고 싶어요 = I want to become a police officer someday
저는 언젠가 중국어도 배우고 싶어요 = I want to learn Chinese as well some day
저는 언젠가 고향에 돌아가고 싶어요 = I want to return (go back) to my hometown some day

When I first learned about this word, I wondered if particles like ~까지 or ~부터 could be attached to it because 언젠가 represents a time. I kept bugging Korean people to try to make me example sentences of these particles attached to 언젠가 and they always came up with nothing. I realized that in both English and Korean, it isn’t logical to make sentences with “until someday” or “from someday.”

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누구 = who
누군가 = somebody

누군가(는) 너를 찾고 있어 = Somebody is looking for you
저는 누군가의 열쇠를 찾았어요 = I found somebody’s keys
경찰관들은 누군가와 얘기하고 있어요 = The policemen are talking with somebody
누군가가 지갑을 잃어버렸어요 = Somebody lost their wallet
누군가가 그 파일을 저에게 보냈어요 = Somebody sent that file to me

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In Lesson 22, you learned about using 어느 in sentences. Another usage of 어느 is to reference a vague place or point in time. I am including this explanation in this section of the lesson because of the similarities with the sentences above.

You would often see this type of thing in stories, poetry or news reports where the specific location does not need to be given. This would be similar to something like this at a start of a story in English:

A long time ago in a far-away castle, or
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

In this usage, 어느 is commonly placed before a broad indication of time or place. For example:

어느 날 = some day (an ambiguous day)
어느 밤 = some night (an ambiguous night)
어느 겨울 = some winter (an ambiguous winter)
어느 여름 = some summer (an ambiguous summer)
어느 마을 = some village (an ambiguous village)
어느 시장 = some market (an ambiguous market)

Here, the person speaking/writing this way because he/she does not need to specifically reference the time. Some example sentences:

어느 겨울 꽃이 다 사라졌다 = Some winter, all the flowers disappeared
어느 마을에서 애기 두 명이 태어났다 = Two babies were born in some village
그 다음 날, 할머니가 어느 시장을 구경하고 있었다 = The next day, the grandmother was browsing around some market

Again, like I said, you would most likely see these types of sentences used in stories, often setting up the scenario or something within a book.

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It is also possible to use a question word to refer to an ambiguous place, thing or person. This is most commonly done with the following words:

어디
Person 1: 엄마가 집에 있어? = Is mom at home
Person 2: 아니요. 어디 갔어. = No, she went somewhere

뭐
우리가 이미 뭐 먹었어요 = We already ate something

누구
나는 내일 누구 만날 거야 = Tomorrow I’m going to meet somebody

Using these words like this is quite advanced, and is not something I learned until a few years of exposure with Korean. What makes these usages even more confusing is that you can use these words in sentences when you are asking a question. For example:

뭐 먹었어요? Could mean both:
– What did you eat? or
– Did you eat something?

어디 갔어요? Could mean both:
– Where did you go? or
– Did you go somewhere

누구(를) 만났어요? Could mean both:
– Who did you meet? Or
– Did you meet somebody

Distinguishing them, believe it or not, can be done quite easily if you train your ear correctly. When using “뭐, 어디 or 누구” as the question word in the sentence, the stress of the sentence is on the question word itself. Pay close attention to the audio in the following examples:

뭐 먹었어요? = What did you eat?
어디 갔어요? = Where did you go?
누구 만났어요? = Who did you meet?

When using “뭐, 어디 or 누구” to refer to an ambiguous thing, place or person, the stress of the sentence is on the verb. Again, pay close attention to the audio in the following examples, and specifically how they differ from the examples above:

뭐 먹었어요? = Did you eat something?
어디 갔어요? = Did you go somewhere?
누구 만났어요? = Did you meet somebody?

As I mentioned however, this is quite advanced. You might not be able to hear the difference at this stage in your learning, but it is good to be aware of as you continue to progress through your studies.

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아무
Anybody/Nobody

아무 is a pronoun that refers to “any” person. When using it in a sentence, the speaker is indicating the person he/she is referring to is not a specific “set” person, but could actually be “anybody.”

It is most commonly used with ~나 attached to it. This particle (when attached to other nouns as you will learn in Lesson 58) often indicates the same indifference meaning that “아무” itself has.

When used together, it can almost be seen as one unit that means “anybody.” As ~나 is actually a particle in itself, when used as the subject or object of a sentence, particles ~는 or ~가 are not usually doubled up on top of ~나. For example:

아무나 그 책을 좋아할 거예요 = Anybody will/would like that book
이렇게 좋은 학교에서는 아무나 공부를 잘 할 거예요 = Anybody can study well at this school

However, particles can be added before ~나 if the word being used has other functions within a sentence (other than the subject or object). Because 아무 refers to a person in this case, the most common particles you would see here are particles meaning “to” (~에게/한테) and “with” (~와/하고). For example:

나는 아무와나 사귀고 싶어 = I want to go out with anybody
저는 이 선물을 아무에게나 주고 싶어요 = I want to give this present to anybody
저는 아무하고나 축구를 하고 싶어요 = I want to play soccer with anybody

When ~도 replaces ~나 in these cases, we get the opposite meaning. 아무도 can be used as the subject or object of a sentence to mean “nobody.” Just like 아무나, particles are not usually attached to 아무도 as “~도” is actually the particle being used.

When using 아무도, the sentence must be conjugated in a negative way or end with some negative word like 없다. This is counter intuitive for English speakers – because it makes us think we are saying a double negative. For example, the following sentence:

집에 아무도 있어요 looks like it should mean “there is nobody at home.” However, as I said, a sentence with “아무도” should end in a negative way. Therefore, this is correct:

집에 아무도 없어요 = There is nobody at home/There isn’t anybody at home

Because of the double negative in the Korean version, this creates a confusing translation for the English version. In the English version, we can usually say either “anybody” with a negative conjugation, or “nobody” with a positive conjugation.

For example:
저는 아무도 못 봤어요 = I didn’t see anybody/I saw nobody
저는 아무도 만나고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to meet anybody/I want to meet nobody
아무도 집에 가지 않았어요 = Nobody went home
아무도 나를 좋아하지 않아 = Nobody likes me

Particles can be added before ~도 if the word being used has other functions within a sentence (other than the subject or object). Because 아무 refers to a person in this case, the most common particles you would see here are particles meaning “to” (~에게/한테) and “with” (~와/하고). For example:

저는 그 말을 아무에게도 안 했어요 = I didn’t say that to anybody/I said that to nobody
저는 아무하고도 얘기하고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to talk with anybody/I want to talk with nobody

It is very easy to be confused with these double negatives at first. To make it simple at the beginning, just tell your brain to use “아무나” when you want to say something that ends positively, and to use “아무도” when you want to say something that ends negatively. In theory, 아무나 and 아무도 are the same word in Korean (with different particles attached). One just happens to be used with positive sentences, and the other happens to be used in negative sentences.

 

아무 Used Before Other Nouns

Another function that 아무 has is to be placed before a thing/place/time to describe it. The most common nouns you will see after 아무 are:

거 = short form of 것, meaning “thing”
데 = meaning “place”
때 = meaning “time”

When ~나 is attached to these nouns, the speaker is indicating that the thing/place/time is not a specific “thing/place/time,” but could actually be “anything,” “anywhere” or “anytime.” For example:

저는 아무 거나 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat anything (I’d eat anything)
아무 때나 좋아요 = Anytime is good
저는 아무 데나 가고 싶어요 = I want to go anywhere (I’d go anywhere)

In the example above, you can see that “데” is used to refer to a place. When the verb being used requires “~에” to be attached to that place, “~에” is omitted. However, when the verb being used requires “~에서” to be attached to that place “~에서” should be added before ~나.

For example, even though the same place is being used in both sentences below, because of the nature of the verbs 가다 and 먹다, ~에 should be used in one case, and ~에서 should be used in the other.

저는 공원에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go to the park
저는 밥을 공원에서 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat in the park

The difference between these two sentences is the same as the difference between these two sentences:

저는 아무 데나 가고 싶어요 = I want to go anywhere
저는 아무 데서나 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat (at) anywhere

~도 can replace ~나 in these cases to have the meaning of “nothing” or “nowhere.” 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

“아무 때도” means “no time?” This doesn’t make sense. Instead, the word 전혀 (introduced in Lesson 34) should be used.

It is possible to use other nouns after 아무. For example:

저는 아무 버스나 타고 갈 거예요 = I’m going to take any bus and leave
저는 아무 말도 하지 않았어요 = I didn’t say anything/I said nothing
저는 엄마랑 아무 관계도 없어요 = I don’t have any relationship with my mother/I have no relationship with my mother

However, by far the most common three things to use after 아무 are 거, 데 and 때.

I would love to provide way more examples, but many of the examples I want to make with 아무 (and the words it can create) use grammatical principles that you haven’t been introduced to you yet. The two most common grammatical principles that you haven’t learned yet that would be used in these situations are:

Making a command (introduced in Lesson 40), and
One can/cannot do (Introduced in Lesson 45)

Here are some quick examples using those two principles. The only reason I am showing you these is because I think it is likely you have learned about these either by looking ahead or by using some other resource.

Making a command
가방을 아무 데나 두세요 = Put your bag down anywhere
아무 거나 고르세요! = Choose anything!
아무 거나 먹자! = Let’s eat anything!

One can/cannot do
아무나 그것을 할 수 있어요 = Anybody can do that

It also might be helpful to take a peek at Lesson 58 to see how ~나 can be used when not used in these specific cases of 아무나, 아무 거나, 아무 때나, etc. In theory, I should have presented these words after I taught you about ~나, but in my opinion the use ~나 as it is used in this lesson is more common (and therefore more important) than the general use of ~나 introduced later.

 

 

 

 

Each (마다)

마다 means “each” and is attached directly to the end of a noun:

날마다 = each day
학생마다 = each student
금요일마다 = each/every Friday
30분마다 = each/every 30 minutes

When I first learned about this, I asked the following question to my grammar teacher:

“What is the difference between ‘모든 학생’, and 학생마다?”

The answer is so subtle, but there is a difference. The only way I can explain it is by saying the following:
If you can explain the difference between “every student” and “each student” in English, then you fully understand the difference between “모든 학생” and “학생마다.”

But really, can you explain the difference between “every student” and “each student?” There is a difference. I know there is a difference. “Each” has something to do with ‘each individual student,’ whereas “every” has something to do with ‘all students.’… huh?

I don’t know. I always think I can explain the difference between “each” and “every” in English, but it’s too confusing.

Just remember that 마다 means “each” and “모든” means “every.” That is more than enough.

그 버스는 10분마다 와요 = That bus comes each/every 10 minutes
학생마다 달라요 = Each student is different

… and with that, you have finished Unit 1! You have come a really long way from our first lessons. When you first started learning through our website, you were learning sentences like: “나는 선생님이다.”

Hopefully you enjoyed our first unit, and hopefully you didn’t get too confused – because in Unit 2 you will start learning Korean grammar concepts that will not only make your sentences much more complex, but also make your head explode.

If you are confident in what you learned in Lessons 17 – 25, why not check your knowledge on our Lessons 17 – 25 Mini-Test.

Or you can go directly to our Unit 1 test, which will test you on everything you learned in Unit 1.

If you are not into taking the tests, you could always head directly to Unit 2 and check out our first lesson (Lesson 26).

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Want to practice your listening skills?

This YouTube video will prompt you with Korean sentences to dictate using the concepts from this lesson.