I once had to take a Korean language test for work. The test aimed to evaluate my grammar skills in written Korean. I did fine in Korean classes in school, so I blindly thought that I should pass the test. However, I failed the test. I was little embarrassed to tell anyone because I have been speaking Korean all my life even though I am not a professional linguist. As a purpose of taking a test is to help test-takers to learn, I learned a lot from the test. Since then, I try to write accurate Korean even when I text to friends.

 

Believe or not, I sometimes use a dictionary to make sure my grammar is correct. Since spacing words incorrectly can change the meaning, my focus in checking grammar is to review spacing words.

 

1. 한잔 vs 한 잔

Most Koreans I know enjoy drinking after work. It is common in Korea to grab a beer with co-workers after work and most Koreans find camaraderie from attending 회식(Hweo-sik: employee afterwork gathering/party). If you work with Koreans, one of your co-workers might ask you to have some drinks after work. They might ask you a phrase like “한잔 할래? (han-jan-hal-rae?: do you want to grab a drink?”) It is literally translated “do you want a cup of glass?”, which asks you if you want to have a couple of drinks with them.

 

Here ‘한잔’ can be used interchangeably with ‘한 잔’by most native Koreans. However, ‘한잔’ is a correct word when you ask someone to join drinking with you.

 

In fact, ‘한잔’ is one word and it is a noun. It literally means a small amount of beverage, especially alcohol or tea, but it is replaced as ‘drinking’. Therefore “한잔 할래?” is translated as “do you want to drink?

 

 

 

2. 마시다 vs 먹다

My husband, who is not a native Korean, often corrects me when I say “물 먹다.”(Mool-mok-dah: eat water) No one had ever pointed out this mistake until my husband did because many Koreans would use 먹다(mok-dah: to eat) interchangeably with 마시다(mah-si-dah: to drink). Especially, when referring to drinking water.

Although my husband is technically correct. 마시다 means to drink, not to eat. You drink water, not eat water. Therefore, I should say “ 물 마시다.(mool-mah-si-dah: drink water)”  Instead “물 먹다. (Mool-mok-dah: eat water)” I would never have noticed that I’ve been speaking incorrectly until this foreigner corrected me.

 

3. 안 된다 vs 안된다

This is another common mistake related to spacing words. If you look it up a dictionary, ‘안 된다’ has many meanings, such as:

 should not (do), ought not to, shall not, don‘t, be forbidden/prohibited, be not allowed, be not supposed to, etc.

 

As you noticed, the underlying concept of ‘안 된다’ is ‘must not’ or ‘be not supposed to.  Let’s take examples:

 

• 빨간불에 길을 건너면 안 된다. (Ppal-gahn-bul-eh-gil-eul-gun-nuh-myeon-ahn-doen-dah: you must not cross the street when the red light is on.)

 

• 소화가 잘 안 된다. (so-hwa-ga-jaal-an-deon-dah: I can’t digest well.)

 

On the other hand, ‘안된다’ can be used in a couple of different situations. The first case is to describe when things/situations are not good. For example,

 

• 경기가 안 좋아서 장사가 잘 안된다. (Gyung-gi-ga-anh-joe-ahh-seo-jang-sah-ga-jal-anh-doen-dah: business is bad because of bad economy.)

 

Secondly, 안된다 can be used when you describe how well someone’s child doing (at something). If child/children are not doing well/being successful (at something), you can use 안된다. As an example,

 

• 자식이 안되기를 바라는 부모는 없다. (jah-sik-ee-anh-deo-ghi-lul-bah-rah-nun-boo-moh-nun-up-dah: there are no parents who wish bad things for their children.)

 

Learning from mistakes, whether it is yours or others’, is one of the most efficient ways to learn a foreign language. The good news is that you don’t need to worry about all these nitty-gritty Korean grammars because many Koreans may not even know they are making mistakes every day.

 

 

Glossary

• 회식(Hweo-sik: employee afterwork gathering/party)
• 한잔 할래? (han-jan-hal-rae?: do you want to grab a beer/other alcohol?)

하다:do

• 물 먹다.”(Mool-mok-dah: eat water)

물:water

• 물 마시다.(mool-mah-si-dah: drink water)
• 빨간불에 길을 건너면 안 된다. (Ppal-gahn-bul-eh-gil-eul-gun-nuh-myeon-ahn-doen-dah: you must not cross the street when the red light is on.)

빨간불: red light

건너다: cross the street

• 경기가 안 좋아서 장사가 잘 안된다. (Gyung-gi-ga-anh-joe-ahh-seo-jang-sah-ga-jal-anh-doen-dah: business is bad because of bad economy.)

경기:economy

장사: (personal) business

• 소화가 잘 안 된다. (so-hwa-ga-jaal-an-deon-dah: I can’t digest well.)

소화:digestion

잘:well

• 자식이 안되기를 바라는 부모는 없다. (jah-sik-ee-anh-deo-ghi-lul-bah-rah-nun-boo-moh-nun-up-dah: there are no parents who wish bad things for their children.)

자식: children

부모:parents

바라다:wish