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Sentences Using “But/However” Posted by on Mar 16, 2010 in Grammar

There are several ways to say “but” and “however” in Korean.

One way is to use 그렇지만 :

호동은 한국인입니다. 그렇지만 한국어를 못 합니다.

Hodong is a Korean person. However/but he can’t speak Korean.

호동 = Hodong. = topic marking particle. 한국 = Korea. = person. 입니다 = is.

그렇지만 = but/however. 한국 = Korean. = language. = object marking particle. 못 합니다 = can’t.

One thing to note is that 그렇지만 is pronounced as 그렇치만 by Korean speakers.

하지만 can also mean “but” or “however” :

유지니는 밥을 많이 먹어요. 하지만 살이 찌지 않아요.

Yujin eats a lot (literally eats a lot of rice) but/however she doesn’t gain weight.

유지니 = Yujin. = topic marking particle. = rice. = object marking particle. 많이 = a lot. 먹어요 = eat.

하지만 = but/however. = weight (literally means “flesh”).  = subject marking particle. 찌지 않아요 = doesn’t gain/doesn’t get fat.

하지만 is used in more informal situations.

그러나 can also be used to mean “but/however” :

어제 열심히 공부했습니다. 그러나 아직도 시험에 떨어졌습니다.

I studied hard yesterday, but I still failed the test.

어제 = yesterday.  열심히 = hard. 공부했습니다 = studied.

그러나 = but/however. 아직도 = still. 시험 = test. = locative particle. 떨어졌습니다 = failed.

그러나 is used often in written speech and is more formal than 하지만.

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Comments:

  1. forex robot:

    What a great resource!

  2. Ryan:

    This is awesome. This always seemed a lot more complicated!