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Estimating a Number/Amount with “한” and “약”
Therefore/Because: ~(으)므로
In general: 전반
To Occur/Receive (Passive Sentence-ender): 당하다
Vocabulary
Nouns:
소녀 = little girl
소년 = little boy
회비 = membership fees
서양 = western countries
동양 = eastern countries
문명 = civilization
속도 = speed, velocity
선약 = previous engagement
농업 = agriculture
차례 = order
손상 = damage, harm, injury
도난 = theft
사기 = fraud
사기꾼 = swindler, fraud man
실생활 = real life
동호회 = club for people with same interest
귀중품 = valuables
Verbs:
그치다 = for rain to stop
모시다 = to serve, to attend on someone
말리다 = to dry
마주치다 = to bump into, to make eye contact
암살하다 = to assassinate
선고하다 = to sentence
공격하다 = to attack
Adverbs and Other Words:
정성껏 = putting your heart into something
For help memorizing these words, try using our mobile app.
Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn a variety of smaller grammatical principles that are similar to grammatical principles you have learned previously. Despite the similarities with its previously taught counterpart, each grammatical principle taught in this lesson is more difficult (and less) common with the one taught earlier. I will use this lesson to introduce you to:
한 and 약 (similar to ~쯤)
~(으)므로 (similar to ~아/어서 or ~기 때문에)
전반에 (not to be confused with 보통 or 일반적으로)
당하다 (similar to passive verbs)
Let’s get started!
Estimating a Number or Amount with “한” and “약”
I first introduced ~쯤 in the vocabulary list of Lesson 22. In that lesson, you saw that you connecting particle ~쯤 to make an estimation about something, often a time. Attaching this to words or numbers translates to “about/approximately _____.” For example:
회비가 얼마쯤 나와요? = About how much is the membership fee?
비가 몇 시쯤 그칠까요? = What time do you think the rain will stop?
서양 문명이 언제쯤 시작됐어요? = About when did Western civilization start?
우리가 내일 한 2시쯤 도착할 거예요 = We will arrive tomorrow at about two o’clock
어제 가게에 사람 스무 명쯤 왔어요 = Yesterday, about twenty people came to the store
Using ~쯤 is a perfectly acceptable way to express that your sentence is an approximation, and most learners of Korean learn this particle fairly early in their Korean studies.
Another way to make an approximation is by placing 한 before the part of the sentence that you are approximating. This usage is very common in speech, but not very common in writing (unless it is a quote that is written down). Unlike the sentences with 쯤, it is not common to use 한 to ask a question.
그 차의 속도가 한 150킬로였어요
= The speed of that car was about 150 km/h
우리가 내일 한 2시에 도착할 거예요
= We will arrive tomorrow at about two o’clock
어제 가게에 사람 한 스무 명이 왔어요
= Yesterday, about 20 people came to the store
한 10분 뒤부터 차례 대로 입장할 거예요
= In about 10 minutes, they will enter in their order
우리 등산 동호회에 회원이 한 100명 있어요
= There are about 100 members in our hiking club
제가 우리 아빠를 한 10년 동안 정성껏 모셨어요
= I’ve poured my heart into attending to my dad for ten years
그 소녀가 한 3살이었을 때 엄마가 돌아가셨어요
= When that little girl was three years old, her mother passed away
Person 1: 몇 개 필요하세요? = How many do you need?
Person 2: 한 열 개… = about ten…
Person 1: 내일 친구가 몇 시 올 거예요? = What time is your friend coming tomorrow?
Person 2: 한 아홉 시… = About nine o’clock
쯤 can be used in sentences with 한. For example:
우리가 내일 한 2시쯤 도착할 거예요 = We will arrive tomorrow at about two o’clock
어제 가게에 사람 한 스무 명쯤 왔어요 = Yesterday, about 20 people came to the store
약 is another word that can be used to have the same meaning and function as 한. By placing 약 before a number or quantity, you can indicate that it is an approximation of some sort. However, 약 is significantly less common than 한 or ~쯤. Nonetheless, it is a word that you should be aware of. Some examples:
캐나다 인구는 약 35,000,000 명이에요 = Canada’s population is about 35 million
캐나다 인구는 한 35,000,000 명이에요 = Canada’s population is about 35 million
캐나다 인구는 35,000,000 명쯤이에요 = Canada’s population is about 35 million
Therefore/Because: ~(으)므로
In previous lessons (most notably Lessons 37 and 38) you have learned how to say “because/therefore” using a few different methods. For example:
저는 돈이 없어서 그것을 못 사요 = I can’t buy that because I don’t have any money
저는 돈이 없기 때문에 그것을 못 사요 = I can’t buy that because I don’t have any money
저는 돈이 없으니까 그것을 못 사요 = I can’t buy that because I don’t have any money
There are actually many other ways that you can create essentially this same (or a very similar) meaning. You will be introduced to a lot of these alternate forms in later lessons (coming up, you might want to check out Lesson 146 or Lesson 147). Let’s talk about another one here.
By connecting two clauses with “~(으)므로,” you can create the meaning of “because” or “therefore.” This grammatical form is more common in formal writing. For example:
이불을 강한 햇빛에 말리므로 더 빨리 말랐어요
= I dried the blanket in the strong sun so it dried quickly
제가 이 케이크를 정성껏 만들었으므로 맛있게 드세요
= I put my heart into making this cake, so please enjoy it
성적이 낮았으므로 그 학생은 좋은 대학교에 못 갔어요
= That student couldn’t go to a good university because of his/her low grades
우리 부장님이 그날 선약이 있으므로 못 가실 것 같아요
= Our boss has plans that day, so he probably won’t be able to go
그 사람이 대통령을 암살했으므로 징역 100년이 선고되었어요
= That person was sentenced to 100 years in prison because he/she assassinated the president
농업을 배우면 실생활에 도움이 많이 되므로 사람들이 배우는 것이 좋아요
= If you learn farming, it is very helpful for daily life, so it is good for people to learn it
Notice above that this grammatical form can be added constructions conjugated into the past or present tense, just like ~기 때문에.
As you know, you can use the grammatical principle ~아/어서 with the word 그렇다 to form 그래서. In the same way, you can use ~(으)므로 with 그렇다 to form 그러므로. The meaning of 그러므로 is very similar to 그래서 – but is used in more formal situations or in print. For example:
동양 문명이 서양 문명보다 농업을 먼저 시작했어요. 그러므로 발달이 더 빨랐습니다
= Eastern civilization started farming before Western civilization. Therefore, their development was faster.
In general: 전반
The two words that are used in English that translate to “generally” in Korean are 보통 and 일반적으로. For example:
저는 보통 월요일에 운동해요 = I generally exercise on Mondays
저는 일반적으로 그 사람을 직장에서 보지 못해요 = I generally don’t see that person at work
Notice that in the examples above, “generally” could be substituted for “usually,” and the sentences would have the same meaning.
While the word 전반 translates to in general, its meaning is different than 보통 or 일반적으로. When using 전반, you are indicating that something is done across the board, in a general sense, amongst all things. For example:
저는 한국 역사 전반에 관심이 있어요
= I am interested in Korean history in general (I am interested in all parts of Korean history).
Notice the difference between the sentence above and the following sentence:
저는 한국 역사를 보통 좋아해요
= I generally/usually like Korean history
More examples:
서울시는 영어 원어민에 관한 예산 전반을 줄이고 있어요
= The City of Seoul is lowering the budget for native English speakers in general (across the board)
미국 통화가 요즘에 비싸지고 있어서 물품 값이 전반적으로 올라가고 있어요
= The price of goods in general (across the board) is increasing because the US dollar is increasing
To Occur/Receive, or an Alternate Passive Sentence Ender: 당하다
당하다 can be used as a verb, or attached to nouns to change them to verbs. Either way, its purpose is to indicate that one receives or experiences some sort of negative outcome.
A good example is to talk about the word 부상, which translates to some form of injury or wound. If you imagine the sentence below:
교통사고에서 사람 다섯 명은 부상을 ________
What verb do you put in the blank? How do you indicate that one “got” an injury? 당하다 can be used to create this meaning. For example:
교통사고에서 사람 다섯 명은 부상을 당했어요 = Five people were injured in the car accident
Here are more examples:
집에 가는 동안 사고를 당했어요
= I got into an accident on my way home
그 왕따 학생은 다른 학생들한테 괴롭힘을 당했어요
= That outcast was humiliated by other students
회의에 가러 급히 운전하는 중에 사고를 당해서 회의에 늦게 갔어요
= While going to a meeting, driving recklessly, I got into an accident and was late for the meeting
복도에서 제가 좋아하는 여자를 마주쳐서 친구들한테 놀림을 당했어요
= I bumped into the girl I like in the hallway and was made fun of by my friends
~당하다 can be attached to nouns to turn them into a verb that one experiences a negative outcome. 거절하다 is a verb that means “to reject,” which means you can use it in sentences like the following:
아버지는 자기 아들의 요구를 거절했어요 = The father refused his son’s demand
However, if you want to indicate that you were rejected, you can change 거절하다 to 거절당하다. This allows you to indicate that you received that negative outcome. For example:
그는 그 여자한테 데이트를 하자고 했는데 거절당했어요
= He asked that girl on a date, but got rejected
As you can imagine, ~당하다 is used when a person is getting the short end of the stick in some situation. In other times, when a non-person is rejected, it would be more appropriate to use the usual “되다” form. For example:
새로운 예산이 사장한테 거절되었어요
= The new budget was rejected by the CEO
There are many words to which ~당하다 can be attached. For example:
심한 교통사고로 인해 머리를 손상당했어요
= I injured my head due to the severe accident
그녀는 밤에 낯선 남자들한테 공격당했어요
= She was attacked by unknown men at night
제가 2년 전에 사기당해서 요즘에 돈을 엄청 아껴 써요
= I was scammed two years ago, so I really need to be careful with my money these days
여행을 하는 동안 머물렀던 호텔에서 귀중품을 도난당했어요
= My necklace was stolen from the hotel I was staying at while traveling
That’s it for this Lesson!