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Lesson 109: ~나 보다, ~는/ㄴ가 보다

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Vocabulary
Introduction

To guess, think, suppose, to look like: ~는/ㄴ가보다

 

 

Vocabulary

Nouns:
온수 = hot water

Common Usages:
온수사용금지 = please no usage of the hot water
온수전용 = only hot water (this is usually written on the panel for a boiler in a Korean home to indicate that you want to turn on the boiler, but only for the hot water)

Examples:
온수는 추운 겨울에 따뜻함을 제공해요 = Hot water provides warmth in cold winters
온수가 잘 안 나오는가 봐요 = I guess hot water doesn’t really work (come out) well

욕조 = bathtub

Examples:
애기가 지금 욕조에 있는가 봐요
= I guess the baby is in the bathtub

욕조에 따뜻한 물을 채우고 편안히 목욕할 수 있어요
= You can fill the bathtub with warm water and take a relaxing bath

내복 = under-clothes worn in the winter to keep warm

Examples:
내복을 입어야 되는가 봐요
= I guess I need to wear long-johns (long-underwear)

내복 바람으로 밖에 나가서 음식물 찌꺼기를 버렸어요
= I went outside to throw out the food waste in my long-underwear

친척들이 집에 왔는데 남동생은 그냥 내복바람으로 침대에 누웠어요
= My relatives came to my house, and my younger brother just lay in bed in his long underwear

미로 = maze

Common Usages:
미로찾기 = solving a maze

Examples:
미로가 어렵진 않았나 봐요
= I guess the maze isn’t difficult

미로 속에서 길을 잃어서 오랫동안 배회했어요
= I got lost in the maze, so I wandered around for a while

탁구대 = ping pong table

Examples:
새로운 탁구대가 왔는가 봐요
= I guess the new Ping-Pong table arrived/It looks like the new Ping-Pong table arrived

그들은 탁구대 주변에 모여서 게임을 즐겼어요
= They gathered around the ping pong table and enjoyed the game

휴게실 = resting room, lounge

Examples:
여기가 휴게실인가 봐요
= I guess this is the resting room

휴게실에 냉장고가 텅 비어서 오늘 장을 보고 채워 놓아야 해요
= The fridge in the break-room is completely empty, so today I better do the groceries and fill it up

무더기 = pile, heap of something

Common Usages:
무더기로 적발되다 = to be caught in bunches (usually for something like a criminal)

Examples:
경찰은 무더기로 쌓여 있는 마약을 그 방에서 발견했어요
= The police found the pile of drugs in that room

쓰레기가 이렇게 무더기로 쌓여 있는데 한번도 청소를 안 했나 봐요
= With this much garbage piled up, I guess they never cleaned the place even once

자존심 = self esteem

Common Usages:
자존심이 세다 = for one’s self esteem to be too strong

Idioms:
자존심도 없냐 = used when somebody does something very disgraceful, like maybe asking somebody to go out after having broken up with them
자존심이 밥 먹여주냐 = having a high self esteem doesn’t pay the bills

Examples:
그 학생이 자존심이 없는가 봐요 = I guess that student doesn’t have any self-esteem
자존심이 상할 때 우리는 상처를 받아요 = When self-esteem is hurt, we feel wounded

Verbs:
헹구다 = to rinse

Common Usages:
안심헹굼 = rinsing thoroughly (a button you can press on a dishwasher or washing machine)
입(안)을 헹구다 = to rinse the inside of one’s mouth

Examples:
빨래를 아직 안 헹궜나 봐요
= I guess the laundry hasn’t rinsed yet

접시를 헹군 후에 찬물로 씻어주세요
= After rinsing the dishes, please wash them with cold water

갇히다 = to be locked in

Common Usages:
생각에 갇히다 = to be locked in one’s thoughts
감옥에 갇히다 = to be locked in jail

Examples:
애기가 방에 갇혀 있었고 도움을 기다리고 있었어요
= The baby was locked in the room and waiting for help

담그다 = to soak in

This word follows the ㅡ irregular.

Common Usages:
김치를 담그다 = to make kimchi

Examples:
대추를 물에다가 잠깐 담가 놓아야 돼요
= You need to let the dates soak in water briefly

따뜻한 욕조에 몸을 담갔어요
= I soaked my body in the warm water

권하다 = to give advice

Examples:
친구가 좋은 책을 읽는 것을 권해 주었어요
= My friend advised me to read a good book

여기는 사람들이 사업을 하는 것보다 취업을 권하나 봐
= I guess people here recommend you to get a job rather than running your own

추정하다 = to estimate

The noun form of this word, 추정 translates to “estimate.”

Examples:
경찰관이 엎드린 사람을 보고 죽은 것으로 추정했나 봐요
= It seems as though the police saw that man laying on the ground and presumed he was dead

생각보다 내년 경제 성장률 추정치가 좋지 않아요
= The estimation for next year’s economic development is not as good as expected

깨뜨리다 = to smash

Common Usages:
약속을 깨드리다 = to break a promise

Examples:
아기가 접시를 깨뜨렸는가 봐요
= I guess the baby broke the plate/it looks like the baby broke the plate

선수가 대회 중에 창을 깨뜨렸어요
= The player smashed the window during the competition

지적하다 = to point out

The noun form of this word, 지적 translates to “pointing out.”

Common Usages:
날카롭게 지적하다 = to point out something well

Examples:
누가 그 제품의 단점을 지적하지 않았나 봐요
= I guess nobody pointed out that product’s flaws

선생님은 항상 우리의 실수를 지적해 줘요
= The teacher always points out our mistakes

수신하다 = to receive a signal

The noun form of this word, 수신 refers to “receiving a signal.”

Examples:
수신이 안 됐는가 봐요
= I guess there is no reception/It looks like there is no reception

그 기기는 전파를 수신하지 못했어요
= The device failed to receive the signal

날아가다 = to fly away

Notes: The mimetic word 훨훨 is often used along with 날아가다. For more information on mimetic words, check out Lesson 152.

Examples:
새들이 작은 떼로 모여서 다 같이 날아갔어요
= The birds gathered in a small group and then all flew away together

백조가 물에서 물고기를 잡고 날아갔어요
= The swan caught a fish in the water and flew away

박쥐가 날아갔다가 또 나타났어요
= The bat flew away and then came back (showed up) again

나비가 팔랑팔랑 날갯짓을 하며 하늘을 날아다녀요
= The butterfly fluttered his wings as it flew in the sky

헌신하다 = to devote

The noun form of this word, 헌신 translates to “devotion.”

Example:
그들은 자신의 인생을 봉사에 헌신했어요 = They devoted their lives to serving others

대피하다 = to evacuate and take shelter

The noun form of this word, 대피 translates to “evacuation.”

Examples:
화재가 발생하면 즉시 대피하여 안전한 곳으로 이동해야 해요
= In case of a fire, immediately evacuate to a safe place

건물에 아무도 없는 것을 보니 모든 사람들이 지진에 잘 대피했나 봐요
= I saw that there was nobody in the building, so I guess they all were able to evacuate from the earthquake

엎다 = to put face down

Common Usages:
약속을 엎다 = to break a promise
결혼을 엎다 = to cancel a marriage (before one gets married)

Examples:
실수로 물이 든 컵을 엎어서 책이 다 젖었어요
= I accidentally tipped over the cup with water and my book got all wet

급하게 가다가 접시를 바닥에 엎어서 다시 요리해야 되겠나 봐요
= I was walking too fast and I dropped my plate flat on the ground so it looks like I’ll have to cook again

엎드리다 = to lay face down

경찰관이 엎드린 사람을 보고 죽은 것으로 추정했나 봐요
= It seems as though the police saw that man laying on the ground and presumed he was dead

우리 딸은 엎드려서 좋아하는 책을 읽었어요
= Our daughter lay face down and read her favorite book

엎드러지다 = to fall on one’s face

Examples:
아저씨가 길을 가다가 발에 걸려 넘어져 엎드러졌어요
= The man stumbled on the street and fell on his face

길을 가다가 길 위에 있는 큰 돌에 걸려 엎드러졌어요
= While walking down the street, I tripped on a big rock and fell on my face

엎드러뜨리다 = to make one fall on their face

Example:
그 사람이 최선을 다해 저의 친구를 바닥에 엎드러뜨렸어요
= That person did his best to make the my friend fall on this face

Adjectives:
아쉽다 = for something to be too bad, unfortunate

Examples:
그 경기에서 패배해서 아쉬웠어요
= He was disappointed to lose the game

우리가 내일 아쉽게 못 가나 봐요
= Unfortunately it looks like we won’t be able to go tomorrow

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

 

 

Introduction

In this lesson, you will how to attach ~ㄴ가/은가/는가/나 보다 to the end of a sentence. That’s a funny looking grammatical principle, isn’t it? Let’s get started.

.To guess, think, suppose, to look like: ~ㄴ가/은가/는가/나 보다

By attaching ~ㄴ가/은가/는가/나 보다 to words at the end of a sentence, the speaker indicates that the sentence is a guess, and it thought to be true. The way it is attached to words is very interesting, especially to a Korean grammar nerd like me.

~ㄴ가 보다 is attached to 이다 and adjectives where the stem ends in a vowel
여기가 휴게실인가 봐요 = I guess this is the resting room
시험이 어려운가 봐요 = I guess the exam is hard

~은가 보다 is attached to adjectives where the stem ends in a consonant
그 사람이 싫은가 봐요 = I guess he doesn’t like that person

~는가 보다 is attached to all verbs and all versions of 있다 and 없다
온수가 잘 안 나오는가 봐요 = I guess hot water doesn’t really work (come out) well
애기가 지금 욕조에 있는가 봐요 = I guess the baby is in the bathtub
그 학생이 자존심이 없는가 봐요 = I guess that student doesn’t have any self-esteem

Alternatively, ~나 보다 can be attached to 이다, adjectives or verbs.
여기가 휴게실이나 봐요 = I guess this is the resting room
시험이 어렵나 봐요 = I guess the exam is hard
그 사람이 싫나 봐요 = I guess he doesn’t like that person
온수가 잘 안 나오나 봐요 = I guess hot water doesn’t really work (come out) well
애기가 지금 욕조에 있나 봐요 = I guess the baby is in the bathtub
그 학생이 자존심이 없나 봐요 = I guess that student doesn’t have any self-esteem

Some Korean learning sources state different rules for this grammatical principle. In fact, I have gotten many emails over the years claiming that my description of this grammatical principle is incorrect because it goes against other sources. I assure you, those are correct. Are some of the above sentences more common than others? Yes, I will get into that now.

In reality, I would almost always use ~ㄴ/은가 보다 with adjectives and 이다, and ~나 보다 with verbs. This is the common and natural way to do it in Korean, but there is no rule saying you can’t use ~는가 보다 with verbs, 있다 and 없다, and no rule saying you can’t use ~나 보다 with adjectives and 이다. In fact, the ~ㄴ/은/는가  and ~나 are grammatically the same particles that you learned in Lesson 21, where they were used as questions-creating particles.

Another interesting note is that 보다 in these sentences is an adjective. The only practical implication of this is ending the sentence simply as “보다” is grammatically correct, whereas ending it as “본다” would be grammatically incorrect. For example:

시험이 어려운가 보다 – correct
시험이 어려운가 본다 – incorrect

Let’s get into how we can use and distinguish this grammatical principle from other ones you have learned.

In Lesson 35, you learned about using ~ㄹ/을 것 같다 to indicate that something is a guess. Let’s compare ~ㄴ가/은가/는가/나 보다 to that. For example:

시험이 어려울 것 같아요 = The exam is/will probably be hard
시험이 어려운가 봐요 = I guess the exam is hard

In the first sentence using ~ㄹ/을 것 같다, the speaker is mostly guessing based on intuition without any immediate experienced reason. For example, imagine you are a student in a class and the contents of the class are very challenging. Your professor makes the exam. The night before the exam you tell your friend who is also in the class that the exam will probably be hard.

However, in the second sentence using ~ㄴ가/은가/는가/나 보다 the speaker has a direct reason or evidence that supports this guess. For example, imagine you are a proctor in an exam room watching students write an exam. During the test, you see/hear many students sigh, and even some students completely stop writing the exam and start sleeping without answering all the questions. This is evidence that supports that the exam is difficult.

Let’s look at another example.

Imagine you are at a restaurant and you see a foreigner eating some Korean BBQ. After each piece of meat, he eats a big piece of kimchi. At this point, because it is something that you are directly experiencing and something that you have direct evidence of, you can say this sentence.

그 외국인이 김치를 좋아하는가 봐요
= I guess that foreigner likes kimchi/it looks like that foreigner likes kimchi/I suppose that foreigner likes kimchi

However if you actually didn’t know he likes kimchi or not, and were just guessing that he might (maybe because kimchi is delicious and everybody likes it), you could say:

그 외국인이 김치를 좋아할 것 같아요
= That foreigner probably likes kimchi

Here are some more examples:

사과가 너무 비싼가 봐요
= I guess the apples are too expensive (maybe because you realized that nobody is buying any apples, so you have the evidence to lead you to believe that the apples are too expensive)

내복을 입어야 되는가 봐요
= I guess I need to wear long-johns (long-underwear) (if you imagine it’s winter and you look outside and you realize that it is going to be freezing cold)

우리가 내일 아쉽게 못 가나 봐요
= Unfortunately it looks like we won’t be able to go tomorrow (if you imagine you had a road-trip planned for tomorrow but your car just broke down and are now realizing you won’t be able to go)

그 학생이 밥을 살 수 있는 돈이 없는가 봐요
= I guess that student doesn’t have any money to buy food (If you imagine you are on a school field trip as a teacher and it is lunch time for the students. However, one of the students is just sitting by himself not eating anything, and looks very sad)

정부에게 불만을 표현하고 싶은 사람이 많은가 봐요
= It looks like there are a lot of people who want to express their complaints towards the government (If you imagine you are walking around the downtown of your city and you see a bunch of protesters protesting something at city hall)

여기는 사람들이 사업을 하는 것보다 취업을 권하나 봐
= I guess people here recommend you to get a job rather than running your own (This could be anything, but imagine you are at university doing a marketing degree. The professors at the university might all make slight comments that starting up your own business isn’t the best way to go, and they recommend more that you just get a job for some company)

This grammatical form can be attached to sentences conjugated in the past and future tense by attaching ~는가 보다 or ~나 보다 to ~었~ or ~겠~, regardless of it is a verb, adjective, 이다, 있다 or 없다, for example:

미로가 어렵진 않았나 봐요
= I guess the maze isn’t difficult

빨래를 아직 안 헹궜나 봐요
= I guess the laundry hasn’t rinsed yet

누가 그 제품의 단점을 지적하지 않았나 봐요
= I guess nobody pointed out that product’s flaws

경찰관이 엎드린 사람을 보고 죽은 것으로 추정했나 봐요
= It seems as though the police saw that man laying on the ground and presumed he was dead

건물에 아무도 없는 것을 보니 모든 사람들이 지진에 잘 대피했나 봐요
= I saw that there was nobody in the building, so I guess they all were able to evacuate from the earthquake

곰이 걷는 것이 어색하는 것을 보니 평생 우리에 갇혀 있었나 봐요
= The way that bear walks is weird, I guess he was trapped in a cage his whole life

쓰레기가 이렇게 무더기로 쌓여 있는데 한번도 청소를 안 했나 봐요
= With this much garbage piled up, I guess they never cleaned the place even once

그 사람이 오랫동안 헌신해서 어머니를 돌봐서 어머니가 거의 다 나았나 봐
= That person dedicated himself to looking after my mother for a long time and now it looks like she is almost better

급하게 가다가 접시를 바닥에 엎어서 다시 요리해야 되겠나 봐요
= I was walking too fast and I dropped my plate flat on the ground so it looks like I’ll have to cook again

When the past tense is being used, regardless of verb, adjective or 이다, ~나 보다 is much more common and natural. Here are some more examples:

수신이 안 됐는가 봐요
= I guess there is no reception/It looks like there is no reception

아기가 접시를 깨뜨렸는가 봐요
= I guess the baby broke the plate/it looks like the baby broke the plate

새로운 탁구대가 왔는가 봐요
= I guess the new Ping-Pong table arrived/It looks like the new Ping-Pong table arrived

“~네(요)”, which you learned about in Lesson 83, is often added to sentences where the speaker learns something new. Because of the nature of the sentences we are creating with ~ㄴ가/은가/는가/나 보다, it is very common to add the grammatical principle “~네(요)” to 보다. For example:

시험이 어려운가 보네요 = I guess the exam is hard/the exam looks hard
사과가 너무 비싸나 보네요 = I guess the apples are too expensive
내복을 입어야 되는가 보네 = I guess I need to wear long-johns (long-underwear)
아기가 접시를 깨뜨렸나 보네 = I guess the baby broke the plate
수신이 안 됐나 보네 = I guess there is no reception/It looks like there is no reception

That’s it for this lesson!

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