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Stating a Fact from Experience: ~더라
Vocabulary
Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. Use these sentences to give yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the grammar that you will be learning shortly.
A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.
Nouns:
뻥 = joke
Common Usages:
뻥(을) 치다 = to joke
뻥치지마 = Don’t joke!
Examples:
그의 말은 뻥이었어요 = His words were a joke
그 학생이 뻥을 많이 치더라 = From my own experience, that student jokes a lot
한옥 = traditional Korean house
Examples:
한옥은 한국의 전통적인 주택 스타일이에요
= Hanok is the traditional Korean housing style
부장님이 아파트에서 안 살고 한옥에서 살더라
= From my experience, the boss lives in a Korean traditional house, not an apartment
진료 = medical treatment
Common Usages:
진료기록 = medical record
진료를 보다 = to get medical treatment
Examples:
유명한 의사에게 진료를 받으려면 오랫동안 대기해야 돼요
= In order to get medical treatment from a famous doctor, you have to wait for a long time
그 병원에서 진료를 받으면 다른 데보다 비싸더라
= I noticed that getting treated at that hospital is more expensive than other places
조상 = ancestor
Common Usages:
조상님이 도왔다/돕다 = This is used when something happens “for a reason.” For example, you end up not marrying somebody that you shouldn’t have. It literally translates to “my ancestor came to help me.”
Examples:
김치는 조상의 지혜가 담겨져 있는 음식이에요
= Kimchi is a food filled with the wisdom of our ancestors
그 사람의 조상이 어디 사람이더라?
= Where are that person’s ancestors from again?
열정 = passion
Common Usages:
열정적 = passionate
열정과 패기 = passion and energy
Examples:
과학에 대한 학생의 열정은 놀라워요
= The student’s passion for science is surprising
그 선생님이 수업을 할 때 열정이 가득하더라
= I saw/noticed that teacher is full of passion when he does his class
차고 = garage
Common Usages:
차고문 = garage door
Examples:
차고에는 자동차를 보관할 수 있어요
= You can store cars in the garage
그 차고에 여러 가지 물건이 가득 쌓여 있더라
= I saw/noticed that there are a lot of things piled up in the garage
거실 = living room
Examples:
저는 거실을 청소기로 청소했어요
= I cleaned the living room with a vacuum cleaner
거실을 깨끗하게 정리하고 엄마한테 진심으로 감사하다는 말을 전했다
= We cleanly organized the living room, and then said ‘thank you’ to my mom from the bottom of my heart
거실의 벽을 지금 칠한 색보다 좀 더 연한 색으로 다시 칠하고 싶어요
= I want to paint the walls in the living room a color that is a little bit of a lighter color than the current color that is painted
저는 책을 거실에 있는 책장에 다 가지런히 놓았어요
= I put all of the books down neatly on the book shelf in the living room
선출 = election
Common Usages:
선출일 = election day
대통령으로 선출되다 = to be elected president
학생회로 선출되다 = to be elected to student council
Examples:
미국은 대통령을 민주적으로 선출해요
= America elects its president democratically
가운데 = the middle
Common Usages:
한가운데 = in the very middle
Examples:
사과의 씨앗은 가운데에 있어요
= The seeds of an apple are in the middle
콘센트가 침대와 책상 가운데에 있더라
= From my experience, I remember that the outlet is between the bed and the desk
국내산 = domestically made product
Notes: By law in Korea, restaurants need to display the country of origin for their food products. On the walls of a lot of restaurants, you will see this information displayed. If an ingredient comes from Korea, they say “국내산.” If an ingredient comes from any other country, it would say something like “중국산” or “미국산.”
Example:
많은 사람들이 국내산 제품을 선호해요
= Many people prefer domestically made products
여드름 = pimple/acne
여드름
pimple/acne
Common Usages:
성인 여드름 = adult acne
여드름 흉터 = acne scar
여드름 제거 = removal of acne
Examples:
그 청소년은 여드름이 많더라
I saw/noticed that that kid has a lot of acne
세수를 꼼꼼히 하지 않으면 얼굴에 여드름이 생길 수도 있어요
If you don’t wash your face thoroughly, you could have pimples come up
콘센트 = wall socket/outlet
Common Usages:
콘센트에 꽂다 = to put in the outlet
멀티콘센트 (문어발) = multi-bar, power–bar
Example:
전기를 사용하기 위해서는 콘센트가 필요해요
= You need a wall socket to use electricity
Verbs:
긁다 = to scratch
Common Usages:
복권을 긁다 = to scratch a lottery ticket
차를 긁다 = to scratch/dent a car
Examples:
저는 머리를 긁었어요
= I scratched my head
등이 간지러워서 긁어 주세요
= Scratch my back! It’s itchy!
저는 저의 등을 손톱으로 긁었어요
= I scratched my back with my fingernails
남자가 생각하면서 턱을 긁었어요
= The man scratched his chin while he thought
모기에 물린 자국을 벅벅 긁었어요
= I scratched the mosquito bite hard
매다 = to tie up
Common Usages:
신발끈을 매다 = to tie shoelaces
넥타이를 매다 = to tie a tie
목을 매다 = to tie around one’s neck
Example:
애기가 운동화 끈을 매고 있었다
= The baby was tying up his shoe laces
챙기다 = to bring, pack up
Common Usages:
실속을 챙기다 = to take only what matters
짐을 챙기다 = to bring baggage
자기 것만 챙기다 = to only bring stuff for oneself
Examples:
오락실에 갈 거라서 동전을 꼭 챙겨서 가야 돼요
= I’m going to an arcade, so I need to bring coins
청소를 하고 나는 내가 제일 즐겨 읽는 잡지 한 권을 챙겨 길을 나섰다
= After cleaning, I grabbed the magazine that I enjoy reading the most and left my house
출장비를 줄 테니까 돈을 안 챙겨도 돼요
= I’m going to give you business travel expenses, so you don’t need to bring money
그 서류가 사본이라서 신청이 안 되고 원본을 챙겨야 돼요
= That document is a copy so the registration won’t work, you need to bring the original document
조정하다 = to adjust
조정하다
to adjust
Common Usages:
조정장 = correction in financial markets
Examples:
시스템을 조정하여 문제를 해결했어요
= We adjusted the system to solve the problem
스마트 TV만 있으면 핸드폰으로 다 조정할 수 있더라
= I noticed that if you have smart TV, you can control everything with your phone
격려하다 = to encourage
Examples:
친구들은 나를 격려해 주었어요
= My friends encouraged me
오늘 교장선생님이 오셔서 내일 시험을 보는 학생들을 격려했어요
= The principal came today and encouraged the students who will be taking the exam tomorrow
하차하다 = to get off of a vehicle
Common Usages:
하차태그 = scanning of a transportation/bus card when getting off a bus/train
Examples:
역에서 하차할 때 조심하세요
= Be careful when getting off at the station
내가 어디서 버스를 하차했더라?
= Ah, where did I get off the bus, again?
승차하다 = to get on a vehicle
Common Usages:
승차감 = the feeling/quality of driving in a car
Examples:
버스에 승차할 때 뒷문을 이용하세요
= Please use the back door when boarding the bus
부정승차란 정해진 요금을 지불하지 않고 대중교통을 이용하는 것을 말한다
= “Free-riding” is the term given to not paying the set fare and using public transportation
이동하다 = to move to a different area, to migrate
Examples:
영어 수업은 4교시로 이동했어요
= English class moved to 4th period
대통령은 군인들을 이동하도록 명령했어요
= The president ordered the soldiers to move
겨울마다 수많은 나비가 날씨가 더 따뜻한 남쪽으로 이동해요
= Every winter, tens of thousands of butterflies migrate south, which is warmer for the winter
인간이 아프리카에서 기원하고 다른 대륙으로 이동했어요
= Humans originated from Africa and then moved to the different continents
Adjectives:
멋지다 = to be stylish/cool
Examples:
건축은 단순히 멋지게 짓는 게 아니라 살고 싶은 건물을 짓는 거예요
= Architecture is not simply about making “cool” buildings, but making buildings that people want to live in
넓고 아주 멋지게 꾸며진 친구 집에 들어가자 어쩐지 의기소침해졌어요
= As I went into the big, fabulously decorated house of my friends, somehow I felt dispirited
Adverbs and Other Words:
또한 = also/as well
Examples:
그 음식은 맛있을 뿐만 아니라 또한 건강에 좋아요
= This food is not only tasty but also healthy for you
나는 엄마에게 내가 펭귄 먹이를 준 것에 대해서 가장 길게 이야기했다. 또한 펭귄을 만졌을 때의 느낌도 설명했다. 엄마는 내가 펭귄 먹이를 줬다고 하자 용감하다고 칭찬해줬다.
= The longest thing I talked about with my mom was giving the bait to the penguins. Also, I explained the feeling when I touched the penguin. Mom said that I was very brave, and she praised me for giving the penguins the bait.
도중 = in the middle of
Examples:
불법도박을 하고 있는 도중에 갑자기 경찰이 들이닥쳐 재빨리 도망쳤어요
= As I was gambling illegally, all of a sudden the police approached so I swiftly ran away
선생님이 수업을 하는 도중에 자꾸 팔을 긁더라
= I noticed that teacher keeps scratching his arm while he is in the middle of class
이리저리 = here and there
Examples:
친구에게 전단지를 도시 이리저리에 붙이는 것에 대해 도움을 요청했어요
= I asked my friend for help in putting up these flyers around (here and there) the city
집안 곳곳 이리저리 찾아봤는데 열쇠를 어디다가 두었더라?
= I looked everywhere in the house, ugh, where did I put my keys again?
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Introduction
In this lesson, you will continue to learn about ~더~ and how it can be combined with ~라. Let’s get started.
Stating a Fact from Experience: ~더라
In the previous lesson, you learned about ~더~ and how it can be placed between two things to have a meaning that expresses experience. You learned how it can attach to verbs, adjectives and 이다, and then how ~ㄴ/가 gets attached to it to form a compound meaning.
In this lesson, you will learn another grammatical principle that is often compounded with ~더~. By attaching ~라 to ~더~ we end up with ~더라, which can be placed at the end of a sentence attached to a verb, adjective or 이다.
First of all, what meaning does just ~라 have?
Although ~더라 is still used commonly in Korean, just using ~라 is somewhat of an older grammatical principle that isn’t used anymore. Its general function is simply to state a fact or current situation. The only time this ever really comes up anymore is when attaching it to “아니다” to form “아니라”, which you learned about in Lesson 95.
If we combine the usage of ~더~ with ~라, we end up with a grammatical principle that is the combined meaning of both of these individual principles. That is, when the speaker is expressing some fact that he/she witnessed and knows from some sort of first-hand experience with that fact. Let’s look at a very simple example:
가방이 무겁더라 = (from my own experience, I realized that) the bag is heavy
Notice the difference is nuance between these two:
가방이 무거워
가방이 무겁더라
In the first example, one is simply stating a fact – that the bag is heavy. In the second example, the speaker is indicating that he/she has some direct experience with the heaviness of the bag – and this allows him/her to say that the bag is heavy. In both examples the end result is essentially the same (the speaker conveying that the bag is heavy), but the second one has a more complex nuance.
Because this grammatical principle is only used when one indicates a fact from the experience, a sentence like this cannot be used:
내가 학교에 걸어가더라…
… In this case, nothing was learned, and there is nothing that one can convey based on experience. However, you could say something like this:
학교에 걸어가는 게 힘들더라 = (from my own experience, I realized that) walking to school is difficult
In the example above, there is something that the speaker realized for the first time (that walking to school is difficult), and the use of ~더라 is to signify that this knowledge came as a result of first-hand experience with walking to school.
As with most intermediate/advanced Korean grammatical principles, it is difficult to come up with an English translation that fits all examples of ~더라. My favorite, the one that I feel fits most situations is “from my own experience, I realized/saw/noticed that….”
Let’s look at many examples:
이민호는 정말 멋지더라 = Minho Lee is very stylish (from what I experienced)
캐나다 날씨가 너무 춥더라 = I realized that Canadian weather is very cold
한국말을 배우는 게 힘들더라 = I realized that learning Korean is hard
그 청소년은 여드름이 많더라 = I saw/noticed that that kid has a lot of acne
그 선생님이 수업을 할 때 열정이 가득하더라
= I saw/noticed that teacher is full of passion when he does his class
그 차고에 여러 가지 물건이 가득 쌓여 있더라
= I saw/noticed that there are a lot of things piled up in the garage
그 병원에서 진료를 받으면 다른 데보다 비싸더라
= I noticed that getting treated at that hospital is more expensive than other places
스마트 TV만 있으면 핸드폰으로 다 조정할 수 있더라
= I noticed that if you have smart TV, you can control everything with your phone
So far I have only used examples of ~더라 attached to adjectives, but it is also common to attach it to verbs or 이다. For example:
문제는 컴퓨터더라
= From my own experience, I realized/noticed that the problem is the computer
이 고기는 국내산이더라
= From my own experience, I realized/noticed that this meat is from Korea
그 학생이 뻥을 많이 치더라
= From my own experience, that student jokes a lot
그 새가 겨울 마다 이동하더라
= From my experience, those birds migrate each winter
한국학생들이 공부를 열심히 하더라
= From my own experience, I realized/noticed that Korean students study really hard
콘센트가 침대와 책상 가운데에 있더라
= From my experience, I remember that the outlet is between the bed and the desk
부장님이 아파트에서 안 살고 한옥에서 살더라
= From my experience, the boss lives in a Korean traditional house, not an apartment
선생님이 수업을 하는 도중에 자꾸 팔을 긁더라
= I noticed that teacher keeps scratching his arm while he is in the middle of class
I am very happy to be able to explain the subtle difference between conjugating the word before ~더라 in the present tense (for example, 하더라) and conjugating it in the past tense (for example, 했더라). Because the use of ~더라 already expresses one’s experience from the past, it is easy to be confused about what effect the past tense conjugation can have on this grammatical principle. Let me explain.
By saying, for example:
어제 비가 오더라
You are saying that you personally saw/experienced it raining. In other words, you literally saw water fall from the sky.
However, by saying:
어제 비가 왔더라
You are saying that you personally saw/experienced the fact that it did rain, but you didn’t actually see it rain. For example, maybe you saw/experienced that the ground was wet yesterday, but you didn’t actually see the rain falling from the sky.
In most situations, it is usually more common to use the present tense conjugation before ~더라. However, if the situation allows for it, the past tense is possible.
A good translation for the past tense conjugation being used before ~더라 might be “I saw/experienced that (something/somebody) had…”. For example:
어제 비가 오더라 = I saw it rain yesterday
어제 비가 왔더라 = I saw that it had rained yesterday
여자친구가 식당에서 밥을 먹더라 = I saw/noticed my girlfriend eating at the restaurant
여자친구가 식당에서 밥을 다 먹었더라 = I saw/noticed that my girlfriend had eaten all of her food at the restaurant (For example, you get here, and you see that her plate is empty. You didn’t personally see her eating, but you saw that she had eaten).
우리 선생님이 영어를 잘하더라 = I noticed/saw firsthand that our teacher is good at English
우리 선생님이 (어렸을 때) 영어를 잘했더라 = I noticed/saw firsthand that our teacher had been good at English (and here, you need to ask yourself – in what situation would this actually be said?)
그 직원이 신발끈을 안 매고 출근했더라
= I noticed/saw firsthand that worker came to work with his shoelace united (Here, you didn’t actually see him on his way to work, but you saw the result – him being at work with his shoelace untied)
It is also quite common to use ~더라 to ask a question. These questions, like “던가” are usually addressed to oneself. However, depending on the situation they can sort of be addressed to a listener. This is similar to how ~구나 works; that is, even though the sentence is directed at oneself, the speaker might be deliberately saying it to get a response from a listener.
Regardless, the purpose of using ~더라 to ask a question can be seen if we look at the following examples:
빵이 얼마였더라? = How much did the bread cost?
빵이 얼마였어요? = How much did the bread cost?
In the first example, the use of “~더라” implies that the speaker knew how much the bread cost… but for some reason can’t remember. He/she knew or somehow experienced the price in the past, but currently can’t think of it. For example, if you went to the grocery store and bought some bread in addition to other items. When you got home, you looked in your wallet and realized that you have less money than you thought. You start thinking about how much each item cost, and then you can ask yourself “빵이 얼마였더라?” Notice here that if you went to the grocery store with a friend, and came back together – you could say the same sentence. Even though the question is directed to yourself, your friend could also hear the question and answer it.
Conversely, the second example implies that the speaker has/had no idea how much the bread costs. For example, if you were sitting at home and your mother came home with bread. You had no idea how much it cost, so here you can ask her “빵이 얼마였어요?”
Another example:
슬기가 어디 갔더라?
= Ah, where did Seulgi go, again? (I can’t remember where she went, but I was with her and I saw her leaving, but I just can’t remember where she went)
슬기가 어디 갔어?
= Where did Seulgi go? (You have no idea where she went)
Below are many more examples:
내가 언제 졸업했더라?
= Ah, when did I graduate again (what year)? (I can’t remember, but obviously I have the experience of graduating, but I just can’t remember when it was)
내가 언제 태국에 갔더라?
= Ah, when did I go to Thailand again? (I can’t remember, but obviously I have the experience of going to Thailand, but I just can’t remember when it was)
내가 어디서 버스를 하차했더라?
= Ah, where did I get off the bus, again? (I can’t remember, but obviously I have the experience getting off the bus, I just can’t remember where it was I got off)
Now, without the extra nuance added:
우리가 어디서 승차했더라?
= Ah, where did we get on (the train) again?
이번에는 뭐 챙겨야 되더라?
= Ah, what do I need to bring this time again?
이번 선거에서 누가 이겼더라?
= Who won that election again?
종이를 거실 어디다가 두었더라?
= Where did I put the paper in the living room again?
그 사람의 조상이 어디 사람이더라?
= Where are that person’s ancestors from again?
집안 곳곳 이리저리 찾아봤는데 열쇠를 어디다가 두었더라?
= I looked everywhere in the house, ugh, where did I put my keys again?
That’s it for this lesson!