Lesson 147: ~는 바람에 – A negative result occurred because of an unexpected or unpreventable event

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Vocabulary
Introduction

~는 바람에
Using 바람 to indicate the clothing one wears
An organization of the uses of 바람

 

 

Vocabulary

Nouns:
집단 = group

체류 = sojourn

부추 = leek

조식 = breakfast

체조 = calisthenics, aerobics, gymnastics

현장 = the place or site where an action or event occurs

단시간 = a short time

안전띠 = seat-belt, safety belt

운전자 = driver

생활비 = set living costs (phone bills, gas bills, etc)

승강장 = platform for a train

생방송 = live broadcast

재방송 = a repeat broadcast (not non-live broadcast)

음식물 = food and drink products

찌꺼기 = scraps, wastes

재택근무 = working from home, telecommuting

Verbs:
걷다 = to gather and fold up laundry, to roll up a sleeve

널다 = to hang laundry

떨다 = to shiver

치르다 = to finish holding/running an event

감염되다 = to be infected

신음하다 = to moan

곤두박질하다 = to plummet

곤두박질치다 = to plummet

Adjectives:
버겁다 = to be too much for somebody

쓸모없다 = to be useless

Adverbs:
잔뜩 = to do, use or apply something heavily

뿔뿔이 = an adverb that emphasizes things are scattered in all directions

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

 

Introduction

In this lesson, we will learn about ~는 바람에 and touch briefly on the other uses of 바람. This lesson will be similar to the previous lesson because ~는 바람에 and ~느라고 have some similarities, and they both allow a speaker to indicate causality. Let’s get started!

 

 

~는 바람에

In Lesson 146, we took a deep dive into ~느라고 and how it can indicate that one clause causes the next. There were certain restrictions to using ~느라고 and we compared it with ~아/어서, a more general way to indicate causality.

You can use ~는 바람에 to indicate that one clause causes the next. This makes the translation of ~는 바람에 to English very similar to many other grammatical principles. Much like ~느라고, there are specific situations where ~는 바람에 is likely to be used. The goal of this lesson is to discuss these situations.

The 바람 in this grammatical principle is another example of what I have called a pseudo-noun in previous lessons. Like the ‘수’ in 할 수 있다 or the ‘적’ in 한 적이 없다, 바람 must be described by something. Specifically, it must be described by something that has ~는 attached to it. This means that the word describing it must be a verb, as ~는 cannot be added to adjectives to describe an upcoming noun.

The clause before ~는 바람에 is likely to be some sort of unexpected or unpreventable event. For example, a very common way that a sentence starts when using ~는 바람에 is:

비가 오는 바람에…

Indeed, rain is often unexpected or unpreventable. As with ~느라고, the clause after ~는 바람에 must be some sort of negative result or consequence. For example, a possible ending to our situation with rain could be:

비가 오는 바람에 집에 늦게 도착했다
= It was raining, so I arrived home late

Even if the second clause isn’t explicitly negative, the fact that it is being used with ~는 바람에 implies that it is a negative consequence. For example, something being slippery doesn’t necessarily need to be negative, but if the following sentence were said, it would imply that this was a negative consequence for the speaker:

비가 오는 바람에 길이 미끄러웠다
= It was raining, so the road was slippery

We can compare and contrast ~는 바람에 with ~느라고 quite easily. Although both of them imply a negative result or consequence, the cause of the consequence is inherently different. As explained in the previous lesson, with ~느라고, the cause of the negative consequence must be purposeful for the subject. With ~는 바람에 the first clause should be unexpected or an unpreventable event.

Let’s look at a big list of example sentences. You’ll notice that the final clause is always conjugated to the past tense. I have yet to find something that states that this is a rule, but I can’t seem to make a sentence that sounds natural unless the final clause is in the past tense.

You might read some of these sentences and think “that first clause isn’t unexpected or unpreventable.” For example, the first sentence is about eating breakfast, and you could argue that this situation would have been expected and preventable. However, the fact that it is being used with ~는 바람에 implies or indicates that in this particular situation it was unexpected or unpreventable.

조식을 못 먹는 바람에 배가 엄청 고팠어요
= I didn’t eat breakfast, so I was very hungry

생방송을 놓치는 바람에 재방송을 봤어요
= I missed the live broadcast, so I watched the re-broadcast

현금을 다 쓰는 바람에 복권을 살 수 없었어요
= I spent all of my money, so I couldn’t buy a lottery ticket

신호등을 못 보는 바람에 벌금을 내야 했어요
= I didn’t/couldn’t see the traffic light, so I had to pay a fine

달러의 가격이 높아지는 바람에 주식 가격이 곤두박질쳤어요
= The price of the dollar went up, so the price of the stock plummeted

필요도 없는 물건을 잔뜩 사는 바람에 생활비를 다 써버렸다
= I bought a bunch of useless things I didn’t need, so I spent all of my money for living

사업이 갑자기 망하는 바람에 우리 가족의 삶이 더 버거워졌어요
= The business suddenly failed, so our family’s life got more difficult (got to be too much)

그 회사가 망하는 바람에 미리 사둔 회사 주식이 쓸모없어졌다
= That company failed, so the stocks I bought in advance/earlier became useless

단시간에 대회를 준비하는 바람에 대회를 제대로 치를 수 없었다
= We couldn’t complete the competition fully because we only prepared it over a short time

가족 모두가 뿔뿔이 흩어지는 바람에 아무에게도 연락하지 못했다
= All the members of my family are spread apart, so nobody was able to contact anybody

안전띠를 하지 않고 사고가 나는 바람에 운전자는 심각하게 다쳤다
= The driver didn’t wear a seat-belt and got into an accident, so he got seriously hurt

서류를 정해진 시간에 제출하지 않아서 체류기간을 연장하지 못했어요
= I didn’t submit the documents in the set time, so I wasn’t able to extend the period of my sojourn

결혼식에서 갑자기 신부 아버지가 화를 내는 바람에 분위기가 나빠졌다
= The father of the bride suddenly got mad during the wedding, so the atmosphere turned bad

승강장에서 기차를 타는 승객이 많이 있는 바람에 제가 기차에서 못 내렸어요
= There were a lot of people getting on the train at the platform, so I couldn’t get off

집단으로 그 병에 감염되는 바람에 그 마을에 모든 사람들은 두려움에 떨었다
= People got infected by that disease in groups, so all of the people in that village were shivering in fear

경제가 갑자기 나빠지는 바람에 사람들은 하나 둘 가난 속에 신음하기 시작했다
= The economy suddenly went bad, so people started suffering in poverty one by one

영화가 끝나자마자 곧장 집으로 가는 바람에 그 영화에 나온 배우를 볼 수가 없었다
= As soon as the movie was over, I went home and couldn’t see the actor in the movie

As I mentioned earlier, 바람에 must be described by ~는 and therefore can only be described by verbs. However, because ~는 is added to 있다 and 없다 when describing upcoming nouns, ~는 바람에 can be added to 있다 and 없다, even though they are adjectives. For example:

부추가 없는 바람에 김치를 못 만들었어요
= There weren’t any leeks, so I couldn’t make kimchi

그 선생님이 집에 있는 바람에 오늘 학교에서 생긴 일에 대해 듣지 못했어요
= That teacher was at home, so he hasn’t heard about the thing that came up at school today

The focus of this lesson is on the use of ~는 바람에, but I figure I might as well organize the other uses of 바람 while we’re here.

 

 

Using 바람 to indicate that one wears an article of clothing while doing an action

In Lesson 59, you learned about the word 차림 and how it can be placed after some type of clothing to indicate that one does an action wearing that clothing. For example:

오늘 잠옷 차림으로 재택근무를 했어요
= Today I telecommuted in my pajamas

학생들이 교복 차림으로 아침 체조를 했어요
= The students did morning calisthenics in their school uniforms

오늘 일어나자마자 급한 일이 생겨서 잠옷 차림으로 나갔어요
= Today I woke up right away and something urgent came up so I went out in my pajamas

아까 빨래를 옥상에 널었는데 갑자기 비가 와서 빨래를 걷으러 속옷 차림으로 뛰어나갔어요
= Earlier I hung out the laundry on the rooftop, but all of a sudden it rained, so I ran out in my underwear to gather it up

바람 can also be placed after types of clothing to indicate that one does an action wearing that clothing. However, while it could replace 차림 in some of the examples above, it can not replace it in all of them. When using 바람 in these types of sentences, the clothing being used is usually some form of inner-garment. For example, the most common three words used before 바람 would be:

속옷 바람으로 = in one’s underwear
잠옷 바람으로 = in one’s pajamas
내복 바람으로 = in one’s long underwear

Much like the usage of ~는 바람에, using 바람 to indicate the type of clothing that is worn has a negative context. Improper might be a better word. More specifically, the three uses above are often used when one goes outside and does something wearing those garments. Indeed, going out and roaming around in your underwear is improper. For example, these sentences would be ways to use 바람:

속옷 바람으로 밖에서 빨래를 널었어요
= I hung the laundry outside in my underwear

잠옷 바람으로 편의점에 잠깐 갔다 왔어요
= I went to the convenience store for a moment in my pajamas

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

Because 바람 should be used in improper situations, sentences like this would sound unnatural:

오늘 정장 바람으로 회사에 갔어요
= I went to work today in my suit

Likewise, in most situations, the following sentence would be unnatural because there would normally be nothing improper about this:

내복 바람으로 침대에 누웠어요
= I lay in my bed in my long underwear

However, it is possible to imagine situations where this could be improper, and thus, natural. For example, in a situation where one has visitors to their house and shouldn’t be wearing long underwear. For example, this could be an improper situation and thus, a natural sentence:

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

 

 

Other uses of 바람

While we are talking about 바람, we might as well organize other uses of it that you have seen in earlier lessons. To remind you…

… it can be used to simply refer to wind. For example:

바람 때문에 날씨가 생각보다 추워요
= The weather is colder than I thought because of the wind

… it can be used with 피우다 to indicate that one has an affair. For example:

그 여자가 바람을 피워서 남편과 이혼했어요
= That woman cheated and got divorced with her husband

And now, just for fun, let me create one ridiculous sentence using all four uses of 바람 I have talked about in this lesson:

와이프가 바람을 피우는 현장을 봐서 바로 속옷 바람으로 나갔는데 바람이 많이 부는 바람에 너무 추워서 집에 다시 돌아갔어요
= I saw my wife cheating on me, so I went right outside in my underwear, but there was a lot of wind so I went back home

Ha!

That’s it for this lesson!

Okay, got it! Take me to the next lesson!