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Vocabulary
Nouns:
늪 = swamp
대형 = large sized
소형 = small sized
설음식 = traditional dishes eaten during Seolnal
잡지책 = magazine
Verbs:
들키다 = to be caught
끌어안다 = to pull in and hug
따돌리다 = to exclude a person
휘청하다 = to stumble
휘청거리다 = to stumble
훌쩍하다 = to sniffle
훌쩍거리다 = to sniffle
으르렁하다 = to growl
으르렁거리다 = to growl
Adjectives:
신나다 = to be exciting, to be
머나멀다 = to be very far
섣부르다 = to be premature, rushed
원만하다 = for a relationship to be easy going, amicable
Adverbs:
불현듯 = suddenly
원만히 = amicably
종종 = sometimes, occasionally
이따금 = sometimes, occasionally
간간히 = sometimes, occasionally
부리나케 = hurriedly, hastily
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Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn how to use ~고는 하다 (or ~곤 하다). It is a fairly simple grammatical principle to use, and unlike some of the other endings we have learned lately, doesn’t have a lot of subtle nuances to it. Let’s get started!
~고는 하다 and ~곤 하다 – Something occurs on a regular basis
By attaching ~고는 하다 to a verb, you can indicate that the same action occurs repeatedly but not very frequently. As the action occurs repeatedly, but not frequently, there is usually some indication of the situation that would prompt the infrequent action to occur. For example, it would be unnatural to say these sentences:
커피를 마시고는 해요
우리 가족이 대형 마트에 가고는 해요
소형카메라를 가져가고는 해요
나는 포크를 쓰고는 한다
친구랑 맥주를 한잔 하고는 한다
Instead, you would usually see more information indicating what specific situation would prompt these actions to occur. For example:
한국어를 공부할 때 커피를 마시고는 해요
= When I study Korean I drink coffee
It is always hard to translate grammatical principles. However, a common translation of ~고는 하다 is “every now and then.” For example:
한국어를 공부할 때 커피를 마시고는 해요
= When I study Korean every now and then I drink coffee
토요일이면 우리 가족이 대형 마트에 가고는 해요
= Every now and then on Saturdays our family goes to a big grocery store
가까운 곳에 여행을 갈 때 소형카메라를 가져가고는 해요
= When I travel nearby every now and then I bring a small sized camera
저는 젓가락 대신 포크를 쓰고는 해요
= Every now and then I use a fork instead of chopsticks
스트레스를 받을 때 친구랑 맥주를 한잔 하고는 해요
= When I’m stressed every now and then I have a glass of beer with my friend
~고는 하다 is almost always condensed to ~곤 하다. For example:
한국어를 공부할 때 커피를 마시곤 해요
토요일이면 우리 가족이 대형 마트에 가곤 해요
가까운 곳에 여행을 갈 때 소형카메라를 가져가곤 해요
저는 젓가락 대신 포크를 쓰곤 해요
스트레스를 받을 때 친구랑 맥주를 한잔 하곤 해요
Because these actions aren’t occurring all the time, adverbs that indicate an action sometimes occurs are often used in these sentences. Most commonly used in sentences with ~곤 하다 are
가끔씩, 이따금 and 종종. For example:
한국어를 공부할 때 가끔씩 커피를 마시곤 해요
토요일이면 우리 가족이 가끔씩 대형 마트에 가곤 해요
가까운 곳에 여행을 갈 때 이따금 소형카메라를 가져가곤 해요
저는 종종 젓가락 대신포크를 쓰곤 해요
스트레스를 받을 때 이따금 친구랑 맥주를 한잔 하곤 해요
It is possible to conjugate all of these sentences to the past. Doing so indicates that the action happened regularly but infrequently, and no longer occurs. A common way to translate this is to say that one “used to” do something. For example:
한국어를 공부할 때 가끔씩 커피를 마시곤 했어요
= When I studied Korean I used to drink coffee sometimes
토요일이면 우리 가족이 가끔씩 대형 마트에 가곤 했어요
= Our family used to go to a big grocery store sometimes on Saturdays
가까운 곳에 여행을 갈 때 이따금 소형카메라를 가져가곤 했어요
= When I travel to nearby places, I sometimes used to bring along a small-sized camera
저는 종종 젓가락 대신 포크를 쓰곤 했어요
= I sometimes used to use a fork instead of chopsticks
스트레스를 받을 때 이따금 친구랑 맥주를 한잔 하곤 했어요
= When I was stressed, I sometimes used to have a glass of beer with my friend
Let’s look at a bunch of examples to get more familiar with how ~고는/곤 하다 can be used. I’ve separated the examples into present tense and past tense.
Present tense:
비가 올 때마다 커피를 마시곤 해요
= When it rains every now and then I drink coffee
명절 때 저는 간간히 고향 친구를 만나곤 해요
= During the holidays every now and then I meet my hometown friends
머나먼 고향을 생각하면 가슴 한 편이 아파 오곤 해요
= When I think of my faraway hometown every now and then a part of my heart aches
저는 종종 스트레스가 쌓일 때 마다 잡지책을 사곤 해요
= When stressed piles up every now and then I buy a magazine
원만히 연애를 하고 결혼하는 커플이 더 행복하게 살곤 해요
= Couples who have an amicable relationship and get married often live happily
사람들은 섣부르게 주식에 투자를 시작했다가 망하곤 해요
= People often start investing in stocks too hastily and get ruined
이 늪은 다른 늪보다 훨씬 깊어서 일년에 한 명 이상씩 이 늪에 빠져 죽곤 해요
= This swamp is much deeper than others, so every year there is more than one person that falls into it and drowns
아직도 빈혈이 심해서 갑자기 일어나거나 많이 움직이면 몸이 휘청거리곤 해요
= My anemia is still severe, so if I get up suddenly or move too much I stumble from time to time
Past tense:
햇빛이 좋을 때는 빨래를 베란다에 널곤 했어요
= When it was sunny I used to hang the clothes out on the veranda
설날에는 우리 가족 모두 함께 모여서 설음식을 만들곤 했어요
= During Seolnal, everybody in our family used to meet and make traditional dishes
아빠는 제 생일마다 저를 사랑한다고 하면서 선물을 주고 꼭 끌어안곤 했어요
= On my birthday my dad used to tell me he loves me while giving me a present and then pulling me in tightly for a hug
불현듯 과거의 나쁜 기억이 떠오르면 일부러 신나는 음악을 듣곤 했어요
= When bad memories of the past suddenly pop up, I used to deliberately listen to exciting/uplifting music
저 친구는 어렸을 때부터 마음에 안 드는 친구가 있으면 따돌리곤 했어요
= Ever since that friend of mine was young, whenever he had a friend he didn’t like, he always used to exclude them
저는 거짓말을 할 때마다 얼굴이 빨개져서 쉽게 거짓말을 들키곤 했어요
= Every time I lie my face turns red so I used to get caught easily
학생들은 수업이 끝나자마자 부리나케 급식을 먹으러 달려 나가곤 했어요
= Students used to hurriedly run out to eat their lunch as soon as class ended
저는 어렸을 때 알레르기가 심해서 먼지가 많으면 코를 훌쩍거리곤 했어요
= When I was young my allergies were severe so if there was a lot dust I used to sniffle
저 큰 개는 사람이 지나갈 때마다 으르렁거려서 저는 일부러 다른 길로 돌아가곤 했어요
= Every time a person passes by, that big dog growls so I often deliberately went back using a different road
That’s it for this lesson!