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~ㄴ/은/는/을/ㄹ 말이다: Stressing or Checking What was Already Said
Vocabulary
Nouns:
예 = example
Common Usages:
예들 들어 = for example
좋은 예 = good example
나쁜 예 = bad example
Examples:
이건 하나의 예에 불과해요
= This is just one example
이게 좋은 예라는 말이지
= This is a good example, you know
소원 = wish, desire
소원
wish, desire
Common Usages:
소원을 빌다 = to wish for
소원을 이루다 = for a wish to come true
Examples:
소원이 이루어졌어요
= My wish came true
내 소원은 그 사람과 다시 만나게 되는 거란 말이야
= What I’m saying is, my wish is to meet that person again
나는 기쁜 마음으로 초를 껐다! 그리고 소원을 빌었다! ‘제가 계속 행복하게 우리 가족과 친구들과 살게 해주세요.’ 친구들이 하나 둘씩 나에게 선물을 줬다. 연필, 공책, 인형부터 다양한 선물을 받았다.
= I blew out the candles with my happy heart. Then, I made a wish. ‘Please let me live happily with my family and my friends.’ The friends gave me presents one at a time. Pens, notebooks, and even dolls, I received a variety of presents.
지적 = intelligence
Common Usages:
지적 능력 = intellectual ability
지적 수준 = intellectual level
Examples:
그 학생의 지적 수준이 높아요
= That student has a high level of intelligence
그 사람은 정말 지적이라는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, that person is really intelligent
공동 = joint, communal
Common Usages:
공동체 = community of people
운명 공동체 = community of shared destiny
Examples:
우리는 공동으로 프로젝트를 진행했어요
= We carried out the project jointly
이건 우리가 공동으로 만든 합작품이라는 말이야
= What I mean is, this is something we made together
이런 공동체에서 서로 돕는 건 당연한 거란 말이야
= What I’m saying is, it’s natural to help each other in this community
도표 = diagram
Examples:
도표를 보면 결과가 잘 보여요
= The results are clear from the diagram
이 도표를 보고 결과를 쉽게 알 수 있다는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, you can easily understand the result by looking at this diagram
공동체 = community of people
Common Usages:
운명 공동체 = community of shared destiny
Examples:
우리 가족은 한 공동체에요
= Our family is a single unit (a close-knit community)
이런 공동체에서 서로 돕는 건 당연한 거란 말이야
= What I’m saying is, it’s natural to help each other in this community
실생활 = real life
Examples:
실생활에서 바로 써먹을 수 있는 기술이라는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, it’s a skill that you can use right away in real life
책에서 배운 내용을 실생활에 잘 적용해서 건강한 삶을 살 거예요
= I’m going to live healthy by applying the stuff/content in this book to my real life
우등생 = honor roll student
Examples:
그 학생은 반에서 우등생이에요
= That student is an honor student in class
그 학생은 우등상을 받았어요
= That student received an honor prize
우등생이 되려면 항상 최선을 다해야 한다는 말이야
= What I mean is, you have to always do your best to become an honor roll student
우등상 = honor prize
Examples:
그 학생은 우등상을 받을 만하다는 말이야!
= What I’m saying is, that student deserves to win the honor prize!
부활절 = Easter
Common Usages:
부활절 계란 = Easter egg
Examples:
올해 부활절은 4월에 있어요
= Easter is in April this year
부활절에 가족과 함께 시간을 보내는 게 중요하다는 말이야
= What I mean is, it’s important to spend time with your family on Easter
물음표 = question mark
Examples:
이 문장은 물음표를 써야 한다는 말이야
= What I mean is, you need to use a question mark at the end of this sentence
그 질문에 대한 답이 없어서 마음에 물음표가 떠올랐어요
= There was no answer to the question, so a question mark lingered in my mind
느낌표 = exclamation mark
Examples:
이 문장에는 느낌표가 있어요
= This sentence has an exclamation mark
그건 정말 멋진 일이니까 느낌표를 써야 한다는 말이야!
= What I’m saying is, since that’s really amazing, you should use an exclamation mark!
합작품 = collaborative work
Common Usages:
한미합작품 = Korea-U.S. co-production
한일합작품 = Korea-Japan co-production
한중합작품 = Korea-China co-production
Examples:
이 영화는 두 감독의 합작품이에요
= This movie is a collaborative work of two directors
이건 우리가 공동으로 만든 합작품이라는 말이야
= What I mean is, this is something we made together
Verbs:
써먹다 = to use for a purpose
Common Usages:
배운 것을 써먹다 = to put what one learned to use
Examples:
배운 걸 실제로 써먹었어요
= I actually used what I learned
실생활에서 바로 써먹을 수 있는 기술이라는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, it’s a skill that you can use right away in real life
떠넘기다 = to dump onto a person
Common Usages:
빚을 떠넘기다 = to pass on a debt
책임을 떠넘기다 = to shift responsibility
일을 떠넘기다 = to push work onto someone else
Examples:
일을 저에게 떠넘기지 마세요
= Don’t dump the work on me
결국 우리한테 일을 다 떠넘기자는 말이야?
= So you’re saying we should take on all the work?
부활하다 = to revive
Examples:
그 전통이 다시 부활했어요
= That tradition has been revived
그 전통이 다시 부활했다는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, that tradition has been revived
합작하다 = to collaborate
Common Usages:
합작품 = collaborative work
Examples:
우리는 함께 합작했어요
= We collaborated together
Adjectives:
주요하다 = primary, major, main
Examples:
주요한 내용은 다시 한번 정리해서 알려 드릴게요
= I’ll summarize the key points once more and let you know
초조하다 = to be anxious
Examples:
오늘 중요한 시험을 봐야 해서 초조해요
= I’m anxious because I have an important exam today
시험 보기 전에 왜 그렇게 초조해하느냐는 말이야
= I’m asking why you’re so anxious before the exam
Adverbs and Other Words:
도대체 = stresses a question, “at all”
Notes: It is difficult to translate this, as it doesn’t really have a direct translation to English. I find that it stresses a question, often a negative one. For thing reason “on earth” is a good translation in my opinion, as shown in the examples below.
Examples:
도대체 무슨 일이야
= What on earth is going on
도대체 왜 그렇게 행동하느냐는 말이야
= I’m asking why on earth you’re acting like that
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Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn how you can end your sentences colloquially with 말. We’ll break down the situations where this would be appropriate and natural. Let’s get started!
~ㄴ/은/는/을/ㄹ 말이다: Stressing or Checking What was Already Said
As you know, 말 is a versatile noun that can refer to a word, words, or really anything spoken. For example:
저는 아직 할 말이 있어요 = I still have something to say
선생님이 아까 했던 말은 너무한 것 같아요 = The thing (words) that the teacher said before was too much
You will often see 말 at the end of a sentence where its purpose is to stress what has already been said. For example:
Let’s break this down. First, the entire phrase that precedes 말 is something that has already been spoken. The speaker of this sentence is now repeating the sentence. You will see that ~ㄴ/은/는/을/ㄹ is attached to the clause before 말 to allow it to describe it. This is similar to when you learned how quoted phrases could describe the versatile noun 것 in Lesson 52. Finally, 이다 is added to 말 to predicate the sentence. The result of the sentence is the speaker is repeating what has already been said, stressing its importance.
In English, this is similar to saying something like “you know,” or “What I’m saying is!”:
그렇게 해야 한다는 말이야! = What I’m saying is, it has to be done this way!
I’m hesitant to provide examples that use formal speech. The example sentences in my lessons usually use 저 and typically end in ~요. However, using 말 this way is kind of like thrusting your opinion at the listener. As such, it can be seen as a bit rude if not done delicately. It is possible to simply conjugate the 이다 attached to 말 formally, but I recommend that you proceed with caution when doing so. Specifically, you should make sure your tone and intonation are gentle.
Because of that here are some informal examples:
우등생이 되려면 항상 최선을 다해야 한다는 말이야
= What I mean is, you have to always do your best to become an honor roll student
그 학생은 우등상을 받을 만하다는 말이야!
= What I’m saying is, that student deserves to win the honor prize!
부활절에 가족과 함께 시간을 보내는 게 중요하다는 말이야
= What I mean is, it’s important to spend time with your family on Easter
이 도표를 보고 결과를 쉽게 알 수 있다는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, you can easily understand the result by looking at this diagram
이 문장은 물음표를 써야 한다는 말이야
= What I mean is, you need to use a question mark at the end of this sentence
그건 정말 멋진 일이니까 느낌표를 써야 한다는 말이야!
= What I’m saying is, since that’s really amazing, you should use an exclamation mark!
그 전통이 다시 부활했다는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, that tradition has been revived
그 그림을 벽에 달았다는 말이야
= What I mean is, I hung that picture on the wall
As you’ve seen in a few lessons, (Lesson 52, Lesson 145) quoting an upcoming noun with 이다 is done differently than with verbs and adjectives.
이게 좋은 예라는 말이지
= This is a good example, you know
내 소원은 그 사람과 다시 만나게 되는 거란 말이야
= What I’m saying is, my wish is to meet that person again
이건 우리가 공동으로 만든 합작품이라는 말이야
= What I mean is, this is something we made together
그 사람은 정말 지적이라는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, that person is really intelligent
이런 공동체에서 서로 돕는 건 당연한 거란 말이야
= What I’m saying is, it’s natural to help each other in this community
실생활에서 바로 써먹을 수 있는 기술이라는 말이야
= What I’m saying is, it’s a skill that you can use right away in real life
You’ve spent a lot of time recently learning about ~느냐. You can attach ~는 to ~느냐 to describe 말 as you learned in Lesson 161. For example:
진짜 이게 맞느냐는 말이야
= I’m asking if this is really correct
도대체 왜 그렇게 행동하느냐는 말이야
= I’m asking why on earth you’re acting like that
시험 보기 전에 왜 그렇게 초조해하느냐는 말이야
= I’m asking why you’re so anxious before the exam
The quoted sentence can be a question, but it can also be an order. You learned about quoting orders in Lesson 54 and then saw how this can be shortened in Lesson 145. In this way, you can attach ~(으)란 or ~(으)라는 to verbs to describe 말. For example:
빨리 결정하고 행동하라는 말이야
= I’m telling you to decide quickly and take action
그냥 내가 시키는 대로 하라는 말이야
= I’m telling you to just do as I say
In this same sense, you can describe 말 with ~자 (from Lesson 44 and Lesson 53) by attaching ~는 to ~자. Here, you are able to repeat a quote where one suggested an action happens together. For example:
그러니까 네 말은 지금 당장 가자는 말이야?
= So you’re saying we should go right now?
결국 우리한테 일을 다 떠넘기자는 말이야?
= So you’re saying we should take on all the work?
That’s it for this lesson!