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~(으)니 말이지: Emphasizing Fortune or Relief
~기에 말이지
Vocabulary
Nouns:
강물 = river water
큰일 = problem, trouble
논리 = logic
이리 = over here
발걸음 = pace of walking
Verbs:
밀리다 = to be late, to lose, to fall behind
살아남다 = to survive
반론하다 = to refute, to object
사냥하다 = to hunt
희생하다 = to sacrifice
반박하다 = to refute
분비하다 = to secrete
등하교하다 = to go to and from school
정리정돈하다 = to tidy up
Adjectives:
무해하다 = to be harmless
유해하다 = to be harmful/toxic
조심스럽다 = to be careful
혼란스럽다 = to be chaotic
아슬아슬하다 = to just barely be able to do something
Adverbs and Other Words:
여태껏 = until now
하마터면 = nearly, narrowly
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Introduction
In this lesson, you will see another way that 말 can be used, this time, by having it follow ~(으)니 or ~기에. We’ll explore the meaning they create. Let’s get started!
~(으)니/~기에 말이지: Emphasizing Fortune or Relief
In the previous two lessons, you saw how versatile 말 can be. Here is another way it can be used. You can attach ~(으)니 to verbs and adjectives, followed by 말이지 to create a nuanced meaning. Let’s look at two simple sentence and break them down:
책을 챙겼으니 말이지 안 그랬으면 심심했을 거야
강물이 얕으니 말이지, 안 그랬으면 수영하다가 큰일 날 뻔했어
The clause before 말이지 is something that happened or was accomplished. The clause after 말이지 is something that was avoided or prevented as a direct result of the first clause. The second clause is typically some negative event. This event hypothetically would have occurred had the first clause not occurred. Because the second clause is hypothetical, you will often see endings that suggest this. Two of the most common ways to end these types of sentences are:
~았/었을 것이다 (Introduced in Lesson 43)
Used in sentences when an action would have happened.
~ㄹ/을 뻔하다 (Introduced in Lesson 66)
Used in sentences when an action almost happened.
Let’s translate our sentences:
책을 챙겼으니 말이지 안 그랬으면 심심했을 거야
= It’s a good thing I brought my book, if I hadn’t I would have been bored
강물이 얕으니 말이지, 안 그랬으면 수영하다가 큰일 날 뻔했어
= It’s a good thing the river was shallow, I almost got in big trouble while swimming
In both situations, the use of ~(으)니 말이지 is to emphasize the relief of the speaker. The speaker feels fortunate that the second clause did not occur.
Let’s look at another example:
발걸음을 조심스럽게 걸었으니 말이지 하마터면 미끄러질 뻔했어
It’s a good thing I stepped carefully; otherwise, I nearly slipped
—-
Allow me to introduce you to another good word that you can use in these sentences: 하마터면. This adverb is used to emphasize something just barely occurs (or does not occur). For example, I could just say something simple without 하마터면:
사고가 날 뻔 했어요 = I almost got into an accident
However, by including 하마터면, the speaker can indicate that they just barely avoided an accident. There are a lot of ways that you can create this nuance in English, one of them being “by an inch!” For example:
사고가 날 뻔 했어요 = I avoided getting into an accident just by an inch
—
강물이 맑으니 말이지 그렇지 않았으면 물고기가 다 죽었을 거야
= It’s a good thing the river water is clean; otherwise, all the fish would have died
갑자기 방향을 바꿨으니 말이지 안 그랬으면 더 혼란스러웠을 거야
= It’s a good thing we changed direction, if we hadn’t, it would have been even more chaotic
등하교할 때 조심했으니 말이지 안 그랬으면 지금까지 안전하게 다니지 못했을 거야
= It’s a good thing I was careful when going to and from school, if I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have been able to travel safely until now
정리정돈을 잘했으니 말이지 안 그랬으면 방이 엉망이 됐을 거야
= It’s a good thing I tidied up well; otherwise, my room would have been a mess
사냥을 신중하게 했으니 말이지 한 마리도 못 잡을 뻔했어
= It’s a good thing we hunted carefully; otherwise, we might not have caught anything
반박을 정확히 했으니 말이지 아니었으면 논리에서 밀릴 뻔했어
It’s a good thing I refuted it accurately; otherwise, I might have lost in the argument
아슬아슬하게 도착했으니 말이지 하마터면 기차를 놓칠 뻔했어
It’s a good thing we barely made it; otherwise, we would have missed the train
~기에 말이지
Instead of attaching ~(으)니 to the word before 말이지, it is also possible to attach ~기에. It is more natural when speaking to use ~(으)니 instead of ~기에. This is similar to the first time you saw ~기에 (Lesson 136), where you learned that ~길래 is more common in speech. Nonetheless, you can use ~기에 to create the meaning described above if you wish. For example:
강물이 깊기에 말이지 수영하다가 큰일 날 뻔했어
= It’s a good thing the river water is deep; otherwise, I would have been in trouble while swimming
발걸음이 가벼웠기에 말이지 오래 걸어도 힘들지 않았어
= It’s a good thing my steps were light; otherwise, I would have been exhausted from walking so long
네가 정리정돈을 해 주었기에 말이지 방이 깔끔해졌어
= It’s a good thing you tidied up; otherwise, the room wouldn’t have become so neat
우리가 사냥을 성공적으로 했기에 말이지 먹을 것이 충분했어
= It’s a good thing we hunted successfully; otherwise, we wouldn’t have had enough to eat
그가 희생했기에 말이지 우리가 살아남을 수 있었어
= It’s a good thing he sacrificed himself; otherwise, we wouldn’t have survived
반박할 논리가 분명했기에 말이지 상대방이 더 이상 반론하지 못했어
= It’s a good thing my refutation was clear; otherwise, the opponent wouldn’t have backed down
유해한 물질을 분비하지 않기에 말이지 이 식물을 안전하게 키울 수 있었어
= It’s a good thing this plant doesn’t secrete harmful substances; otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to grow it safely
That’s it for this lesson!