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Vocabulary
Nouns:
한창 = the height of, the peak of
미모 = good looks
명칭 = name of something
지명 = name of a place
유래 = origin
수화 = sign language
사정 = situation, circumstances
엉터리 = nonsense, rubbish
전일제 = full time
경주로 = race track
임직원 = executives and staff members
Verbs:
고되다 = to be hard, to be difficult
마주하다 = to face a person
마주보다 = to be face to face
지휘하다 = to conduct/command
오인하다 = to mistake a person for another
Adjectives:
근사하다 = to be wonderful/fabulous/splendid
침울하다 = to be depressed/gloomy
울적하다 = to be gloomy
Adverbs and Other Words:
그저 = only, just
Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn another way to indicate that one action happened after another one in time. While this grammatical principle may look similar to what was taught in the previous lesson, it carries a distinct meaning. Let’s get started.
~고서야: Only After
In the previous lesson, you saw how you can attach ~고서 to verbs to indicate either a sequential or causal relationship. For example:
우리 부장은 엉터리 정보를 믿고서 큰 손해를 입었어요
= Our boss believed false information and ended up suffering a big loss
전일제로 일해 보고서 그 고됨을 알게 됐어요
= I worked full-time and then realized how exhausting it is
It is also possible to add ~야 to ~고서, but the combined grammatical principle has slightly different meaning. The use of ~고서 in ~고서야 still makes it that the second clause happens after the first clause. However, the use of ~야 adds some nuance to it.
By adding ~야, the speaker indicates that the first clause must happen before the second clause. More specifically, the second clause can only happen if the first clause has happened and completed. A common translation for this is “only after.” This is the same function of ~야 as shown in ~아/어야 하다 (Lesson 46). In both ~고서야 and ~아/어야 하다, the ~야 functions to emphasize the condition or prerequisite nature of the first clause. For example, here is a nice simple sentence:
선생님이 지휘하고서야 합창단이 제대로 움직이기 시작했어요
= Only after the teacher conducted did the choir start moving properly
Here, the second clause cannot happen unless the first clause is taken as a premise. ~고서야 emphasizes the necessity of the first action to occur. The use of ~고서야 is quite literary, and it would sound may sound formal or dramatic if used in casual speech.
I find it interesting comparing the meaning of two sentences – one using ~고서 and the other using ~고서야. There are times where a sentence can make sense using ~고서 but sounds unnatural with ~고서야, and vice versa. For example, here is a sentence that works with ~고서 but would usually be weird with ~고서야.
문을 잠그고서 나왔어요
= I locked the door and then left
Here, of course, you can lock the door and then leave. This is a normal sequential relationship. However, changing ~고서 to ~고서야 would sounds weird logically. Of course, one does not need to lock the door in order to leave. This could be fine given the correct situation, but you would typically want to use ~고서 here, not ~고서야.
직접 해 보고서야 얼마나 힘든지 알아요
= You only know how hard it is after doing it yourself
Here, using just ~고서 would be weird. I guess it is possible to do it yourself, and then later know how hard it is. However, the speaker likely wants to tie the two clauses together better. The use of ~고서야 ties them together because the second clause “only happens” if the first clause happens. Let’s look at many more examples:
직접 경주로를 걸어보고서야 거리가 얼마나 긴지 느껴졌어요
= Only after walking on the racetrack did I realize how overwhelming the distance is
그 여자의 뛰어난 미모는 실제로 마주보고서야 실감이 났어요
= That girl’s stunning beauty only truly hit me after seeing her in person
학생이 왜 그렇게 침울했는지는 사정을 듣고서야 이해가 됐어요
= Only after hearing the students’ situation did I understand why she was so gloomy
직접 부대를 지휘해보고서야 그 책임감의 무게를 알 수 있었어요
= Only after directly commanding the unit did I understand the weight of that responsibility
전일제로 몇 달 일해보고서야 그 고됨이 얼마나 큰지 깨달았어요
= Only after working full-time for several months did I realize how exhausting it is
요즘 왜 그렇게 울적한지 얼굴을 마주하고서야 느낄 수 있었어요
= Only after seeing his face in person could I feel just how down he was
상대방과 대화를 수화로 해보고서야 그 복잡함을 느낄 수 있었어요
= Only after communicating through sign language did I realize how complex it is
임직원 모두와 면담해보고서야 조직 내의 진짜 분위기를 알게 됐어요
= Only after meeting with all the executives and staff did I understand the real atmosphere of the organization
그 사람의 주장이 엉터리라는 것은 자료를 비교해보고서야 알 수 있었어요
= That fact that that person’s argument was nonsense could only be realized after comparing the data
그를 실제로 만나보고서야 제가 완전히 오인하고 있었다는 것을 깨달았어요
= Only after meeting him in person did I realize I had completely mistaken him for someone else
이 지역의 지명을 하나하나 살펴보고서야 명칭의 유래를 이해할 수 있었어요
= Only after examining each place name in the area could I understand the origins of their names
사진으로 볼 땐 그저 그랬지만 실제로 보고서야 얼마나 근사한지 알게 됐어요
= It looked average in pictures, but only after seeing it in person did I realize how splendid it was
선생님이 한창일 때의 열정을 직접 보고서야 왜 사람들이 그 선생님을 존경했는지 알겠더라고요
= Only after seeing that teacher’s passion at its peak did I understand why people respected him
That’s it for this lesson!