Lesson 191: ~는 둥 마는 둥: Incompletely or Half-heartedly

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~는 둥 마는 둥: Incompletely or Halfheartedly
~-다는/냐는/라는/자는 둥: Going on and on with nonsense

Vocabulary

Nouns:
총각 = bachelor

Common Usages:
노총각 = old bachelor

Examples:
그 총각은 결혼 준비를 하는 둥 마는 둥 하더니 결국 파혼하고 말았어요
= That bachelor prepared for the wedding half-heartedly, and in the end, the engagement was called off

그 총각은 결혼하자는 둥 여행을 가자는 둥 계획만 세우다가 결국 아무 것도 하지 않았어요
= That bachelor kept making plans, suggesting they get married or go on a trip, but in the end, he did nothing

하인 = servant

Common Usages:
하인을 부리다 = to command a servant

Examples:
그 하인은 주인에게 끝까지 충성을 다하며 평생을 섬겼어요
= The servant devoted his life to serving his master faithfully

그 하인의 눈빛을 보면, 내심 어떤 결단을 내렸을 수 있다는 생각이 들어요
= Looking at the servant’s eyes, I feel like he might have made some kind of decision inwardly

허파 = lung

Common Usages:
허파에 바람이 불다 = to be fickle, to get swept up emotionally
허파에 바람이 들어가다 = to be giddy, to be carried away emotionally

Examples:
운동을 꾸준히 하니까 허파가 튼튼해지고 숨쉬기가 훨씬 편해졌어요
= After exercising regularly, his lungs became stronger and breathing much easier

그 사람은 허파에 바람이라도 들었는지 수업 시간에 떠드는 둥 장난치는 둥 정신이 없었어요
= It was like he had air in his lungs because during class, he wouldn’t stop talking or goofing off

내심 = inwardly, secretly

Common Usages:
내심 기대하다 = to secretly look forward to

Examples:
내심 불안했지만 겉으로는 아무렇지 않은 척했어요
= Inwardly, I was anxious, but I pretended to be fine

그 하인의 눈빛을 보면, 내심 어떤 결단을 내렸을 수 있다는 생각이 들어요
= Looking at the servant’s eyes, I feel like he might have made some kind of decision inwardly

눈살 = brow

Common Usages:
눈살을 찌푸리게 하다 = to make someone frown
눈살을 받다 = to receive frowns, to get disapproving looks

Examples:
그의 말에 눈살이 찌푸려졌지만 참기로 했어요
= I furrowed my brow at his words but decided to stay calm

화장하려는 참이었는데 갑자기 저승사자가 나타나 모두의 눈살이 찌푸려졌어요
= Just as they were about to cremate the body, the grim reaper suddenly appeared, and everyone frowned

이승 = this life

Common Usages:
이승 세계 = world of the living

Examples:
이승에서의 삶이 끝나면 저승에서 다시 만날지도 몰라요
= When life in this world ends, we may meet again in the afterlife

그는 저승에도 이승처럼 규칙이 있느냐는 둥 심판을 받느냐는 둥 이상한 질문만 물어봤어요
= He kept asking weird things like whether the afterlife has rules like this world, or whether people get judged there

저승 = after life

Common Usages:
저승 세계 = afterlife, world of the dead
저승 사자 = grim reaper

Examples:
저는 저승 세계를 믿지 않아요
= I don’t believe in the afterlife

저승사자 = grim reaper

Examples:
저승사자가 나타나는 꿈을 꾼 후로 이상하게 불안했어요
= After having a dream in which a grim reaper appeared, I felt strangely uneasy

참석자 = attendee, participant

Examples:
회의 참석자는 모두 50명으로 집계되었어요
= The number of attendees at the meeting was counted as fifty

행사를 주최하는 둥 마는 둥 어영부영 넘어가니 참석자들의 불만이 컸어요
= Since the event was hosted so sloppily, the participants were quite dissatisfied

주최자 = host, organizer

Examples:
행사의 주최자는 참가자들에게 감사 인사를 전했어요
= The event organizer expressed thanks to all the participants

행사를 주최하는 둥 마는 둥 어영부영 넘어가니 참석자들의 불만이 컸어요
= Since the event was hosted so sloppily, the participants were quite dissatisfied.

Verbs:
낙찰하다 = to auction

Common Usages:
낙찰가 = winning bid price

Examples:
그 작품은 최고가로 낙찰되어 큰 화제를 모았어요
= The piece was auctioned off at the highest bid, drawing great attention

아저씨는 경매장에서 물건을 낙찰하는 둥 마는 둥 하다가 큰 손해를 봤어요
= The man placed bids at the auction half-heartedly and ended up taking a big loss

주최하다 = to host something

Common Usages:
주최자 = organizer, host

Examples:
그는 대형 콘서트를 직접 주최해 대중의 찬사를 받았어요
= He personally hosted a large concert and earned public praise

행사를 주최하는 둥 마는 둥 어영부영 넘어가니 참석자들의 불만이 컸어요
= Since the event was hosted so sloppily, the participants were quite dissatisfied

화장하다 = to cremate

Common Usages:
화장터 = crematorium
화장해서 뿌리다 = to cremate and scatter ashes

Examples:
화장 절차가 끝난 뒤 유골은 가족에게 전달되었어요
= After the cremation process, the ashes were given to the family

결단하다 = to decide

Common Usages:
결단을 내리다 = to make a bold decision

Examples:
그는 결국 결단을 내리고 회사를 그만두었어요
= He finally made up his mind and quit his job

그 하인의 눈빛을 보면, 내심 어떤 결단을 내렸을 수 있다는 생각이 들어요
= Looking at the servant’s eyes, I feel like he might have made some kind of decision inwardly

파혼하다 = to break off an engagement

Examples:
그들은 성격 차이로 약혼을 파혼하기로 합의했어요
= They agreed to break off their engagement due to personality differences

그 총각은 결혼 준비를 하는 둥 마는 둥 하더니 결국 파혼하고 말았어요
= That bachelor prepared for the wedding halfheartedly, and in the end, the engagement was called off

몰아붙이다 = to press or push people forcefully with words or actions

몰아붙이다
to press or push people forcefully with words or actions

Common Usages:
끝까지 몰아붙이다 = to push to the limit
극한으로 몰아붙이다 = to push to the extreme

Examples:
감독은 선수들을 몰아붙이며 훈련 강도를 높였어요
= The coach pushed the players hard and increased the intensity of training

선생님이 조용히 하라는 둥 줄을 잘 서라는 둥 사람들을 몰아붙였어요
= The teacher kept barking orders, telling people to be quiet, to line up properly, and so on

Adjectives:
불건전하다 = to be unhealthy, to be unwholesome

Examples:
이 노래의 가사는 청소년에게 불건전한 영향을 줄 수 있어요
= The lyrics of this song may have an unhealthy influence on young people

이승에서 그렇게 불건전한 삶을 산 그가 저승에서 편히 쉴 리가 없어요
= After living such an unwholesome life in this world, there’s no way he could rest peacefully in the afterlife

후덥지근하다 = to be humid, to be stuffy, to be muggy

Examples:
후덥지근한 날씨에 저는 청소를 하는 둥 마는 둥 땀만 흘렸어요
= On that muggy day, I barely cleaned at all and just sweated the whole time

날씨가 후덥지근해서 조금만 움직여도 땀이 줄줄 흘렀어요
= It was so hot and muggy that I started sweating after just a few steps

Adverbs and Other Words:
둥 = doing something halfheartedly

Common Usages:
하는 둥 마는 둥 = half-heartedly, barely doing something

Examples:
선생님이 조용히 하라는 둥 줄을 잘 서라는 둥 사람들을 몰아붙였어요
= The teacher kept barking orders, telling people to be quiet, to line up properly, and so on

어영부영 = aimlessly

행사를 주최하는 둥 마는 둥 어영부영 넘어가니 참석자들의 불만이 컸어요
= Since the event was hosted so sloppily, the participants were quite dissatisfied.

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn another way to use 말다 by applying it to a grammatical principle that allows you to indicate that an action is done halfheartedly or with a lack of focus. Let’s get started.

~는 둥 마는 둥: Incompletely or Halfheartedly

In many previous lessons, you saw how you can use 말다 in a sentence, often with a grammatical principle that is attached to something and 말다 as well. For example:

Lesson 167: ~ㄹ/을 까 말까
Lesson 168: ~거나 말거나
Lesson 169: ~ㄹ/을락 말락
Lesson 190: ~(으)나 마나

The vocabulary list in this lesson introduces the word 둥. 둥 isn’t a regular noun, but rather a pseudo-noun that can only be used when described by something. You have seen many pseudo-nouns in previous lessons:

적 in Lesson 32:
그 사람은 저승사자를 본 적이 있다고 주장했지만 아무도 믿지 않았어요
= That bachelor claimed he had seen a grim reaper before, but no one believed him

수 in Lesson 45:
그 하인의 눈빛을 보면, 내심 어떤 결단을 내렸을 수 있다는 생각이 들어요
= Looking at the servant’s eyes, I feel like he might have made some kind of decision inwardly

리 in Lesson 133:
이승에서 그렇게 불건전한 삶을 산 그가 저승에서 편히 쉴 리가 없어요
= After living such an unwholesome life in this world, there’s no way he could rest peacefully in the afterlife

참 in Lesson 156:
화장하려는 참이었는데 갑자기 저승사자가 나타나 모두의 눈살이 찌푸려졌어요
= Just as they were about to cremate the body, the grim reaper suddenly appeared, and everyone frowned

둥 can be used similarly to 적, 수, 리 and 참 above. That is, it can only be used when described by something. In this construction, 둥 is typically preceded by a verb in ~는 form, then followed by 마는 둥, forming the fixed structure: ~는 둥 마는 둥. Just like the pseudo-nouns that you learned about in previous lessons, it’s hard to give 둥 a meaning on its own. Rather, it makes more sense to give the entire construction of ~는 둥 마는 둥 a meaning.

You can use ~는 둥 마는 둥 to express the feeling of someone seeming to do something but also seeming not to do it. In a sense, the action occurring isn’t happening very well. It’s happening incompletely or halfheartedly. If it is a person doing the action, they are not taking it seriously.

Here is a simple example:

아들은 공부하는 둥 마는 둥
= My son was halfheartedly studying

The sentence above is not complete yet. These sentences usually finish by indicating, instead of the action that should be happening in the first clause, what is actually happening instead. For example, if we finish the sentence above, you can think of an action that a person often does when they should be studying:

아들은 공부하는 둥 마는 둥 컴퓨터만 했어요
= My son was halfheartedly studying, and was just on his computer

아들은 공부하는 둥 마는 둥 친구랑 얘기했어요
= My son was halfheartedly studying and was talking to his friends

Below are many more examples:

후덥지근한 날씨에 저는 청소를 하는 둥 마는 둥 땀만 흘렸어요
= On that muggy day, I barely cleaned at all and just sweated the whole time

그 총각은 결혼 준비를 하는 둥 마는 둥 하더니 결국 파혼하고 말았어요
= That bachelor prepared for the wedding halfheartedly, and in the end, the engagement was called off

행사를 주최하는 둥 마는 둥 어영부영 넘어가니 참석자들의 불만이 컸어요
= Since the event was hosted so sloppily, the participants were quite dissatisfied.

아저씨는 경매장에서 물건을 낙찰하는 둥 마는 둥 하다가 큰 손해를 봤어요
= The man placed bids at the auction halfheartedly and ended up taking a big loss

Let’s continue on in the next section to see another use of 둥.

~-다는/냐는/라는/자는 둥: Going on and on with nonsense

It is also possible to have quoted sentences describing 둥. In Lesson 52, you learned how to quote in Korean. In Lesson 52, you saw how you can add:

~ㄴ/는다고 to quote a verb
~다고 to quote an adjective
~(이)라고 to quote 이다
~(으)라고 to quote a command
~자고 to quote a suggestion
~느냐고 to quote a question

In all of the above, ~고 can be eliminated and ~는 can take its place. In theory, this is a contraction:

~ㄴ/는다고 하는 contracts to ~ㄴ/는다는
~다고 contracts to ~다는
~(이)라고 contracts to ~(이)라는
~(으)라고 contracts to ~(으)라는
~자고 contracts to ~자는
~(으)느냐고 contracts to ~(으)느냐는

You have seen some of this to some extent before. For example, in Lesson 145 you saw how you can quote a command using ~라는, which is abbreviated to ~란 in that Lesson. You also saw similar forms in Lesson 161 where you saw ~는 attach to ~느냐 to describe an uncertainty.

Instead of simply being described by a verb, using the above forms, now a quoted sentence can describe 둥. This implies that the speaker is describing what somebody else says, often in a demeaning, complaining manner. Typically, one type of complaint (in the form of a quote) describes 둥, and then another version of the complaint describes 둥 again. For example:

애가 배가 아프다는 둥 숙제가 많다는 둥 계속 핑계를 댔어요
= The kid kept making excuses, saying things like his stomach hurt or that he had too much homework

Here, the speaker is annoyed at the kid. The use of ~-다는/냐는/라는/자는 둥 conveys the speaker’s annoyance towards all of the things the kid is saying. The kid is saying “his stomach is sore” and “he has too much homework,” among other things.

Below are some examples:

선생님이 조용히 하라는 둥 줄을 잘 서라는 둥 사람들을 몰아붙였어요
= The teacher kept barking orders, telling people to be quiet, to line up properly, and so on

That’s it for this lesson!

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