#section:intermediatei

The Korean word 편 as a noun means “side”. For example it can be seen used in such instances as 오른편 (the right side) or 왼편 (the left side). It can also be used to describe taking sides in an argument, or debate, as well as for factions in games and the like.

But by combining 편 with -은/는, we are able to use it to describe approximations of different verbs and adjectives. Let’s take a look at an example and the implications of this grammar point.

Without the grammar point:

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 쳐요. Ken plays tennis well.

With the grammar point:

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 치는 편이에요. Ken plays tennis pretty well.

Now I know what you’re thinking--Soo, what the heck is the difference here? Based on these translations the sentences mean the same thing!

And this would be where most people get confused!

In Korean, using the -은/는 편이다 grammar point when describing something implies that you think that the fact or observation is close to or on a certain side instead of talking about it as a definite, sure thing. So if we go back to our example sentences:

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 쳐요. Not using the grammar point, this sentence’s implication is that Ken is a great tennis player. He plays tennis extremely well and it’s a definite, observable thing.

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 치는 편이에요. If we use the grammar point instead, this sentence implies that the speaker perceives Ken to be on the better side of being able to play tennis, but not that he’s definitely a great player.

Still confused? Have a look at this graphic:

So on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is the worst, completely unable to play tennis and 100 being the best, a great tennis player, Ken who is described as “잘 치는 편이에요” is somewhere between 50% and 100% on the sliding scale of good-at-tennis-ness.

Got it? Good. :)

-은/는 편이다 is used with verbs, adjectives, 있다/없다, and 이다/아니다. -은 is added to adjective stems ending in a consonant. -ㄴ is added to adjective stems ending in a vowel. -는 is added to all verb stems. -는 is also added to 있다/없다. -ㄴ is used with 이다/아니다.

Let’s look at a couple more examples:

비비안: 수키 씨 한국어 실력은 어때요? 수키: 말하기는 좀 힘들지만 읽고 쓰는 것은 잘하는 편이에요. Vivian: Suki, how’s your Korean speaking ability? Suki: Well speaking is a little difficult but reading and writing are really good.

한설: 왜 이렇게 학교에 일찍 왔어요? 신행: 제가 아침에 일찍 일어나는 편이어서 그냥 일찍 왔어요. Hansol: Why did you come to school this early? Shinhaeng: Because I got up pretty early I just came [to school] early.

벤: 비비안 씨 성격은 어때요? 찬미: 비비안 씨 성격이 밝은 편이에요. Ben: What’s Vivian’s personality like? Chanmi: Vivian’s personality is somewhat bright.

레오: 새로 이사 간 집이 어때요? 켄: 깨끗하고 조용해요. 그런데 방값은 좀 비싼 편이에요... Leo: How’s the new house you moved into? Ken: It’s clean and quiet. However the room rental fee is kind of expensive...

벤: 그 영화가 재미있었어요? 비비안: 괜찮았어요. 재미있는 편이었어요. Ben: Was that movie interesting? Vivian: It was okay. Pretty fun.

In the above examples you can see that all the instances where the grammar point is used is when the speaker is expressing their thought or opinion on the topic at hand. This is because you cannot use this grammar point when the situation or fact being discussed is CLEAR and DEFINITE to everyone. In other words, if the fact is either 0% or 100% on the scale in the graphic posted up above, then you cannot use 은/는 편이다. For example, a Korean person born and raised in Korea with Korean as their native language would simply be good at speaking Korean (한국어를 잘해요  -  O) as opposed to being just somewhat good/alright (한국어를 잘하는 편이에요 -  X).

Another important thing to note is when using -는 편이다 with a verb, an adverb like 자주, 많이, 잘, 안/못, etc must be paired with the verb.

저는 매운 음식을 잘 먹는 편이에요. I eat spicy food pretty well.

Also be careful when using this grammar point in the past tense. Both -은/는 편이었다 and -은 편이다 can be used when expressing something in the past, but -은/는 편이었다 is used when explaining a general situation in the past, and -은 편이다 is used when explaining some event or action completed at a point in the past. (-은 편이다 being the past tense form of -는 편이다 for verbs)

-은/는 편이었다

어렸을 때 저는 키가 작은 편이었어요. When I was a kid, I was on the short side.

-은 편이다

A: 어제 시험 잘 봤어? B: 잘 본 편이야. 별로 어럽지 않았어. A: You do well on the test yesterday? B: I did pretty good. It wasn’t even hard.

As far as irregular verbs/adjectives go with this grammar point, the standard rules apply, notably:

If the word stem ends in ㄹ, the ㄹ is dropped. eg: 멀다 becomes 먼 not 멀은

If the word stem ends in ㅂ, the ㅂ is dropped, 우 is added and then the word is conjugated. eg: 춥다 becomes 추운 using this grammar point.

More info about irregular verbs and adjective rules can be found by clicking here!

-으려면 is a shortened form of “-으려고 하면” and it holds the same meaning as “if you intend to” or “if you want to”. This grammar point is used frequently when giving or requesting advice about an intended action. It’s usually paired with -아/어야 하다, -으세요, -이/가 필요하다, or -으면 되다.

-으려면 is used with verbs and attaches directly to the verb stem. -으려면 is used with verb stems ending in a consonant. -려면 is used with verb stems ending in a vowel.

Let’s look at some examples.

학생: 김 선생님 지금 계세요? 다른 선생님: 지금 안 계세요. 김 선생님을 만나려면 3시 이후에 오세요. Student: Is Kim teacher here now? Other teacher: She’s not here right now. If you want to meet Kim teacher, please come back after 3 o’clock.

레오: 미국에 여행 가고 싶어요. 켄: 미국에 가려면 비자가 필요해요. Leo: I want to go on a trip to America. Ken: If you intend on going to America you need a visa.

학생: 책을 빌리려면 어떻게 해야 해요? 선생님: 학생증을 가지고 도서관에 가면 돼요. Student: If I intend to borrow a book, what do I have to do? Teacher: Bring your student ID with you and go to the library.

벤: 건강해지려면 어떻게 해야 해요? 찬미: 많이 걸으세요. 그러면 건강해져요. Ben: If I want to get healthy, what do I have to do? Chanmi: Walk a lot. If you do that, your health will improve.

Now you’ll notice that in the above examples that “want to” is an acceptable translation for this grammar point. But we already know that “to want to do” something in Korean is -고 싶다. Paired with -면 (if), you can use -고 싶으면 to say “if you want to--”.

의사가 되려면 공부를 많이 해야 돼요. If you want to become a doctor, you have to study a lot.

의사가 되고 싶으면 공부를 많이 해야 돼요. If you want to become a doctor, you have to study a lot.

So you can see that these two grammar points can be used almost interchangeably.

However, there is a difference that exists. When you use -으려면, the 려 of the construction implies that an effort needs to be made to complete the desired action. You really need to make an effort to study a lot when you want to be a doctor, so using -으려면 in this case makes a lot of sense. But if you just wanted to go to the park, no effort beyond simply going to the park needs to be made so -고 싶으면 makes more sense in that situation, and cannot be used interchangeably with -으려면.

By adding this grammar point to the end of a sentence (or clause) you can express that by doing what is said that the action adequately fulfills a condition.

This grammar point is similar to -아/어야 하다 in that you are stating that something “should” be done or “ought” to be done, but by using -으면 되다 instead the implication is much softer. Using this grammar point implies that if the action is taken, things will be alright/will work out for the positive, so it’s used most often when giving/offering advice. Let’s look at an example.

레오: 노래를 잘하고 싶어요. 켄: 간단해요. 좋아하는 노래 CD를 자주 듣고 따라하면 돼요. Leo: I want to sing well. Ken: It’s simple. Listen to a CD you like often and imitate it.

In this example, Ken tells his friend that if he wants to be good at singing, all he has to do is listen to and imitate the music. This is because 되다 in this grammar point means “to be enough” in order to complete the task.

-으면 되다 is used with verbs, adjectives, 있다/없다, and 이다/아니다. -으면 되다 is added to word stems ending in consonants. -면 되다 is added to word stems ending in vowels.

Using this grammar point with words like 그냥 and [noun]-만 make it sound the most natural.

가다: 가 + 면 되다 →  가면 돼요 먹다: 먹 + 으면 되다 →  먹으면 돼요

레오: 시험을 잘 보고 싶으세요? 시험을 보기 전에 이 책만 읽으면 됩니다. 켄: 정말 이 책만 읽으면 돼요?? Leo: Do you want to do well on your exam? Then before taking your exam you should read this book [and you will do well]. Ken: Really, just read this book [and I’ll do well]??

켄: 키가 크고 예쁜 여자가 좋아요? 레오: 아니요. 다 필요 없어요. 그냥 성격만 좋으면 돼요. Ken: Do you like tall, pretty women? Leo: No, I don’t need that. All that’s needed is a good personality.

비비안: 한국어를 잘하려면 어떻게 해야 해요? 수키: 그냥 텔레비전 드라마를 많이 보면 돼요. Vivian: If I want to get better at Korean, what do I have to do? Suki: Just watch a lot of TV dramas.

한설: 도서관에 거려면 어떻게 해야 해요? 신행: 학생증만 있으면 돼요. Hansol: How do I get to the library? Shinhaeng: All you need is a student ID.

찬미: 마실 것 좀 드릴까요? 벤: 그냥 물이면 돼요. Chanmi: Would you like something to drink? Ben: Just water [should be fine].

This grammar point is fairly straight forward. Most of the time when it’s used, the speaker, especially when giving advice, implies that the action in question is often something they consider easy to complete. Just keep in mind that the overall meaning of using the grammar point indicates that everything is/will be okay if the action is completed, you should have no problem using this grammar point in Korean! :)

And don’t forget that there are irregular verb/adjective rules that apply to this grammar point.

Using the Korean grammar point -은 지 .... 됐다 you will be able to express the amount of time which has passed since an event occurred. It has the same meaning as the English phrase “It has been (length of time) since....”. A term referring to an amount of time is required between the -은 지 and 됐다 portions of this grammar point. For example: 3시간, 하루, 일주일, 2개월 (두 달), 5년, etc.

-은 지 (시간) 됐다 is used with verbs. -은 지 is added to verb stems ending in consonants. -ㄴ 지 is added to verb stems ending in vowels. 

먹다: 먹 + 은 지 →  먹은 지 (시간) 됐다 공부하다: 공부하 + ㄴ 지 →  공부한 지 (시간) 됐다

레오: 언제부터 우리 학교에서 공부했어요? 켄: 이 학교에서 공부한 지 1년 됐어요. Leo: When did you start studying at our school? Ken: It’s been a year since I started studying at this school.

Additional examples:

A: 한국어를 언제부터 배우셨어요? B: 한국어를 배운 지 5개월 됐어요. A: When did you start studying Korean? B: It’s been 5 months since I started studying Korean.

A: B 씨, 여기에는 웬일이세요? B: 이 근처 살아요. 여기로 이사 온 지 2주쯤 됐어요. A: B, what are you doing here? B: I live in the area. I moved here about two weeks ago.

A: 점심 먹으러 같이 갈까요? B: 아침 식사한 지 2시간밖에 안 돼서 배가 안 고파요. A: Shall we go eat lunch together? B: It has only been two hours since I’ve had breakfast so I’m not hungry.

Now let’s talk a little bit about context usage with sentences using this grammar point. Let’s say your friend walks into the room where you’re watching TV and asks you how long you’ve been watching TV for.

You would respond with: 텔레비전을 본 지 10분 됐어요.

The meaning here is “I’ve been watching TV for 10 minutes.” (or “It’s been 10 minutes since I started watching TV.” either translation is correct in this instance). But imagine you aren’t watching the TV. The TV is off and you’re not watching anything at all. Your friend walks in and asks you how long it’s been since you last watched TV.

You would respond with: 텔레비전을 본 지 10분 됐어요.

The meaning here is “I haven’t watched TV for 10 minutes.” (or “It’s been 10 minutes since I watched TV.”). Yes, they are the exact same responses that have different meanings based on situational use. This is because the word “지” is a pseudo-noun that refers to the period of time of when an action took place, until the present moment in time. This means that the action can still be on-going, or that the action has already stopped. And in the instance where you want to talk about a stopped action and how long it’s been since the action has happened, you can use the same construction as if the action is currently on-going in Korean. So the sentences in Korean would be identical, but the meaning/correct translation needs to be inferred from the situation on the whole.

텔레비전을 본 지 10분 됐어요 means “It’s been 10 minutes since I started watching TV” (in the case of you’re currently watching while saying this) or “it’s been 10 minutes since I last watched TV” (in the case you’re not currently watching). This dual meaning is also because “to watch” is a verb that continues to progress forward. The action doesn’t happen all in once instance. But there are verbs that when used with this grammar point can only mean one thing, and cannot be interpreted differently.

For example the verb 결혼하다 (to get married). This verb refers to the act of getting married, not the state of being married. So if I said:

이제 결혼한 지 3년 됐어요

The only way this can be interpreted is “It has been 3 years since I got married.”. Because “getting married” is not a continuous state (I didn’t “start” getting married or “stopped” getting married at any point, I just got married). In this instance the “지” pseudo-noun refers to the period of time from the marriage ceremony to the present day. Other verbs that have similar usage to this would be 졸업하다 (to graduate) or 오다 (to come), for example.

To figure out which verbs can hold dual meaning when using this grammar point and which do not you should keep in mind what I mentioned above. Does the action continue if started (does it “progress”) and have a definite end point? Or is it a one off action (getting married, graduating, starting to date someone, etc)? It sounds pretty confusing when written out like this but when you use this grammar point in every day conversation 99% of the time you won’t have to worry about this.

If you wanted to ask someone questions about how long it’s been since an action was completed you can use words like 얼마나, or 오래. In this case, the word would replace the (시간) in the grammar construction.

한국어를 공부한 지 얼마나 되었어요? How long has it been since you started studying Korean?

텔레비전 을 본 지 오래 됐어? Have you been watching TV for a while?

And in reply, besides using the exact amount of time, it’s also very common to say something like 얼마나 안 되다, or 조금밖에 안  /  (시간)밖에 안 되다 as well.

레오: 텔리비전을 본 지 오래 됐어?

켄: 텔레비전을 본 지 얼마나 안 됐어.       텔레비전을 본 지 조금밖에 안 됐어.       텔레비전을 본 지 10분밖에 안 됐어.

Leo: Have you been watching TV for a while?

Ken: I haven’t been watching TV for very long.         It’s been just a little bit since I started watching TV.         It hasn’t been longer than 10 minutes since I started watching TV.

And as far as irregular verbs go with this grammar point, the standard rules apply.

듣다 →  들은 지 살다 →  산 지 짓다 →  지은 지 낫다 →  나은 지 돕다 →  도운지

For a more in depth look at the seven different types of irregular verbs and adjectives in Korean, please check out my special post regarding their individual rules by clicking here.