[Learn Korean E40] “-는데”, “았/었으면 좋겠다”

안녕하세요. 토미입니다.

The theme of today’s class is【하나 물어보고 싶은데요】“I’d like to ask you one question.”

Today, we’ll learn about the grammar -는데 “but,” and 았/었으면 좋겠다 “I wish I could.”

In addition, this is the 40th lesson, so I prepared a special test for you.
You can check the grammar from lesson #36-40.
Through the test, you can see how much you understood the grammar so far.

By making these efforts, you can mark the perfect score on TOPIK and be the super master of Korean!
그럼 시작할게요.

Listen to the Conversation

The theme of today’s conversation is【하나 물어보고 싶은데요】“I’d like to ask you one question.”

Tammy was not able to sleep enough last night, so she seems very tired today.

Please try to guess what happened to her by listening carefully to the conversation.

그럼 들어보세요!

  • 토미:상민 씨, 뭐 하나 물어보고 싶은데요.
    Tammy:Sangmin, I’d like to ask you one question.
  • 상민:네, 토미 씨. 근데 토미 씨 얼굴이 많이 피곤해 보이는데 무슨 일 있어요?
    Sangmin:Yes, Tammy. By the way, you look very tired today. Is something wrong?
  • 토미:그게… 실은… 어젯밤에 잠을 못 자서요. 지금 당장 집에 가서 쉬었으면 좋겠어요.
    Tammy:That’s the thing… actually… I couldn’t sleep last night. I wish I could go home and rest right now.
  • 상민:아니, 왜요? 설마 새벽까지 발표 준비한 건 아니죠?
    Sangmin:Oh, why? You didn’t prepare for the presentation until early morning, did you?
  • 토미:아니요, 발표 준비는 저녁 시간에 다 끝냈는데 난방이 고장 나서…
    Tammy:No, I finished preparing for the presentation by the evening, but the heater broke down, so…
  • 상민:아니, 그래서 추워서 못 잤어요?
    Sangmin:Oh, so you couldn’t sleep because it was cold?
  • 토미:네… 그래서 난방을 수리해 주는 가게 좀 알고 싶은데요.
    Tammy:Yes… ,so I’d like to know a shop that repairs heaters.
  • 상민:그렇군요. 제가 아는 형이 수리를 정말 잘해요. 제가 전화번호 알려 줄게요.
    Sangmin:I see. I know this guy who is really good at repairs. I’ll give you his phone number.

Vocabulary and Phrases

Let’s take a look at the vocabulary and phrases in the conversation.

  • 상민:네, 토미 씨. 근데 토미 씨 얼굴이 많이 피곤해 보이는데 무슨 일 있어요?

피곤하다 means “tired.” 피곤해 보이다 is “to look tired.”
When you say, 피곤해 보이는데 무슨 일이 있어요?, it means “You look tired. Did something happen to you?”

  • 토미:그게 … 실은 … 어젯밤에 잠을 못 자서요. 지금 당장 집에 가서 쉬었으면 좋겠어요.

그게 is a shortened version of 그것이, which means “that is.”
In Korean, you can also use 그게 to start a conversation, as “That’s the thing” in English.

어젯밤 means “yesterday night.”
When you break down this word, 어제 means “yesterday,” and 밤 means “night.”

당장 means “right now/immediately.”
So, when you say 당장 집에 가고 싶어요 means “I want to go home right now.”
You might have felt this way when you were in your school, haven’t you?

  • 상민:아니, 왜요? 설마 새벽까지 발표 준비한 건 아니죠?

발표 is a “presentation.” 발표 준비 is “a preparation for presentation.”
발표하다 means “to present” and 발표되다 means “to be presented.”

  • 토미:아니요, 발표 준비는 저녁 시간에 다 끝냈는데 난방이 고장 나서…

끝내다 means “to finish.” And 끝 means “the end.”
So you might have seen 끝 in the end of Korean dramas.

난방 is a “heater.”
고장 나다 is “to break down.”
So, 난방이 고장났어요 means “A heater broke down.”
That must be a big problem in the middle of winter, don’t you think so?

  • 상민:아니, 그래서 추워서 못 잤어요?

춥다 means “cold.”
When you say, “방이 추워서 못 잤어요,” it means “The room was too cold to sleep.”

  • 토미:네 … 그래서 난방을 수리해 주는 가게 좀 알고 싶은데요.

수리 is “repair,” so 수리하다 means “to repair.”
수리해 주는 가게 means “a store which repairs (machine).”

  • 상민:그렇군요. 제가 아는 형이 수리를 정말 잘해요. 제가 전화번호 알려 줄게요.

아는 형 is “a brother I know.”
형 does not only mean a real older brother, but also means “a guy who is older than (a speaker).”
In this conversation, I think it is more like Sangmin’s male friend who is older than him.

알다 is “to know.” 알리다 means “to tell/to notice.”

Grammar

는데 “but”

I’ll explain the grammar 는데 “but/although/however.”

는데 is a connecter between two clauses.
Most of the time, you translate it as “but/however.”

You can apply this grammar, 는데 for verbs, (으)ㄴ데 for adjective, and 인데 for nouns.

First, let’s look at how to apply 는데 for verbs.
You use 는데 regardless of a final consonant.
For example, 먹다 “to eat” becomes 먹는데 “I eat, but” and 가다 “to go” becomes 가는데 “I go, but.”

Second, when the stem finishes with ㄹ final consonant, you drop ㄹ and add 는데.
So 알다 becomes 아는데 “I know, but.”
You also use -는데 for 있다/없다, past tense such as 았/었, and 겠.

Next, for adjectives, you use (으)ㄴ데.
1. First, when there is a final consonant, you add 은데, so 많다 “many” becomes 많은데 “many, but.”
2. Second, when a stem does not have a final consonant, you add ㄴ데.
For example, 크다 “big” becomes 큰데 “big, but.”

Lastly, for nouns, you can use 인데.
Generally, whether there is a final consonant or not, you just add 인데.

But when a word does not have a final consonant, Korean people often add ㄴ데 especially in conversations.
For example, 나인데 “it’s me” can be 난데 as well.

It might sound a bit complicated to learn all these patterns, so I made a table to help you learn them easily.

Type of wordPresent tensePast tense
Verb-는데았/었는데
Adjective-(으)ㄴ데
Noun-인데-이었는데 (w/ final consonant)
-였는데 (w/o final consonant)

Then, let’s look at a phrase from today’s conversation.

Ex.1)
발표 준비는 저녁 시간에 다 끝냈는데 난방이 고장 나서…
I finished preparing for the presentation by the evening, but the heater broke down, so…

Let’s focus on 끝냈는데 in the sentence.
끝냈다 “finished” is a past tense.
Therefore, you add 는데 to the stem to make 끝냈는데 “finished, but.”

Let’s move on to the next sentence. Sangmin said,

Ex.2)
얼굴이 많이 피곤해 보이는데 무슨 일 있어요?
You look very tired today. Is something wrong?

In this sentence, let’s focus on 피곤해 보이는데.
피곤해 보이다 is “to look tired,” which is a verb.
So you add 는데 to the stem to make 피곤해 보이는데 “(you) look tired, but.”

Quiz

・ 이거 제가 (            ) 먹어 볼래요?
I made this, but would you like to try?

(1)만드는데 (2)만들었는데

The answer is (2).
만들다 is “to make.” Since you want to say in a past tense, you should say 만들었다 “made.”
As you can see, there is ㅆ, which indicates the past tense, right?
In this case, you just need to add 는데.
So the answer is 만들었는데 “(I) made, but.”

The whole sentence would be 이거 제가 (만들었는데) 먹어 볼래요?

았/었으면 좋겠다 I wish~

Next, let’s learn the grammar 았/었으면 좋겠다, “I hope/ I want/ It’ll be good if (something) happens.”

As you can see, with this grammar, you will be able to express your hope or wish about something, which has not happened yet.

Let’s see how to apply this grammar.
As you can see 았/었 in the beginning, this indicates a past tense, so think about the original form of the past tense and attach 으면 좋겠다 afterwards.

For example, The past tense of 가다 “to go” is 갔다 “went.”
You add 으면 좋겠다 to the stem to make 갔으면 좋겠다 “I hope I could/can go.”

Likewise, the past tense of 먹다 “to eat” is 먹었다 “ate.”
So you attach 으면 좋겠다 to make 먹었으면 좋겠다 “I hope I could/can eat.”

Ok, I think you got the hang of it.
Now, let’s look at an example from today’s conversation.

Ex.1)
지금 당장 집에 가서 쉬었으면 좋겠어요.
I wish I could go home and rest right now.

Let’s focus on 쉬었으면 좋겠어요.
쉬다 is “to rest.” Its past tense is 쉬었다 “rested.”
You attach 으면 좋겠어요 to the stem to make 쉬었으면 좋겠어요 “I wish I could rest.”

Ex.2)
옷이 많았으면 좋겠어요.
I wish I had a lot of clothes.

Let’s focus on 많았으면 좋겠어요.
많다 is “many.” The past tense is 많았다.
You attach 으면 좋겠어요 to the stem to make 많았으면 좋겠어요 “I wish I had a lot of.”

Quiz

・ 날씨가 너무 춥죠? 전 매일 (      ).
The weather is very cold, right? I wish it was warm every day.

(1)따뜻핬으면 좋겠어요 (2)따뜻했으면 좋겠어요

The answer is (2). 따뜻하다 is “warm.”
The past tense is 따뜻했다, so you add 으면 좋겠어요 to make 따뜻했으면 좋겠어요.

The whole sentence would be 날씨가 너무 춥죠? 전 매일 (따뜻했으면 좋겠어요).

Conversation (Korean only)

Now, let’s try to listen to the conversation only in Korean.
I hope you can understand it better than the beginning.

그럼 확인해 보세요!

  • 토미:상민 씨, 뭐 하나 물어보고 싶은데요.
  • 상민:네, 토미 씨. 근데 토미 씨 얼굴이 많이 피곤해 보이는데 무슨 일 있어요?
  • 토미:그게… 실은… 어젯밤에 잠을 못 자서요. 지금 당장 집에 가서 쉬었으면 좋겠어요.
  • 상민:아니, 왜요? 설마 새벽까지 발표 준비한 건 아니죠?
  • 토미:아니요, 발표 준비는 저녁 시간에 다 끝냈는데 난방이 고장 나서…
  • 상민:아니, 그래서 추워서 못 잤어요?
  • 토미:네… 그래서 난방을 수리해 주는 가게 좀 알고 싶은데요.
  • 상민:그렇군요. 제가 아는 형이 수리를 정말 잘해요. 제가 전화번호 알려 줄게요.

Conversation Practice

I will play the conversation one sentence at a time.
So please try reading it along with me.

그럼 큰소리로 읽어 보세요!

  • 토미:상민 씨, 뭐 하나 물어보고 싶은데요.
    Tammy:Sangmin, I’d like to ask you one question.
  • 상민:네, 토미 씨. 근데 토미 씨 얼굴이 많이 피곤해 보이는데 무슨 일 있어요?
    Sangmin:Yes, Tammy. By the way, you look very tired today. Is something wrong?
  • 토미:그게… 실은… 어젯밤에 잠을 못 자서요. 지금 당장 집에 가서 쉬었으면 좋겠어요.
    Tammy:That’s the thing… actually… I couldn’t sleep last night. I wish I could go home and rest right now.
  • 상민:아니, 왜요? 설마 새벽까지 발표 준비한 건 아니죠?
    Sangmin:Oh, why? You didn’t prepare for the presentation until early morning, did you?
  • 토미:아니요, 발표 준비는 저녁 시간에 다 끝냈는데 난방이 고장 나서…
    Tammy:No, I finished preparing for the presentation by the evening, but the heater broke down, so…
  • 상민:아니, 그래서 추워서 못 잤어요?
    Sangmin:Oh, so you couldn’t sleep because it was cold?
  • 토미:네… 그래서 난방을 수리해 주는 가게 좀 알고 싶은데요.
    Tammy:Yes… ,so I’d like to know a shop that repairs heaters.
  • 상민:그렇군요. 제가 아는 형이 수리를 정말 잘해요. 제가 전화번호 알려 줄게요.
    Sangmin:I see. I know this guy who is really good at repairs. I’ll give you his phone number.

Homework

We have two assignments for today.
For the first homework, make two sentences using the grammar we learned today.

For the first sentence, use 는데 “but/however.”
For example,

  • 극장에 너무 가고 싶은데 멀어서 못 가요.
    I really want to go to the theater, but I can’t go because it’s far.

For the second sentence, please use 았/었으면 좋겠다 “I wish I can” to write your wishes for the next year.
For example,

  • 필리핀에 놀러 갔으면 좋겠어요.
    I wish I can travel to the Philippines.

The second homework is memorizing vocabulary.
Please memorize 40 words from #1201 to #1240 on page 16 of the Elementary Vocabulary List.

Test

This is the 40th lesson, so you can see the grammar from lesson #36-40 on the test.
Please give it a try.

[Learn Korean E] QUIZ No.36-No.40

That’s all for today.
그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요! 한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅!!

Vocabulary Test : 40 Questions

There will be 40 multiple choice questions in total displayed in random order, testing on Vocabulary #1201~1240 from the Beginner Level Vocabulary List.
Share your Quiz result through Twitter!