LESSON 64

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Korean Lesson: Lessons 64

To be full: 가득 차다
The word “차다” has many meanings, but one of the most common of those meanings is “to be full.” Note that this meaning is not “to fill” but rather the passive form of “to be full/filled.” 차다 is usually used in the past tense to describe that something is full:
교실은 완전히 찼어요 = The classroom is completely full
식당은 완전히 찼어요 = The restaurant is completely full
You can indicate what the area is filled with by using the particle ‘(으)로’ after a noun. Actually, these upcoming sentences are more common than the previous two:
교실은 학생들로 완전히 찼어요 = The classroom is completely filled with students
식당은 손님으로 완전히 찼어요 = The restaurant is completely filled with customers
However, whenever you want to indicate that something is “full/filled” in Korean, it sounds more natural to also include the adverb “가득” before the verb “차다.” For example:
교실은 학생들로 가득 찼어요 = The classroom is filled with students
식당은 손님으로 가득 찼어요 = The restaurant is filled with customers
가득 has no real meaning on it’s own, although most people will tell you that it means “filled/full,” simply because it is very commonly used in combination with 차다.
Somehow/For some reason: 왠지
After looking at it again, “왠지” doesn’t appear to be that difficult of a word. However, it has always been a strange adverb to me, so I felt like presenting it separately in this lesson.
As I mentioned, “왠지” is an adverb, which means it can really go anywhere in a sentence (except the end, of course). You can use it in sentences to mean “somehow” or “for some reason.” The best way to understand this word is to see some examples of it:
저의 여자 친구는 저랑 왠지 헤어졌어요 = My girlfriend broke up with me for some reason
그녀는 왠지 한국어를 배우고 싶었어요 = She wants to learn Korean for some reason
Surely…: 설마
The word 설마 is another word that isn’t that hard to understand, but still warrants a separate explanation. Just like “왠지” it is hard to describe the meaning of “설마,” and getting used to it’s usage only happens once you have been exposed to it a number of times.
At any rate, by putting the word “설마” in a sentence, it creates a rhetorical question that typically begins with the word “Surely…” Again, it’s hard to describe it in English like this, let me show you some examples:
설마 아직 안 자요? = Surely you aren’t still sleeping?/Don’t tell me you are still sleeping?
그가 밥을 설마 다 안 먹었어요? = Surely he didn’t eat all of the food?/Don’t tell me he ate all of the food?
As you can see, it’s pretty hard to give a specific definition for the word, as the word sort of changes the whole meaning of a sentence. The most common definition of 설마 in English is “Surely” as I described above. All you can do with this word is try getting used to hearing it and using it, and then you will be fine. More examples:
설마 그렇게 안 추워요? = Surely it is not that cold?
설마 그 곳에 혼자 안 가요 = Surely you are not going there by yourself?
To take a picture and other usages: 찍다
“찍다” is another one of those words that has a lot of meanings. Though all meanings are sort of similar, I want to show you how many different ways you can use “찍다.” The general umbrella meaning of “찍다” is to touch something to something (or something along those lines. Lets look at the wide variety of usages. You can use this word when:
You are taking a picture:
저는 사진을 찍었어요 = I took a picture
You are stamping something:
저는 편지에 도장을 찍었어요 = I stamped a stamp on a letter
You are dipping something in something:
고기를 소스에 찍어 야 돼요 = You need to dip the meat in the sauce
You  put a dot or period on paper:
문장을 다 쓰면 점을 찍어 야 돼요 = When you are done writing a sentence, you need to put a period
Those four usages are the four most common ones, but 찍다 is used in more situations. However, all the other situations are fairly similar to the examples given above, and you can generally infer the meaning of 찍다 simply by context.
Thankfully: 다행(이다)
The word “다행” means “luck” or “fortune” but is generally used in one specific way. Korean people usually put “다행” at the end of a sentence that ends in 아/어서 (because) to indicate the meaning of “Thankfully…” For example:
제가 와서 다행
However, because the sentence cannot end with a noun like that, 이다 is placed after 다행:
제가 와서 다행이에요 = Thankfully I came
비가 안 와서 다행이에요 = Thankfully it didn’t rain
물이 별로 안 더워서 다행이에요 = Thankfully the water isn’t too hot
별로 안 비싸서 다행이에요 = Thankfully it’s not too expensive
At some point in a month: ~달
When you want to say that you are going somewhere on a specific day in a month, you know already that you can say:
저는 한국에 5월 10일에 갈 거에요 = I’m going to Korea on May 10th
저는 6월 20일에 시험을 봐 야 되어서 지금 열심히 공부해 야 돼요 = Because I have to write an exam on June 20th, I need to study really hard now
However, if you ever don’t know the exact day in a month that something will occur, you can attach the particle ‘~달’ to the name of the month to have the meaning of “some time in ____.” For example:
저는5월달에 한국에 갈 거에요 = I’m going to Korea some time in May
저는 6월달에 시험을 볼 거에요 = I’m going to write an exam some time in June

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