Learn Korean (TTMIK)

Lesson 16

In this lesson, let’s look at some expressions that can make your sentences richer in context and your emphasis stronger. Sure, you can keep your sentences simple, but when you want to “really” emphasize some points, you might want to know how to say that something is “really” nice, “really” bad, or not good “at all”.

Here we will introduce five words - 조금, 아주, 정말, 별로, 전혀 - and how they are used inside sentences.

조금 = a little, a bit, a little bit

정말 = really, truly

아주 = very, quite

별로 = not really, not particularly

전혀 = not at all

조금, 아주, and 정말 can be used with any sentence, but 별로 and 전혀 can only be used with negative sentences.

조금 [jo-geum] = a little, a bit, a little bit

Ex)

1. 조금 비싸요. [jo-geum bi-ssa-yo.]

= It’s a little expensive.

2. 조금만 주세요. [jo-geum-man ju-se-yo.]

= Give me only a little bit.

** When pronounced quickly, 조금 often becomes 좀 and is often written this way as well.

** Even when you are referring to the meaning of “quite” or “very”, you can also use this word, 조금 [jo-geum], based on the assumption that the other person understands what you mean. For example, the first sample sentence, “조금 비싸요.” can mean either “It’s a little bit expensive.” or “It’s quite expensive.”

정말 [jeong-mal] = really, truly

Ex)

1. 정말 빨라요. [jeong-mal ppal-la-yo.]

= It’s really fast.

2. 정말 이상해요. [jeong-mal i-sang-hae-yo.]

= It’s really strange.

** A word that has almost the same meaning is 진짜 [jin-jja], and 정말 is considered to be a little less casual than 진짜.

** Whereas the other words introduced here are used to describe the extent to which something is done or to describe the intensity of a certain state (i.e. very ‘good’, a little ‘expensive’ or quite ‘fast’), 정말 and 진짜 can also be used to just express whether or not what’s being said is true or not. (i.e. I ‘really’ did it.)

아주 [a-ju] = very, quite

Ex)

1. 아주 맛있어요. [a-ju ma-si-sseo-yo.]

= It’s very delicious.

2. 아주 멀어요. [a-ju meo-reo-yo.]

= It’s very far away.

** 아주 is the most standard way of saying “very” in the written form, but more often than not, in spoken Korean, 아주 is often replaced with 정말 [jeong-mal] or 진짜 [jin-jja].

별로 [byeol-lo] = not really, not particularly

** 별로 is always used in negative sentences, regardless of whether the verb that comes after it has a negative or a positive meaning.

Ex)

1. 별로 안 비싸요. [byeol-lo an bi-ssa-yo.]

= It’s not so expensive.

2. 별로 재미없어요. [byeol-lo jae-mi-eop-seo-yo.]

= It’s not that interesting.

** Note that 재미없어요 is one word but it has the part ‘없어요’ inside the word, so it’s possible to say 별로 재미없어요.

3. 별로 안 나빠요. [byeol-lo an na-ppa-yo.]

= It’s not too bad.

** Even if the word 나쁘다 has a negative meaning, the construction ‘별로 나쁘다’ does not work.

전혀 [jeon-hyeo] = not at all

Ex)

1. 전혀 안 바빠요. [jeon-hyeo an ba-ppa-yo.]

= I’m not busy at all.

2. 전혀 안 더워요. [jeon-hyeo an deo-wo-yo.]

= It’s not hot at all.

** In spoken Korean, the expression 하나도 [ha-na-do] is more commonly used than 전혀.