Learn Korean (TTMIK)

Lesson 24

In this lesson we are going to learn two new expressions that have the opposite meanings.

1. 아직 [a-jik] means “still” and “not yet”.

In English, generally, the word ‘still’ is used with positive sentences and the word ‘yet’ is more commonly used with negative sentences, but in Korean, the word 아직 [a-jik] is used for both positive and negative sentences.

아직 10시예요.

[a-jik yeol-si-ye-yo.]

= It’s still 10 o’clock.

아직 안 했어요.

[a-jik an hae-sseo-yo.]

= I haven’t done it yet.

아직 아침이에요.

[a-jik a-chi-mi-e-yo.]

= It’s still morning.

아직 몰라요.

[a-jik mol-la-yo.]

= I don’t know yet.

To emphasize the meaning of “still happening” or “still not happening”, you can add the particle -도 [-do] after 아직.

아직 몰라요?

[a-jik mol-la-yo?]

= You don’t know yet?

아직도 몰라요?

[a-jik-do mol-la-yo?]

= You still don’t know? How could you still not know?

아직 안 왔어요?

[a-jik an wa-sseo-yo?]

= He’s not here yet?

네, 아직도 안 왔어요.

[a-jik-do an wa-sseo-yo?]

= No, he’s still not here.

2. 벌써 [beol-sseo] means “already”.

The usage of the word 벌써 [beol-sseo] is very similar to the English word “already”. It’s generally placed at the beginning of sentences, but it doesn’t always have to be at the beginning.

It’s already three o’clock.

= 벌써 세 시예요.

It’s three o’clock already!

= 세 시예요, 벌써!

Both of the sentences above work.

More sample sentences

벌써 왔어요?

[beol-sseo wa-sseo-yo?]

= Oh, you are already here!

벌써 끝났어요?

[beol-sseo kkeut-na-sseo-yo?]

= Is it already over? Did it already finish?

이미 vs 벌써

Another word that you will often encounter when reading or listening to Korean that has the meaning “already” is 이미 [i-mi].

이미 means “already” as well, so basically 이미 and 벌써 seem to have the same meaning, but in fact, Koreans often distinguish the meanings of these two words.

The difference between 이미 and 벌써 lies in whether you are already aware of the fact or not. When you and/or the speaker know about something already and talk about it, you use 이미. When you are just finding out about it as you speak you use 벌써. People don’t always stick to this rule, but this is the basic idea.

Examples

그 사람은 이미 학교를 졸업했어요.

[geu sa-ram-eun i-mi hak-gyo-reul jo-reo-pae-sseo-yo.]

= He already graduated from school.

- You (and probably also the other person) have known about this fact since long before you say this sentence.)

그 사람은 벌써 학교를 졸업했어요!

[geu sa-ram-eun beol-sseo hak-gyo-reul jo-reo-pae-sseo-yo.]

= He already graduated from school.

- You might have found out about this fact recently, or you already knew about this but the other person may have not known about it before you say it.