In this lesson, we are introduce how to say “all” in Korean.
- 다 [da] = all, entirely, whole
And also review how to say “more”.
- 더 [deo] = more
For many sentences where English speakers will use adjectives and nouns, Korean speakers use adverbs and verbs. This often becomes a challenge for translators and interpreters, but keeping this in mind will help you understand how to form more natural sentences in Korean.
Let’s look at how 다 [da] is used.
Examples:
1. 다 주세요. [da ju-se-yo.]
= Give me all of it.
2. 다 했어요. [da hae-sseo-yo.]
= I’ve done all of it.
3. 다 왔어요? [da wa-sseo-yo?]
= Are we there yet? (lit. Did we all come? / Did we come to all of it?)
= Did everybody come?
4. 다 살 거예요? [da sal geo-ye-yo?]
= Are you going to buy all of it?
In some of the examples above, it looks as the the word 다 [da] is working as a noun, and it is but, in fact, it has a stronger influence on the verbs, so you can actually think of 다 as an adverb.
커피를 마시다 [keo-pi-reul ma-si-da]
= to drink coffee
커피를 다 마시다 [keo-pi-reul da ma-si-da]
= to drink all the coffee
In the second sentence above, the English word “all” was used to describe “the coffee” but in Korean, the word 다 was used to describe the action of drinking (마시다).
책을 읽다 [chae-geul il-da]
= to read a book
책 을 다 읽다 [chae-geul da il-da]
= to read all of the book
= to finish reading the book
FAQ
Q: Then how do you say “all of the book” or “the entire book”, if the word 다 only modifies verbs?
A: You can use other words like 전체 [jeon-che] or 전부 [jeon-bu]. “The entire book” is 책 전체
or 책 전부, but this might not sound very natural when not used in proper context. So in most cases, it’s better to use 다 [da].
Let’s look at how 더 [deo] is used.
Examples:
1. 더 주세요. [deo ju-se-yo.]
= Please give me more.
2. 더 있어요. [deo i-sseo-yo.]
= There is more.
3. 더 사고 싶어요. [deo sa-go si-peo-yo.]
= I want to buy more.
4. 뭐가 더 좋아요? [mwo-ga deo jo-a-yo?]
= Which is better?
The same explanation for 다 applies to the word 더 as well when modifying verbs. Although it looks like 더 is used as a noun here but in fact, for example, when you say 더 사고 싶어요, the sentence is closer to saying “I want to do the “buying action” more”.
10 분 기다려 주세요. [sip-bun gi-da-ryeo ju-se-yo.]
= Please wait for ten minutes.
10분 더 기다려 주세요. [sip-bun deo gi-da-ryeo ju-se-yo.]
= Please wait for ten more minutes.
In English, you say “ten more minutes” but in Korean, you literally say, “do the action of waiting for ten minutes + more”.
If you want to review how to compare two things using -보다 and 더, please check out Level 2 Lesson 21.
Sample sentences:
1. 전화 다 했어요? [jeon-hwa da hae-sseo-yo?]
= Did you finish talking on the phone?
= Did you make all the phone calls?
= Did everyone make a phone call?
2. 준비 다 했어요. [jun-bi da hae-sseo-yo.]
= I finished the preparation..
= I did all the preparation.
= All of us are prepared.
3. 더 보여 주세요. [deo bo-yeo ju-se-yo.]
= Show me more.
= Show me more of it.
4. 더 공부하고 싶으면, TTMIK에 오세요. [deo gong-bu-ha-go si-peu-myeon, TTMIK-e o-seoyo.]
= If you want to study more, come to TTMIK.
= If you want to do more studying, come to TTMIK.
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