KOREAN

59

Vocabulary

어쩌면 = maybe/perhaps

아무래도 = probably

가꾸다 = to grow/cultivate crops

가꾸다 = to make oneself look nice

연세 = age

뵈다 = to see (high respect)

차림(으로) = to be wearing

즉 = i.e./in other words...

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Perhaps: 어쩌면

In a few different lessons, you have learned about some words that can be placed in sentences that don't have any real meaning. Two specific examples that you have already learned are "만약" and "아무리." You learned in Lesson 43 that you can add the word "만약" to sentences that have "if" in them, even though "만약" doesn't really have any meaning. Furthermore, in Lesson 49 you learned about the word "아무리" and how it can be added to sentences that have "아/어도" in them. Both of these words don't have much meaning, and are placed in sentences specifically for feeling.

어쩌면 is another one of these words. If you look "어쩌면" up in the dictionary, you will probably see a definition of "maybe/perhaps" (just like you would see the definition "if" if you looked up the word "만약"). However, 어쩌면 can be taken out of sentences without any real change of meaning.

어쩌면 gets placed specifically in sentences that end in ~ㄹ 지 모르다 or ~ㄹ 지도 모르다. You learned about the ~ㄹ 지 모르다 principle in Lesson 30.

By placing 어쩌면 at the beginning of sentences, you can emphasize to the listener/reader that the ending ~ㄹ 지 모르다 or ~ㄹ 지도 모르다 will be coming. For example:

어쩌면 그녀가 올 지도 몰라요 = She might come/I don't know if she will come/Perhaps she will come

어쩌면 그녀의 남자 친구가 그녀를 위해 선물을 살 지 몰라요 = Her boyfriend might buy her a present/I don't know if her boyfriend will buy her a present/Perhaps her boyfriend will buy her a present

Perhaps: 아무래도

아무래도 is just like the word "어쩌면" that you learned about in the previous section. However, instead of being placed at the beginning of sentences that end in "~ㄹ 지 모르다 or ~ㄹ 지도 모르다," the word 아무래도 gets placed at the beginning of sentences that have the ending ~ㄹ 것 같다. You learned all about "~ㄹ 것 같다" in Lesson 31."

By placing 아무래도 at the beginning of sentences, you can emphasize to the listener/reader that the ending ~ㄹ 것 같다 will be coming. For example:

아무래도 그녀가 우리를 만나러 안 올 것 같아요 = She probably won't come to meet us

아무래도 그가 벌써 떠났을 것 같아요 = He probably already left

When using both of these words (어쩌면 and 아무래도), they can just as easily be omitted and the sentence will have the same meaning. As I mentioned, using these words is more about feeling than it is about meaning.

To grow/To make look pretty: 가꾸다

가꾸다 isn't all that hard of a verb, but a word I felt needed more explanation nonetheless. It has two fairly distinct meanings:

To grow/cultivate some sort of crops

To dress yourself up/make yourself look pretty

When used in as the first definition, it usually acts on the word "정원" (garden) or some sort of fruit/vegetable. For example:

나이가 먹으면 정원을 가꾸는 것은 좋은 운동이에요 = When you get older, doing gardening is good exercise

우리는 옛날에 우리집에서 채소를 가꿨어요 = Along time ago we used to grow vegetables at our house

When used as the second definition, it usually acts on the word "외모" or some similar word meaning "body" or "appearance." For example:

일주일 후에 데이트를 할 거라서 지금부터 외모를 가꿔 야 돼요 = Because I have a date in a week, I have to make myself look nice

Age: 연세

The word "연세" acts just like the word "나이" meaning "age." However, when talking to older people (much older people), you should use the word "연세" instead of "나이." Using this word is a delicate science, because if you use the word "나이" on a very old person, he/she might be offended. However, if you use the word 연세 on somebody who isn't very old, he/she might be offended as well.

The Korean person beside me right now is saying that up until about 65 years old, you would be safe to use the word "나이." Anything after that and you should be safe using the word "연세." The difficulty here is also how old the person looks. If the person looks really really old (like 80 or above), you should definitely use 연세 instead. Haha, this is why Korean is crazy.

Anyways, when just randomly asking an older person how old they are, always make sure you also use the word "실례하다" connected with ~지만 (even though/but):

실례지만 연세가 어떻게 되세요? = Excuse me, but how old are you?

You will also notice that the ending ~세요 is placed at the end of a sentence to ask a question. I haven't taught this to you yet, but I do plan on doing it soon. At this point, simply remembering the sentence "실례하지면 연세가 어떻게 되세요?" is sufficient.

To see: 뵈다

"뵈다" is the honorific equivalent of "보다" (to see). Therefore, if the person that you see deserves a high amount of respect, you should use 뵈다 instead of 보다. Remember with these honorific words, the sentence can still be conjugated with low-form honorifics depending on who you are speaking to.

나는 어제 너의 할아버지를 뵈었어 = I saw your grandpa yesterday (spoken in low-form)

저는 어제 선생님의 할아버지를 뵈었어요 = I saw your grandpa yesterday (spoken to a teacher, who would need a high-respect sentence).

뵈다 is often conjugated as 뵙겠다/뵙겠습니다 to mean "see you _____":

내일 뵙겠습니다 = see you tomorrow

나중에 뵙겠습니다 = see you later

Wearing...: 차림으로

By placing any time of clothing article before "차림으로" you can create the meaning of "wearing...". For example:

정장 차림으로 = wearing a suit

운동복 차림으로 = wearing exercise clothes

잠옷 차림으로 = wearing pajamas

These, and similar creations can go into sentences:

저는 매일 교복 차림으로 학교에 갔어요 = I went to school every day wearing my uniform

그는 잠옷 차림으로 밖에 나갔어요 = He went outside wearing his pajamas

In other words/i.e.: 즉

This one is a pretty easy word and concept, but one that most people wouldn't understand just by looking at it. Knowing this one is good to know, but it really isn't very common (especially in speaking). You may come across this time to time when reading books or newspapers.

By placing the word "즉" between two sentences (either separated by a comma or a period), you can create the meaning of "in other words." The first sentence generally describes some situation, and the second sentence usually clarifies any ambiguity being presented. For example:

그녀는 자기 남자 친구에게 그녀의 집에서 나가라고 했어요. 즉 그들은 헤어졌어요.

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