KOREAN

60

Vocabulary

차다 = full

가득 = filled (adverb)

왠지 = for some reason/somehow

설마 = surely not

찍다 = take picture/hack/stamp/dip/dot/print

다행(하다) = thankful

~달 = At some point in a month

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

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. There might be some times where you see 가득하다 as an adjective describing that something is full, but it is generally more natural to use "가득 차다" instead.

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 wanted to learn Korean for some reason

나는 왠지 오늘 학교에 가기 싫어 = Somehow I don't want to go to school today

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: