LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

FUTURE 이다 - USING 되다

Conjugating 이다 to the future tense is the same as is done above, but it is also possible to use another verb; 되다. 되다 is one of the hardest words in Korean, mainly because it has so many meanings. You will be introduced to each of these meanings as you progress through our lessons, but the first meaning of '되다' is "to become"... which is slightly different than "to be". Let me introduce the word "되다" to you by showing you examples of it being used in the past tense:

(Note the way 되다 is used. ~이/가 is attached to the noun that the subject "becomes" instead of ~를/을)

저는 선생님이 되었어요 - I became a teacher

Which is slightly different than:
저는 선생님이었어요 - I was a teacher

Very similar, but the difference between "to become" and "to be" (which in this case is in the past tense of 'was') is "become" suggests that prior to that time, the situation was different. I'm sure you get it, but let me describe it using English examples:

I became a teacher last year
I was a teacher last year

When you say "I became a teacher last year", you are indicating that – before last year you were not a teacher – but last year you became a teacher.

When you say "I was a teacher last year", you are not specifying if you were a teacher before that time as well, or even if you are still a teacher. All you are specifying is that you were a teacher last year, and no other information is given.

되다 can be used in the present tense as well (and again differs slightly from 이다). I'll save examples for when I've presented more grammar principles further into the course. My whole purpose in mentioning it is to explain the application to the future tense. First off, it is awkward to conjugate 이다 to the future tense using ~겠다.

나는 선생님이겠다

If you want to say that something "will be" something in the future, because of the nature of the word "되다" there is no real difference if you use 되다 or 이다. For example:

저는 곧 선생님이 될 것입니다 - I will become a teacher soon
저는 곧 선생님일 거예요 - I will be a teacher soon

Other examples:
나는 미래에 의사가 될 거야 - I will become a doctor in the future
나는 미래에 의사일 거야 - I will be a doctor in the future

한국이 곧 좋은 나라가 될 것이다 - Korea will become a good country soon
한국이 곧 좋은 나라일 것이다 - Korea will be a good country soon

이 장소는 공원이 될 것이다 - This place will become a park
이 장소는 공원일 것이다 - This place will be a park

I just want to point out here that the "일" you are seeing above is not the word "일". Rather it is the future conjugation of 이다. 선생님이다 becomes 선생님 + 이다 + ~ㄹ/을 것이다.

As you build vocabulary, you will be able to apply this same format of sentences to create sentences like:

This place will become a park next year
I will become a doctor in a few months

You will learn the vocabulary necessary to create those types of sentences.

The sentences above using 이다 and 되다 in the future tense can be used to make negative sentences as well. When making the negative form of a 되다 sentence, you can just add 안 or ~지 않다 just like with any other verb or adjective. When making the negative form of an 이다 sentence, you should use 아니다. You can change each pair of sentences above to a negative sentence. For example:

나는 미래에 의사가 되지 않을 거야 - I won't become a doctor in the future
나는 미래에 의사가 아닐 거야 - I won't be a doctor in the future

한국이 곧 좋은 나라가 되지 않을 거야 - Korea won't become a good country soon
한국이 곧 좋은 나라가 아닐 거야 - Korea won't be a good country soon

이 장소는 공원이 되지 않을 거야 - This place won't become a park
이 장소는 공원이 아닐 거야 - This place won't be a park

Those sentences, while kind of ridiculous, are all grammatically correct. I can't think of any time when you would actually want to say a sentence like that, but they are all possible if the right situation came up. Most of the time, there would be a better way to say each of the sentences above. For example, instead of saying:

나는 미래에 의사가 되지 않을 거야 - I won't become a doctor in the future

It would probably be more natural to say something like "I don't want to become a doctor in the future." You will learn how to say this, and other grammatical principles that can make your speech more natural as you progress along with your studies. For now, try to understand what is being done grammatically, and don't worry too much about when you would actually use a sentence like that.

One other quick thing; and I really don't want to spend too much time on this because I have already overwhelmed you with grammar. However, the future conjugation of 이다 is introduced in this lesson and I feel this needs to be talked about here. By using the future ~ㄹ/을 것이다 conjugation on 이다, you can also create a sentence where the speaker is guessing about a certain situation in the present tense. Look at some examples first:

그 사람이 의사일 거예요 - That person is probably/most likely a doctor
그것은 여권일 거예요 - That thing is probably/most likely a passport
문제는 돈일 거예요 - The problem is probably/most likely money

Remember, you are not adding 일 to these nouns. You are adding ~이다 followed by adding ~ㄹ 것이다 to 이다. I get a lot of questions from learners asking me where this "일" came from.

These sentences as well can be said using 아니다 instead of 이다:

그 사람이 의사가 아닐 거야 - That person is probably/most likely not a doctor
그것은 여권이 아닐 거야 - That thing is probably/most likely not a passport
문제는 돈이 아닐 거야 - The problem is probably/most likely not money

Notice that in these cases the speaker is not talking about him/herself. Also, even though the sentence is conjugated into the future tense, the speaker is guessing that something is the case in the present tense. Thus, it is weird to include time indicators in these sentences (for example "next year" or "in a few months from now") because the speaker is not trying to create this meaning.

The question then becomes – how can I distinguish if somebody is saying one of these "guessing" sentences or saying "something will become something". You will learn continuously throughout your Korean studies that understanding a Korean sentence is all about context – and the situation almost always makes it clear what the speaker wants to express.

For now, rather than concern yourself with guessing nuances, I suggest focusing on how to use the ~ㄹ/을 것이다 form to conjugate verbs/adjectives into the future tense – and realize that 되다 can be used instead of 이다 when conjugating to the future tense.