When you want to express you’re going to do something, ㄹ/을 것이다 is added to the verb stem - meaning that you will do that thing. In this short grammar lesson post, I will be showing you the future tense. Let’s see some examples:
보다 - to see 봐요 - see 볼 거예요 - will see 영화를 볼 거예요 - I will see a movie
When conjugating -ㄹ/을 것이다, -ㄹ is attached to verbs ending in 아/오 whereas -을 is attached to verbs ending in consonants. Conjugation doesn’t follow normal conjugating rules:
핼 거예요 x 할 거예요 o
More Examples: 먹을 거예요 - I will eat 먹다 - to eat 라면 먹을 거예요 - I will eat ramen 갈 거예요 - I will go 가다 - to go 학교에서 갈 거예요 - I will go to school 일할 거예요 - I will work 일하다 - to work 집에 일할 거예요 - I will work at home 만날 거예요 - I will meet 만나다 - to meet 내일 친구와 만날 거예요 - I will meet my friend tomorrow
Ya girl is being dragged through the dirt by school, pray for me. This semester is almost over and I can’t wait to just kick it and relax. I’ll be a bit busy starting now, so when I’m finally free I’ll answer the asks filling my inbox! For now!!! Study hard everyone! Happy Learning :)
Thank you, @shanharifanart for the question on an older post. And also, I’m so sorry I just saw this comment recently. Not all notifications get sent to my phone. I saw this super late while browsing on my computer. Anyway, the question as about 한 거야.
ㄴ/는 거야 or the polite ㄴ/는 거예요 is a sentence ending that can be used in the present or past with both verbs and adjectives. It’s basically a more emotional way to talk instead of giving just basic information or straight facts.
And, it’s used mostly in these situations:
–>giving new (or surprising) information
–>responding to something (with emotion)
–>telling a story to someone (this is because you’re typically telling new or surprising information haha)
–>recounting or clarifying information
So, here are the basic conjugations.
Verbs:
No 받침 present tense 는 거야/는 거예요 / No 받침 past tense ㄴ 거야/ㄴ 거예요.
하는 거야 (하다/하고 있다) / 한 거야 (했다)
Yes 받침 present tense 는 거야/는 거예요/ Yes 받침 past tense 은 거야/은 거예요
먹는 거야 (먹다/먹고 있어) / 먹은 거야 (먹었다)
Adjectives:
No 받침 —> ㄴ 거야/ㄴ 거예요
슬픈 거야 (슬프다)
Yes 받침 —> 은 거야/은 거예요
좋은 거야 (좋다)
Adjectives don’t really get treated as having a past tense in many Korean grammatical structures because it’s often seen as an unchanging state.
Here are some examples:
그거 들었어? 소영이가 그 오빠랑 사귀는 거야! Did you hear that? Soyoung is dating that older guy!
This sounds more surprised like “I’m telling you something!” Instead of “그 오빠랑 사귀고 있어” which just conveys the information a little more dryly. So, if you don’t care, you might use 사귀고 있어. But if this is big news, 사귀는 거야 is more likely to be used.
어제 남자친구가 갑자기 헤어지자고 한 거야. Yesterday, my boyfriend suddenly said we should break up! (let’s break up).
이쪽으로 갈까? (Goes off in another direction.) 엥? 어디 가는 거야! 이리 와! Should we go in this direction? *goes off in another direction.* Eh? Where are you going??
*Like “Where on earth are you going” or “where exactly are you going?” or “where the hell are you going?”
It’s actually tough to use naturally. And, it will take a lot of listening to others use it and practice before you really master it! Because it is used all the time.
But, it’s not used for just conveying facts. Here is an example.
A: 뭐 해? What are you doing?
B: 공부하고 있어. I’m studying.
A: 금요일이잖아. 공부가 그렇게 좋아? It’s Friday. Do you like studying that much?
B: 내일 시험이 있어서 공부하는 거야. I’m studying because I have a test tomorrow.
Here you can’t replace 공부하고 있어 with 공부하는 거야. It would be unnatural because you’re only conveying a fact with no emotion or response or wish to tell this person something surprising. But the second instance has some emotion in it.
Or here.
A: 너 계란 있어? Do you have any eggs?
B: 없어요. No. (I don’t have any.)
A: 그럼 빵은 있어? Then, do you have bread?
B: 그것도 없어요. I don’t have any of that either.
A: 그럼 우유는 있어? Then, do you have any milk?
B: 아 그것도— ah that too–
A: 그것도 없는 거야? 너 굶어 죽고 싶은 거야?? You don’t have that either? Do you want to starve to death??
By the end of the conversation, A can easily express annoyance or surprise that B has no food in their house.
Tip: You’ll see this written and pronounced often as 는 거에요 instead of 는 거예요 in formal speech. It’s probably because it’s a little easier to say. There are many Koreans who don’t know the correct spelling of this grammar point. So, spelling and pronouncing it wrong is actually a bit more natural as long as you aren’t submitting it as homework.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
Basically this grammatical point is expressing what would happen or would have happened. When -ㄹ/을 텐데 is at the end of the second clause, the first clause usually ends with some kind of -면 or -도, stating that IF (or EVEN IF) so and so were true THEN so and so WOULD happen or WOULD HAVE happened.
But according to this post on -ㄹ/을 텐데 (which I have read a million times over the 2 years since I’ve started learning Korean), there’s another grammar point that can express the meaning of “so and so would happen or would have happened,” which is -(았/었)을 것이다 (which is just the future tense but when used in a supposition with -면 or -도, it more so means “would” than “will”).
The difference between the two is that -ㄹ/을 텐데 expresses feelings of regret/annoyance/“oh that’s too bad” whereas -(았/었)을 것이다 doesn’t have an emotional nuance.
That’s all fine and dandy. I’ve known the above for quite some time but for some reason it’s never really clicked until now.
The sentence that finally made me understand
“반대였다면 아마도 지금 우리 사귈 텐데.” “If it were the other way around, maybe we’d be dating right now.”
Just bear with me for a moment while I explain the circumstances behind this sentence. So basically when I’m bored, I like to daydream and play out random little stories in my head. For the past couple of months or so, I’ve been saying all the dialogue in Korean in my head (so at least I’m practicing my Korean right? lol). Basically it’s like watching an imaginary Korean movie.
Anyway, today I was playing out a very kdrama-esque story where these two guys like this one girl (yep the ole love triangle) and the girl ends up dating one of them because after she was stuck in a bad situation that guy offered to take her home first and they ended up hanging out more blah blah. But one day while the 3 of them are hanging out, those 2 get in an argument so the non-boyfriend guy drives her home and finally confesses to her that he’s liked her all this time.
So I imagined that after his confession he said to her:
“반대였다면 아마도 지금 우리 사귈 거야.” “If it were the other way around, maybe we’d be dating right now.
He’s referring to that day where she was stuck in the bad situation. He meant if he were the one to take her home maybe they would have ended up dating instead.
But after I thought up that sentence, I then realized… wait, wouldn’t -ㄹ/을 텐데 work better in that situation because he was regretful, right? He regretted not taking her home that day, and he wants to express those emotions to her.
So I went back and read that post I mentioned earlier yet again, and now it’s finally clicked because I understand what that emotional nuance behind -ㄹ/을 텐데 is now.
The difference between “사귈 거야”and “사귈 텐데” in that sentence is that the first one doesn’t have an emotional nuance. He could just be making a supposition about what may have happened offhandedly like “oh hmm you never know, maybe this would’ve happened instead. Maybe we would be dating now.”
But with -ㄹ/을 텐데, it’s not just “oh maybe this would’ve happened.” It’s more like “maybe this would’ve happened andI regret that it didn’t or that it’s no longer possible.”
Perhaps a better example: 그럴 텐데 by DAY6
If my blathering above doesn’t make any sense then maybe this example is more helpful. 그럴 텐데 by DAY6 is a song I really like and have been listening to for months but I also never really understood it (but then again I’ve never analyzed the lyrics as closely as I have now haha).
I recommend giving it a listen and taking a look at the lyrics.
The song is basically about regret over breaking up with somebody, so it gives you a good idea of the emotions behind this grammar point.
So let’s look at some of the chorus. These two lines are actually split apart but the lines in the middle aren’t as important for understanding this grammar point:
“돌아간다면, 갈 수 있다면” “If I went back, if I could go back”
“너에게 내 전부를 다 줄 텐데. 그럴 텐데.” “I’d give you my everything. I would.”
The first line is that first clause I was telling you about earlier. It just gives some background info, stating “if so and so were true.” And note that the grammar point -다면 goes really well with -ㄹ/을 텐데 because -다면 means “if” but it has more of a hypothetical nuance than plain -면. Because -ㄹ/을 텐데 is all about what you think would happen but it didn’t or maybe even can’t happen anymore (eliciting regret), the hypotheticalness of -다면 is suitable.
So it’s like saying “If I could go back (hypothetically), I’d give you my everything (and I’m regretful that I can’t do that anymore–that I missed my chance to give you my everything).”
Anyway, I hope that helps someone else who’s been struggling with the elusive -ㄹ/을 텐데. If not, maybe try imagining situations where you could use this grammar point like I did and that might make it click!
그 걸 더 일찍 했다면 더 빨리 이해했을 텐데! (If I had done that earlier, I would have understood it sooner!)
