To avoid harshness or directness of questions or statements in Korean, there is a lot of grammar used to soften language. One piece of grammar that I could never quite grasp was 뭐뭐~(ㄴ/는)걸. This is actually a conjunction (but), so generally the first sentence is assumed.
So lets compare it to a few other easier bits of grammar.
~네 – Direct statement / question 맛있네? – “But this is tasty?**’ 맛있네 – “This is tasty.”
~(ㄴ/는)데 – Contrasting statement / question 맛있는데? – “But this is delicious?**” 맛있는데 – “This is delicious, but~”
** – These are rhetorical answers that provide a passive form of contradiction
~(ㄴ/는)걸 – Indirect supposition 맛있는걸? – “It tastes better than I expected.”
Basic Conversation: A: 벌써 11시네? B: 피곤하네 ㅠㅠ A: 그래도 졸리진 않은데? B: 피곤한데 더 놀고 싶어 … 놀고싶은데 피곤한걸 A: 그럼 너 이제 자야겠는걸?
A: It’s already 11 o’clock? B: I’m tired ㅠㅠ A: Still, are you not sleepy? B: I’m tired, but I want to hang out more. … I want to hang out, but I’m more tired than I expected. A: Then you should probably get some sleep now?
So as you can see, a lot of the meaning comes from the intonation of the speaker. (ㄴ/는)데 can be positive or negative depending on the inflection in the person’s voice or following comments. However, (ㄴ/는)걸 is an indirect way to speak (as if you’re speaking to yourself) to soften unexpected negative answers.
Ex. “먹을래? (Want to eat?)” “이미 먹었는걸?” This may seem like you’re saying “But I already ate?” but is really an indirect way to say “Sorry, I already ate.” As a native English speaker this may seem weird, but these are the nuances that help us truly become fluent. 🙂 This form is very informal so use it among friends.
I encountered this construction a few times before realizing that it’s not literally being used to report speech, but rather in a different way. I still don’t fully understand how to use this construction, but here are two entries in the Korean grammar dictionary which provide examples: –다고 and -ㄴ다고.
Here are some examples:
나 아프다고 친구가 약을 사줬어. I was sick so my friend bought me medicine.
나 다리를 다쳤다고 엄마가 택시를 불러줬어. I hurt my leg, so my mom called a taxi.
제가 잘 못 먹는다고 고기도 사 먹였어요. Because I couldn’t eat well, he bought me meat to eat.
미룬다고 해결될 일이 아니지. It’s not something that’s going to be solved by postponing.
돈이 많다고 반드시 행복한 것은 아니다. We are not necessarily happy just because we have a lot of money.
천천히 먹어. 배고프다고 막 먹지 말고. Eat slowly. Don’t eat in a hurry just because you’re hungry.
방학이라고 다들 신났어요. Everybody is excited because it’s school break.
Sutdy-Korean 