Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 7 - Upper-Intermediate Korean #2 (Lessons 181 to 210) ᚛ Lesson 191 - Doing and leaving as is in Korean [-아/어 놓다] [-아/어 두다]
Doing and leaving as is in Korean [-아/어 놓다] [-아/어 두다]
In the lesson on completion with -아/어 버리다, we saw that a verb conjugated in the present tense casual style can be followed by a second verb that adds a nuance to it. In this chapter, we use the same process with the verbs 놓다 and 두다 to express that an action has been done and that its result is left as it is, often with a view to using it later. In English, this corresponds to "to leave (open, on, off)", "to set aside", "to do in advance", or simply to a past tense accompanied by "already" or "ahead of time".
The verbs 놓다 and 두다
Before studying these structures, let us recall the meaning of the verbs 놓다 and 두다 when used on their own. Both can be translated as "to put", "to place" or "to leave", but they are not quite equivalent.
The verb 놓다 refers to the gesture of putting down, setting down or letting go of something. It is found in expressions such as 손을 놓다 (to let go of someone’s hand), 주사를 놓다 (to give an injection) or 정신을 놓다 (to lose one’s mind).
민지는 가방을 바닥에 놓고 소파에 앉았어요.
→ Minji put her bag down on the floor and sat down on the sofa.
독감 예방주사 바늘을 보고 무서워서 울고 있는 아이를 다독이며 간호사가 주사를 놓았어요.
→ The nurse gave the injection while comforting the child, who was crying in fear at the sight of the flu shot needle.
한 달이나 아이를 찾아도 찾지 못하자 아이를 잃어버렸다는 생각에 엄마는 거의 정신을 놓았습니다.
→ After searching for her child for a whole month without finding him, the mother nearly lost her mind at the thought of having lost him.
The verb 두다 generally emphasizes leaving or keeping something in a particular place or state, rather than the act of putting it down. It is also the verb used figuratively to "set" a goal, an emphasis or a distance: 목표를 두다, 중점을 두다, 거리를 두다.
- 회의에 필요한 중요한 서류 같은데 어디에 두고 왔는지 기억 안 나요?
→ These look like important documents for the meeting, you don’t remember where you left them?
- 팀장님 책상 위에 두고 나온 것 같아요.
→ I think I left them on the team leader’s desk.
올해 우리나라 여자 축구 대표팀은 결승 진출을 목표로 두었다.
→ This year, our women’s national football team set itself the goal of reaching the final.
이번 복지 프로그램은 취약계층 아동과 독거노인을 위한 다방면의 지원에 중점을 두었습니다.
→ This welfare program placed its emphasis on multifaceted support for children from vulnerable backgrounds and elderly people living alone.
Doing and leaving as is with -아/어 놓다
In Korean, if we want to indicate that we have done an action and that its result is now maintained and left as it is, for example to be used later, a commonly used structure is the following:
[Verb conjugated to the present tense casual style] 놓다
You already know the -아/어 있다 form, which describes the state of a thing: 문이 열려 있어요. (the door is open). The -아/어 놓다 structure presents the same situation from the point of view of the person who acted: 문을 열어 놓았어요. (I opened the door and left it open). In this comparison, -아/어 있다 focuses on the state of the door, while -아/어 놓다 emphasizes the action of opening it and leaving it in that state.
- 수진이 계속 전화 안 받아?
→ Sujin still isn’t answering her phone?
- 아마 어제 병원에서 야간 근무를 하고 지금쯤 전화를 꺼 놓고 자고 있을 거예요.
→ She probably worked the night shift at the hospital yesterday, so she must be sleeping right now with her phone turned off.
아침에 현관문을 열어 놓았는지 옆집 강아지가 거실에 들어와 있었어요.
→ I must have left the front door open this morning: the neighbors’ dog had come into the living room.
연말에는 뮤지컬 예매가 어려우니까 미리 표를 사 놓는 게 좋을 거예요.
→ At the end of the year it is hard to book musical tickets, so it would be better to buy the tickets in advance.
어젯밤에 김밥 먹고 싶다고 했더니 새벽같이 일어나서 김밥을 싸 놓은 거야?
→ I said last night that I wanted some kimbap, and you got up at the crack of dawn to make it and leave it ready for me?
엄마는 주말에만 집에 오는 아들을 위해서 상다리가 휘어져라 음식을 차려 놨어요.
→ For her son, who only comes home on weekends, the mother laid out a table so loaded with food that its legs could have buckled.
-아/어 놓다 or simple past tense?
If we take the following sentence, conjugated in the past tense:
사과를 냉장고에 넣었어요.
→ I put the apple in the fridge.
One might wonder what the difference would be if we used -아/어 놓다:
사과를 냉장고에 넣어 놓았어요.
→ I put the apple in the fridge (and it is still there).
Here, the use of the past tense is neutral: we only know that the action happened, but we do not know the current state of the apple. Another action may have taken place in the meantime, someone may very well have eaten it. With -아/어 놓다, the speaker emphasizes that the action was completed with the intention of leaving its result in place. In this example, it suggests that the apple was left in the fridge, possibly for later use, rather than simply stating that it was put there. This is why -아/어 놓다 is so often accompanied by 미리 (in advance), as in the examples above.
The contraction of 놓아 into 놔
Note that in all the grammatical forms using 놓아, it is common, especially in speech, to contract it into 놔: 놓았어요 becomes 놨어요, 놓아 주세요 becomes 놔 주세요. You came across it in the example of the well-laden table (차려 놨어요).
아침에 현관문을 열어 놓았어요. = 아침에 현관문을 열어 놨어요.
→ This morning, I left the front door open.
Doing and leaving as is with -아/어 두다
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Differences between -아/어 놓다 and -아/어 두다
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To describe no longer the action we did, but the state we remain in while doing another action ("leaving the door open", "without taking off one’s shoes"), Korean uses -(으)ㄴ 채로: that will be the subject of the next lesson.
Exercises
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