Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 9 - Advanced Korean #2 (Lessons 241 to 270) ᚛ Lesson 248 - Every time I’m about to in Korean [-(으)ㄹ라치면]
Every time I’m about to in Korean [-(으)ㄹ라치면]
The ending -(으)ㄹ라치면 is the colloquial contraction of -(으)려고 하면, "when one is about to": "every time I’m about to eat, my dog comes begging". It describes a situation that keeps repeating: at every attempt, something comes to disturb, thwart or interrupt. The tone is one of annoyance or amused resignation: the speaker never has any battery when you want to listen to music, it rains every time you go on a trip.
"Every time I’m about to" with -(으)ㄹ라치면
[Verb]-ㄹ라치면 after a vowel (하다 → 할라치면, 자다 → 잘라치면), [Verb]-을라치면 after a consonant (먹다 → 먹을라치면)
The ending is only used with an action verb, the one for what you were about to do. Very often, the object carries the particle 만, "just", which underlines the repetition: 밥만 먹을라치면, "the moment I sit down to eat…", 다이어트만 할라치면, "all it takes is for me to start a diet and…". The main clause describes the annoyance, generally in the habitual present (-ㄴ다, -아/어요) or with the observation -더라고요: this is what happens, again and again.
우리 집 강아지는 내가 밥만 먹을라치면 옆에 와서 꼬리를 흔들며 놀아 달라고 한다.
→ Every time I sit down to eat, my dog comes up beside me wagging his tail, asking me to play with him.
윗집은 내가 잠만 잘라치면 새벽에 피아노를 치며 잠을 방해한다.
→ The people upstairs, the moment I fall asleep, play the piano at dawn and keep me from sleeping.
내가 다이어트만 할라치면 주변에서 자꾸 먹을 걸 줘요.
→ All it takes is for me to start a diet and everyone around me keeps offering me food.
집에 있는 블루투스 스피커는 노래만 들을라치면 배터리가 없대요.
→ The Bluetooth speaker at home never has any battery whenever I want to listen to music.
이상하게 제가 여행만 하러 갈라치면 비가 오더라고요.
→ Strangely, every time I go on a trip, it starts to rain.
제가 온라인 수업만 진행할라치면 노트북이 먹통이 되어 버립니다.
→ Every time I’m about to run an online class, my laptop freezes up.
Uses of -(으)ㄹ라치면
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