Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 9 - Advanced Korean #2 (Lessons 241 to 270) ᚛ Lesson 253 - Impossible however much you want to, in Korean [-(으)려야] [-(으)ㄹ래야]
Impossible however much you want to, in Korean [-(으)려야] [-(으)ㄹ래야]
To say that something is impossible however hard you try, "no matter how much I want to, I can't", Korean repeats the verb: first with -(으)려야, a contraction of -(으)려고 하여야, "even wanting to", then with -(으)ㄹ 수(가) 없다, "cannot". 자려야 잘 수가 없어요, "however much I want to sleep, I can't". The pattern is more expressive than plain -(으)ㄹ 수 없다: it stresses that the intention is there, but that the situation, or the person, makes it impossible. In speech you very often hear -(으)ㄹ래야 instead of -(으)려야; this variant is not recognised by the 표준국어대사전, but it is everywhere.
"However much I want to" with -(으)려야 -(으)ㄹ 수(가) 없다
[Verb]-(으)려야 [Same verb]-(으)ㄹ 수(가) 없다
The verb appears twice, identically: 가려야 갈 수가 없다, 먹으려야 먹을 수가 없다, and since 듣다 is irregular, 들으려야 들을 수가 없다. After a consonant you add 으: 먹으려야, 들으려야; after a vowel or ㄹ, -려야: 자려야, 살려야. The particle 가 after 수 reinforces the impossibility, and the tense is marked on 없다: 없어요, 없었어요, 없네요. The reason for the impossibility comes before, most often with -아/어서 or 때문에. A source on the form: the 국립국어원 learners' dictionary, entry -려야.
이번에 위층으로 이사 온 사람들은 밤에 잠을 안 자나 봐. 하도 시끄럽게 해서 내가 잠을 자려야 잘 수가 없어.
→ The people who just moved in upstairs must not sleep at night. They make so much noise that however much I want to sleep, I can't.
블루투스 이어폰이 고장 나서 노래를 들으려야 들을 수가 없다.
→ My Bluetooth earphones are broken, so however much I want to listen to music, I can't.
어제 하루 종일 내린 폭설 때문에 회사에 가려야 갈 수가 없었어요. 도로가 모두 마비되었거든요.
→ Because of the heavy snow that fell all day yesterday, however much I wanted to go to work, it was impossible. All the roads were paralysed.
민지는 먹는 걸 너무 좋아해서 살을 빼려야 뺄 수가 없어요.
→ Minji loves eating so much that however much she wants to lose weight, she can't.
하다 verbs, 도저히 and the variants
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The spoken variant -(으)ㄹ래야
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Exercises
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Particles are omnipresent in Korean. They indicate the role of words in a sentence, nuance meaning, and make it possible to understand who does what, where, how, and why.
Particles are also often the aspect that causes the most difficulty for Korean learners. In grammar books, they are usually presented in the middle of long sentences, with complex vocabulary, without being clearly highlighted.
With Korean Particles, we made the opposite choice:
taking the time to explain each particle, one by one, using very simple sentences, accessible even to beginners.
