Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 6 - Upper-Intermediate Korean #1 (Lessons 151 to 180) ᚛ Lesson 160 - Necessity in Korean, only if [-아/어야]
Necessity in Korean, only if [-아/어야]
In a previous chapter, we studied the -아/어야 되다 and -아/어야 하다 structures, which allow us to express having to do something and the obligation to carry out an action. These two structures actually belong to a larger family that we are going to study in this chapter.
Expressing necessity
General case
In Korean, it is possible to express the fact that an action must be carried out so that another action happens, with the following structure:
[Verb conjugated to the present tense casual style]야 [Action]
In English, this structure is generally translated with "only if", "have to ... in order to" or "need to ... for". Indeed, we explicitly indicate that the first action has to be carried out so that the second one can happen as well.
지금 집에서 출발해야 제시간에 지하철을 탈 수 있을 것 같은데.
→ I think I need to leave home now in order to catch the subway on time.
식탁에 있는 호출 벨을 눌러야 종업원이 주문을 받으러 올 거예요.
→ You have to press the call bell on the table for the waiter to come and take your order.
바깥 소음이 너무 심해서 창문을 다 닫아야 비로소 조용해져.
→ The noise outside is so bad that it only gets quiet once you close all the windows.
진우는 지금 상황에서 기대를 버려야 실망이 크지 않을 거라고 생각했어요.
→ Jinwoo thought that in the current situation, he had to let go of his expectations so that the disappointment wouldn’t be too great.
이번 달까지 미납된 요금을 전부 납부해야 핸드폰을 다시 사용할 수 있나요?
→ Do I have to pay all my unpaid bills by this month in order to use my phone again?
지금 전화 통화로는 어렵고 현장에 오셔야 확실한 상황을 전달해 드릴 수 있을 것 같습니다.
→ It is difficult to do this over the phone right now; I think you will need to come on site for me to give you a clear picture of the situation.
With 이다 and 아니다
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The truth about -아/어야 되다 / 하다
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Exercises
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