Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 7 - Upper-Intermediate Korean #2 (Lessons 181 to 210) ᚛ Lesson 204 - Realizing afterwards in Korean [-고 보니(까)] [-다(가) 보니(까)]
Realizing afterwards in Korean [-고 보니(까)] [-다(가) 보니(까)]
The verb 보다, "to see", serves as an auxiliary in two structures that express a realization: we do something, and it is while doing it, or after doing it, that we become aware of a fact. -고 보니(까) means "once I had done…, I found that"; -다(가) 보니(까) means "by doing… over time, I came to find that". Both end with -(으)니(까), which introduces what we discover.
Once done, we realize with -고 보니(까)
When a completed action reveals something we did not know, we use the following structure:
[Action done: … Stem]고 보니(까) [What we discover]
The discovery is often a surprise or a regret: the item bought is cracked, the phone was left at home. The subject of the first part is generally the speaker, and the second part is in the past or ends with 알겠어요, 이해할 수 있었어요, -더라고요. The short form -고 보니 is frequent, especially in writing. The expression 알고 보니(까), "as it turns out, in fact", is worth remembering as it is.
아이를 낳아 엄마가 되고 보니 그동안 나를 키워 주신 부모님의 마음을 이해할 수 있었어요.
→ Once I had become a mother myself, I could understand how my parents, who raised me, felt.
지금까지 그 남자가 하는 말을 다 믿었는데 알고 보니까 그럴듯한 거짓말로 마을 사람들을 속인 거 있지?
→ Until now I believed everything that man said, but can you believe it, as it turns out he was fooling the villagers with plausible lies?
오늘 처음 유튜브 영상을 따라서 마들렌을 만들고 보니까 빵집에서 마들렌을 왜 이렇게 비싸게 파는지 알겠어요.
→ Having made madeleines for the first time today by following a YouTube video, I now understand why bakeries sell them so expensively.
배가 고파서 허겁지겁 라면을 끓여 먹고 보니까 유통기간이 1년이나 지난 라면이었어요.
→ I was hungry and wolfed down some ramyeon in a hurry, and only afterwards did I see they were more than a year past their expiry date.
백화점에서 유리그릇을 사고 보니까 미세하게 금이 가 있어서 교환해야 했습니다.
→ After buying a glass dish at the department store, I noticed a fine crack and had to exchange it.
재현이는 회사에 늦어서 급하게 버스를 타고 보니까 핸드폰을 집에 두고 온 걸 알았어요.
→ Jaehyun was late for work, and once he had hurriedly got on the bus, he realized he had left his phone at home.
민지는 새로 산 옷을 입고 보니까 사이즈가 너무 작아서 교환해야 했어요.
→ When Minji put on the clothes she had just bought, they were too small and she had to exchange them.
이번에 이런 일을 겪고 보니 나에게 정말 소중한 친구들과 가족들이 있다는 것을 깨달았어요.
→ Having gone through this, I realized that I have truly precious friends and family.
항상 표정이 어둡고 무뚝뚝한 사람이라고 생각했는데 알고 보니 정말 정이 많고 다정한 사람이었어요.
→ I had always taken him for a gloomy, gruff person, but as it turns out, he is a very warm and affectionate person.
By doing over time, we realize with -다(가) 보니(까)
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