TTMIK Level 8 Lesson 24 - PDF - a podcast by G9Languages

In this lesson, we are taking a look at how to use the sentence ending "-(?)? ????". This is used to express the meaning of "only" as in "we can only ..." or "what I did is just ...". This is a somewhat formal ending and can be found in many official (usually apologetic) statements as well as contexts where the speaker is expressing hope or regret, such as "I only did what he told me, but ..." or "we can only wait for the result now".

Construction
Present / Future Tense:
Verb stem + -(?)? ????

Past Tense:
Verb stem + -?/?/? + -(?)? ????

Ex)
???? (= to wait)
--> ??? + -(?)? ????
--> ??? ?????. (= I can only wait.)

?? ?? (= to tell someone)
--> ?? ? + -? + -(?)? ????
--> ?? ?? ?????. (= I did nothing but tell them about it.)

Sample Sentences
1. ???? ?????.
[bu-kkeu-reo-ul tta-reu-mim-ni-da]
= I'm just ashamed of it/my mistake/what I did/what happened.
(I have nothing else to say; I can't say anything but this; I can't think of anything else but this.)

2. ?? ? ?? ?? ? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ?????.
[je-ga i sang-eul ba-deul su it-ge do-wa ju-sin mo-deun bun-deul-kke gam-sa-hal tta-reu-mim-ni-da.]
= I'm just grateful to everybody who helped me receive this award.

3. ?? ??? ?????.
[jeong-mal nol-la-ul tta-reu-mim-ni-da.]
= All I can say is that I'm surprised.
= It's really shocking. That's all I can say.

4. ?? ?? ? ?? ?? ?????.
[jeo-neun hae-ya hal i-reul hae-sseul tta-reu-mim-ni-da.]
= I just did what I had to do.

5. ?? ?? ???, ??? ?? ????? ?????.
[i-reon i-ri saeng-gyeo-seo jeo-hui-neun jeong-mal dang-hwang-seu-reo-ul tta-reu-mim-ni-da.]
= We are just really embarrassed that something like this happened.

Difference between ????? and ????
???? also has the same meaning, but ???? is commonly used in spoken Korean and in a lighter, less formal setting. For example, “?? ?? ? ?? ?? ?????” (Sample Sentence #4) can be changed to “?? ?? ? ?? ?? ????” to be made less formal.

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