How do you express a certain change of state? In Korean, there are mainly two ways to say “to get to … “ or “to become …”:
I. Verb (or Adjective) Stem +게 되다: To get to/To end up …ing/To become
This is the simplest way to describe a certain change of state over time, short or long. It is a no-frills conjugation — you only have to add -게 되다 to the verb or the adjective stem. And then, of course, you conjugate 되다 according to tense and register.
- 난 한국 드라마를 보다가 한국어를 배우게 되었어요 I got to learn Korean watching Korean dramas [ 배우-다 to learn; 배우-게 되다 to get to learn ]
- 꽃을 놓으니까 사무실이 더 예쁘게 되었어요 With the followers, the office got prettier [ 예쁘-다 pretty; 예쁘-게 되다 to become pretty ]
As in the last example, -게 되다 can also be added to adjective stems, from a grammatical viewpoint. But with many adjectives, such sentences do not always sound natural. For adjectives, the next expression is used much more often.
II. Adjective Stem +아/어지다: To become …
In this expression, -아지다 or -어지다 is added to the adjective stem following the rule of vowel harmony (모음 조화), depending on the vowel of the stem’s last syllable:
1. If the vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, add -아지다:
- 어, 여드름이 더 작아졌다 Oh, my pimples got smaller [ 작다 small => 작-아지다 to become small ]
2. If the vowel is neither ㅏ nor ㅗ (i.e., ㅓ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ, ㅛ, ㅠ, etc. etc.), add -어지다. Use contraction for the vowel “ㅡ” +어 => 어:
- 꽃을 놓으니까 사무실이 더 예뻐졌어요 With the followers, the office got prettier [예쁘-다 pretty; 예쁘-어지다 => 예뻐지다 to become pretty ]
3. For adjectives ending with -하다, use -해지다:
- 플래티넘 카드로 내면 사람들이 갑자기 친절해지거든 People suddenly become kind to me when I pay with a platinum card [ 친절하다 kind; 친절해지다 to become kind ]
4. A few irregular adjectives: e.g.,
- 5월인데 날씨가 더 추워졌어요 It is May, and the weather has become colder [ 춥다 cold; 추워지다 to become cold ]
- 내가 그 말을 하자 그녀의 얼굴이 빨개졌다 When I said it, she blushed (lit., ‘Her face turned red’) [ 빨갛다 red; 빨개지다 to become red ]
In the latest Kdrama masterpiece “When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025)” written by 임상춘, one of the most unforgettable sentences among a cornucopia of superbly crafted, profound lines of literary quality would be “살면 살아져,” shown at1:27 of the video below. Unfortunately, Netflix subtitles crudely translated it into “Life goes on and on,” and many Korean speakers and serious Korean learners like you would be perplexed by such an oversimplified mistranslation. Would a dying mom say, “Life goes on and on,” to her ten-year-old daughter in the impoverished Korean island back in the 1970s? It sounds all the more awkward because 살면 살아져 is not a common daily expression. Its literal translation would be “If you live, you get to live,” with 살다 (to live) => 살-아지다 (to get to live) as explained above. In the context of the mother’s continued last words to the child in the scene, a proper translation of 살면 살아져 would be “If you try hard to live, you will survive (without me).” Such was the Korean spirit of perseverance in my parents’ generation in those tough times in Korea. And the talented screenwriter 임상춘 poetically encapsulated that spirit into just five rhyming syllables: 살면 살아져.
Level A2: When is Mother’s Day this year in your country? Please use the conventional Korean date format: Year, Month, Day.
Level B1: Please note that 살다 (to live) in 살아져 is not an adjective, but a verb, which appears to contradict the grammar that I described above; in the item “II. Adjective Stem +아/어지다,” the ending -아/어지다 is used for adjectives, not for verbs. But then, unlike most European languages, Korean adjectives are essentially all “descriptive verbs” (상태 동사). They conjugate mostly the same way as verbs. This is why 살아져 still makes sense to the Korean ear, even though it is not a common everyday expression. Many other verbs would not make sense like that if you try to add -아/어지다 to them. Then, how would you rephrase the sentence 살면 살아져 using the other grammatically perfect expression to describe the change of state as explained above? Please maintain the same register.
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