그만 is such a mysteriously difficult Korean adverb that it deserves an honorary mention here. In many sentences, it means “stop” doing something, so it denotes quitting the actions of the verb that follows it:
이제 그만 하자 = Now let’s stop doing it.
그만 놀고 공부할꺼야 = I’ll stop playing and study.
이제 그만봐 = Stop looking now.
But in some other contexts and usage, the adverb “그만” has very different meanings:
너무 졸려서 그만 잠이 들고 말았다 = I got so sleepy that I just fell asleep (before I even knew it)
이 음식점은 요리 맛이 그만이야 = The foods in this restaurant taste excellent.
이제 날 그만 잊어요 = Now please just forget me. (Here, 그만 implies “please stop remembering me, and just” forget me. It does NOT mean “Please stop forgetting me.” ^^)
In the following hit song entitled “날 그만 잊어요,” the top singer Gummy vocalizes the word “그만” in the first two stanzas with such amazing pianissimo and legato that her voice just melts the Korean heart:
I must mention a movie “A Moment to Remember” where her song could be a great OST if it matched some of the painfully beautiful scenes. Watch how young 정우성 and 손예진 performed, some 15 years ago – Just simply amazing actors, both of them:
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