Language Teaching: Peace Linguistics and Its Connections to TESOL

Everyday Korean

Episode 56 너 귀가 참 얇구나

You’re so easy to deceive!

By Harsh Kumar Mishra

The Conversation

멍지에: 언니, 혹시 그거 들었어요?

Meongjie: Eonni, did you hear?

점민: 뭐?

Jeongmin: What?

멍지에: 민지 언니가 남자친구와 싸우고 헤어졌대요.

Meongjie: Minji eonni broke up with her boyfriend after a fight.

정민: 어? 헤어졌다고? 어디서 그런 말 들었어?

Jeongmin: What? Broke up? Where did you hear that?

멍지에: 준학 오빠가 그랬대요.

Meongjie: Junhak oppa told me so.

정민: 너 귀가 얇구나! 준학이 그거 농담으로 말한 건데 너 진짜 믿었어?

Jeongmin: You’re so easy to deceive! He told you that as a joke, and you really believed him?

멍지에: 네~ 오빠가 진지하게 말해서 나는 정말 그랬다고 생각했어요.

Meongjie: Yeah. He told me that in a serious manner, so I thought it really happened.

정민: 그 얘가 사람을 아주 잘 속여.

Jeongmin: He’s really good at deceiving people.

Vocabulary

듣다: to hear, 싸우다: to fight, 귀: ears, 얇다: to be thin, 농담: joke, 믿다: to believe, 진지하다: to be serious, 정말: really, 생각하다: to think, 사람: people, 아주: very, 속이다: to deceive

민지 언니가 남자친구와 싸우고 헤어졌대요

어? 헤어졌다고?

Grammar Points

V ~ 는대요/~ㄴ대요 Adj ~대요

This grammatical ending is the spoken version of the indirect quoted speech ending “~는/~ㄴ다고 하다.” It’s used like English’s “I heard…” or “Somebody said…” and other similar expressions. When the verb ends in a consonant, use ~는대요, and when it ends in a vowel, use ~ㄴ대요. For adjectives and verbs in past tense, use ~대요.

Examples

민주 씨가 9월에 결혼한대요. I heard that Minju is getting married this coming September.

네하가 토픽 시험이 어려웠대요. Neha said that the TOPIK test was difficult.

귀가 얇다.

This frequently used Korean idiom is used to point out someone who’s “easily deceived” or “gullible.” The literal meaning of this expression is “having thin ears.”

Examples

나는 귀가 얇아서 누가 큰 거짓말을 해도 쉽게 믿게 돼요. I’m so gullible that I easily believe someone, even if it’s a big fat lie.

다니엘 씨가 농담도 참말처럼 받아들여요. 귀가 얇아요. Daniel takes jokes like they’re the truth. He’s gullible.

The Author

Harsh Kumar Mishra is a linguist and Korean language educator. He volunteers with TOPIKGUIDE.com and Learnkorean. in. He has also co-authored the book Korean Language for Indian Learners.