Everyday Korean

Episode 62

가는 말이 고와야 오는 말이 곱다 What Goes Around Comes Around.

By Harsh Kumar Mishra

The Conversation

멍지에: 언니, 수미 때문에 너무 짜증나요.

Meongjie: Eonni, I am fed up with Sumi.

정민: 왜 그래? 또 무슨 짓을 한 거야?

Jeongmin: Why so? What did she do this time?

멍지에: 아니… 저보다 한 살 어린데도 계속

반말을 해요.

Meongjie: She is one year younger than me but still talks down to me.

정민: 너도 그 얘한테 처음부터 반말을 했잖아.

Jeongmin: Have you not also been using informal speech with her from the beginning?

멍지에: 제가 더 나이가 많으니까 해도 되죠. Meongjie: I am older, so I can, right?

정민: 아니야. 가는 말이 고와야 오는 말도 곱다는 걸 알지? 처음에는 서로 예의있게 존댓말로

얘기하는 게 좋아.

Jeongmin: No. Do you not know that what goes around comes around? The etiquette is to start with honorific speech for each other from the beginning.

멍지에: 아 그래요? 그럼 저도 실수했네요. 앞으로 이 점 조심해야겠어요.

Meongjie: Oh really? It seems I made a mistake there as well. I will be careful about this in future.

Grammar Points

~는데도: This grammar point is used with verbs and adjectives to emphasize that the state or action of a first clause does not have much effect on the second. It is similar to English’s “even though…,” “even if…,” and “despite….”

Use ~는데도 with verbs and ~은데도 with adjectives when they end in a final consonant (known as a batchim, 받침) and ~ㄴ데도 when adjectives end in a vowel.

Examples:

바쁜데도 이렇게 와 줘서 고마워요 Thank you for coming despite being busy.

한국어를 오래 공부했는데도 아직 잘 못해요 Although I have studied Korean for a long time, I still cannot speak it well.

가는 말이 고와야 오늘 말이 곱다: This frequently used proverb literally means “the words which go pretty, come pretty” and is an equivalent proverb to English’s “What goes around comes around.” Both are much like the idea of karma.

ㄱ: 다들 다들 민지를 아주 잘 해 줘요. Everyone treats Minji really well.

ㄴ: 민지도 모든 사람한테 착하고 잘 해 주잖아. 가는 말이 고와야 오는 말이 곱다. Because Minji is also kind to everyone. As they say, what goes around comes around.

Vocabulary

짓: act, 어리다: to be young, 반말: talking down; informal speech, 계속: continuously, 얘: kid; guy, 처음: the beginning, 나이: age, 많다: to be many, 곱다: to be pretty, 예의: etiquette, 존댓말: honorific speech, 실수하다: to make a mistake, 조심하다: to be careful

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.