KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 77

Korean Lesson: Lessons 77

Instead: 대신(에)
If you look up the word “대신” in the dictionary, you will see “instead” as the English equivalent. Though there are times when no particle needs to be attached to it (I will get to those later), 에 is usually attached to대신 when it is used. The simplest way to use this word is immediately after a noun with no additional grammatical particles. For example:
밥 대신에 = instead of rice
연필 대신에 = instead of a pencil
우유 대신에 = instead of milk
Each of these can then go into a sentence conveying that meaning. For example:
저는 밥 대신에 빵을 먹었어요 = Instead of eating rice, I ate bread
저는 연필 대신에 펜을 쓸 거에요 = Instead of using a pencil, I will use a pen
애기는 우유 대신에 물만 마시고 싶어요 = The baby wants to drink water instead of milk
These noun + 대신에 combos get treated as if there were adverbs, meaning they don’t need to be placed in a specific location in a sentence. All of these would also be fine:
밥 대신에 저는 빵을 먹었어요
연필 대신에 저는 펜을 쓸 거에요
우유 대신에 애기는 물만 마시고 싶어요
Pretty simple when you are just talking about nouns, but if you want to express that you DO something instead of something else, there are two ways you can do this. Both ways involve using the ~는 것 principle.
If you wanted to say “instead of eating rice…” you could do either of the following:
1)      밥을 먹는 것 대신에
2)      밥을 먹는 대신에
In the first example, you are using ~는 것to change밥을 먹다 into a noun. In this example, “것” acts as the noun that 대신에 follows. For example:
밥 대신에 = instead of rice
밥을 먹는 것 대신에 = instead of eating rice
In the second example, 대신 replaces것and acts as the noun.
Regardless of what word acts as the noun, and regardless of the slightly different appearances between the two sentences – they have exactly the same meaning. So, the following three sentences would have essentially the same meaning, the differences shown in their English translations:
밥 대신에 = instead of rice
밥을 먹는 것 대신에 = instead of eating rice
밥을 먹는 대신에 = instead of eating rice
Any of these grammatical forms could then go into sentences:
안산에서 사는 것 대신에 의정부에서 살고 싶어요 = Instead of living in Ansan, I want to live in Uijeongbu
고등학교에서 일하는 대신에 초등학교에서 일하고 싶어요 = Instead of working in a high school, I want to work in an elementary school
그냥 앉아 있는 것 대신에 헬스장에 가서 운동하자! = Instead of just sitting here, let’s go to the gym and exercise!
Notice that in all examples, the present tense of ~는 것 is always used. Even if you are talking about something in the past or future, you should always use ~는 것 대신에 (or ~는 대신에) and neither of the the following:
밥을 먹은 대신에 빵을 먹었어요 = incorrect
연필을 쓸 대신에 펜을 쓸 거에요 = incorrect

차라리
The word “차라리” is another one of those words that actually has no meaning. Like the word “만약,” “차라리” is used in sentences to convey a feeling rather than a meaning. “차라리” is used in sentences when you are talking about doing one action over another (in that, you prefer one action over another action). Because of this usage, the word “차라리” is often used in sentences with “대신에.” For example:
학교에 가는 것 대신에 차라리 오락실에 가자! = Instead of going to school, let’s go to the arcade
The beauty of using “차라리” is that you don’t always need to waste your time saying “instead of….” Follow the following written conversation, for example:
학교에 갈래요? = Shall we go to school?
학교에 가는 것 대신에 오락실 가자! = Instead of going to school, let’s go to the arcade!
That second sentence could be shortened to:
학교에 갈래요? = Shall we go to school?
오락실 가자! = Let’s go to the arcade!
But that sentence is missing something when written like that. When written like that, the two sentences don’t have any logical connection between them. However, by using “차라리” you can create the connection between the two sentences:
학교에 갈래요? = Shall we go to school?
(차라리) 오락실 가자! = (Instead of doing that) Let’s (I would rather) go to the arcade!
In fact, 대신 can serve that same purpose. In that same example, by using대신 (without 에), instead of차라리, you can create the same meaning:
학교에 갈래요? = Shall we go to school?
대신 오락실 가자! = Instead, let’s go to the arcade!
Another example. The answer to this…:
밖에 나갈래요? = Shall we go outside?
Could be any of these answers:
밖에 나가는 것 대신에 여기서 있자 = Instead of going outside, let’s stay here
밖에 나가는 대신에 여기서 있자 = Instead of going outside, let’s stay here
차라리 여기서 있자 = I’d rather stay here
대신 여기서 있자 = I’d rather stay here
Pretty simple once you hear the word 차라리 said in conversation a couple of times. It is actually a very common word, but not one that foreign people learn very early.
There is one more concept that can have a similar meaning to all this that I would like to talk about before I finish.
Instead: ~말고
In Lesson 40 you learned about the negative imperative mood. At the end of that lesson, you learned that you could make sentences like this:
매일 운동을 하지 말고 많이 쉬세요 = Don’t exercise every day, and get lots of rest
그렇게 하지 말고 내 말을 들어봐 = Don’t do it like that, and listen to what I have to say
Technically, those sentences could also translate to:
매일 운동을 하지 말고 많이 쉬세요 = Instead of exercising every day, get lots of rest
그렇게 하지 말고 내 말을 들어봐 = Instead of doing it like that, listen to what I have to say
In these sentences, ~지 말고 doesn’t have the exact same meaning of “~하는 것 대신에” but it is very similar. However, you can also just use “말고” (instead of using ~지 말고 with a verb) to have a very similar meaning to just using 대신 with a noun. For example:
밥 대신에 빵 먹을래요? = Instead of rice, shall we eat bread?
밥 말고 빵 먹을래요? = Instead of rice, shall we eat bread?
However, when using 말고 to have to meaning of “instead”, I think it sounds natural when you are suggesting something at the end of the sentence (by using ~자 or ~ㄹ래(요)).