KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 26

Happy New Year po sa lahat.

Korean Lessons: Lessons 26

Are -만 and 밖에 interchangeable?

The answer is yes and no. Sometimes, they are interchangeable (and of course you have to change the verb in the negative form when you use 밖에) but 밖에 is generally more widely used over -만.

You can't use 밖에 with imperative sentences, including -아/어/여 주세요 ("do something for me"). So you have to use -만 with imperative sentences. (i.e. 이것만 주세요 = Give me this one only.) And when the verb itself has a negative meaning, -만 is more commonly used than 밖에. (i.e. 저는 닭고기만 싫어해요 = I only hate chicken.)

Sample sentences
1.
한국인 친구가 한 명 밖에 없어요.
[han-gu-gin chin-gu-ga han myeon ba-kke eop-seo-yo.]
= I only have one Korean friend.

한국인 친구는 한 명 밖에 없어요.
[han-gu-gin chin-gu-neun han myeon ba-kke eop-seo-yo.]
= As for Korean friends, I only have one.

2.
한국어 조금 밖에 못 해요.
[han-gu-geo jo-geum ba-kke mot hae-yo.]
= I can only speak a little bit of Korean.

3.이것 밖에 없어요?
[i-geot ba-kke eop-seo-yo?]
= This is it?
= You only have this?

4.
우리 고양이는 참치 밖에 안 먹어요.
[u-ri go-yang-i-neun cham-chi ba-kke an meo-geo-yo.]
= My cat only eats tuna.

5.
왜 공부 밖에 안 해요?
[wae gong-bu ba-kke an hae-yo?]
= Why do you only study?
how to say "nothing but" or "only" in Korean.

We already
introduced one expression that means "only" in Level 2 Lesson 15, which is -만 [-man].
The expression we are introducing in this lesson consists of two parts:
"밖에 + negative verb conjugation" The way this works is similar to saying "nothing else but" or "do not do anything other than" in English.

밖 = outside, outdoors

밖에 = outside something, other than something, out of the range of something

밖에 + negative verb conjugation = ONLY + verb

Construction:
Noun + 밖에 + negative conjugation

Examples:

콜라(를) 마시다 [kol-la(-reul) ma-si-da] = to drink cola

콜라 밖에 안 마시다 [kol-la ba-kke an ma-si-da] = to only drink cola

돈(이) 있다 [do-ni it-da] = to have money

돈(이) 없다 [do-ni eop-da] = to not have money

돈 밖에 없다 [don ba-kke eop-da] = to have nothing but money, to only have money

-아/어/여요
Yes. This is the same form as the plain present tense,but don't worry. You can tell the difference quiet easily through context. Let's see how the meaning can be clear through some examples.

1. 저도 서점에 갈 거예요. 같이 가요!
[ jeo-do seo-jeo-me gal geo-ye-yo. ga-chi ga-yo!]
= I'm going to the bookstore, too. Let's go together!

2. 배 안 고파요? 우리 햄버거 먹어요.
[bae an go-pa-yo? u-ri haem-beo-geo meo-geo-yo.]
= Aren't you hungry? Let's eat hamburgers.

3. 지금 두 시예요. 세 시에 여기에서 만나요.
[ ji-geum du si-ye-yo. se si-e yeo-gi-e-seo man-na-yo.]
= It's two o'clock now. Let's meet here at three o'clock.

4. 저 금요일까지 바빠요. 토요일에 시작해요. 어때요?
[ jeo geu-myo-il-kka-ji ba-ppa-yo. to-yo-i-re si-ja-kae-yo. eo-ttae-yo?]
= I'll be busy until Friday. Let's start on Saturday. What do you think?