๐ง Expressing Possibility in Korean: How to Use -(์ผ)

Ever wanted to say something *might happen* or *could happen* in Korean? That's where the expression -(์ผ)\u308b \uc218\ub3c4 \uc788\ub2e4 comes in! It’s a versatile grammar pattern that lets you talk about possibility or probability in everyday conversation.
๐ Table of Contents
1. What Does -(์ผ) Mean?
This pattern literally translates to “there is also the possibility of doing...” or simply “might/could.” You attach it to verbs to indicate potential outcomes.
2. How to Use It
- Verb stem + -(์ผ)
- If the verb ends in a consonant, add -์ ์ ์์ด์
- If the verb ends in a vowel, add -ใน ์ ์์ด์
This form is commonly used in both spoken and written Korean, and you can change the tense:
- ํ ์ ์์ด์ – I can/might do it
- ํ์ ์๋ ์์ด์ – It might have happened
- ํ ์๋ ์์ ๊ฑฐ์์ – It might happen
3. Example Sentences
- ํ๊ตญ์ด: ๋น๊ฐ ์ฌ ์๋ ์์ด์.
๋ฐ์: bi-ga ol su-do i-sseo-yo
์์ด: It might rain. - ํ๊ตญ์ด: ์ค๋ ์ฌ๋์ด ๋ง์ ์๋ ์์ด์.
๋ฐ์: o-neul sa-ram-i manh-eul su-do i-sseo-yo
์์ด: There might be a lot of people today. - ํ๊ตญ์ด: ๊ทธ ์ฌ๋์ด ๋ฆ์ ์๋ ์์ด์.
๋ฐ์: geu sa-ram-i neut-eul su-do i-sseo-yo
์์ด: That person might be late. - ํ๊ตญ์ด: ์ผ์ด ์๊ฐ๋ณด๋ค ์ฌ์ธ ์๋ ์์ด์.
๋ฐ์: il-i saeng-gak-bo-da swi-ul su-do i-sseo-yo
์์ด: The task might be easier than expected. - ํ๊ตญ์ด: ์ฃผ๋ง์ ์ฌํ์ ๊ฐ ์๋ ์์ด์.
๋ฐ์: ju-mal-e yeo-haeng-eul gal su-do i-sseo-yo
์์ด: I might go on a trip this weekend.
4. Common Mistakes & Tips
- Don't confuse -์ ์ ์๋ค (can) with -์ ์๋ ์๋ค (might).
- Use ๋ (also/even) to show uncertainty or an unexpected outcome.
- This pattern works well with modal verbs and conditionals.
5. Practice Korean with Me!
Want to practice expressing your thoughts with confidence? Learn how to naturally talk about possibilities, plans, and conditions in Korean.
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6. Did You Know?
Did you know? Korean is the official language of both South and North Korea and is spoken by over 80 million people worldwide! In countries like the U.S., China, and Uzbekistan, there are thriving Korean communities. The Korean alphabet, Hangul, is one of the most scientifically designed writing systems in the world.