✍️ Intermediate Day 9: Talking About Time Passed – ~ㄴ/은 지
📘 Intermediate Day 9: Talking About Time Passed – ~ㄴ/은 지
Welcome to Day 9 of the Intermediate Korean series! 🕒 Today’s lesson will help you talk about how long it has been since something happened or started.
The key grammar form we’ll focus on is:
- ~ㄴ/은 지 – used to indicate how much time has passed since an action or event
This structure is commonly used in everyday conversations to say things like “It’s been three years since I started learning Korean” or “It’s been a while since we met.”
📘 1. What is ~ㄴ/은 지?
~ㄴ/은 지 is attached to the past tense verb stem to express the time that has passed since an event occurred. You will often see it with time-related expressions such as ~됐어요 (It’s been...) or ~넘었어요 (It’s been more than...)
🔧 How to use:
- Verb + ~ㄴ 지 (if the stem ends in a vowel)
- Verb + ~은 지 (if the stem ends in a consonant)
And then add a time expression + 됐어요 (it’s been...)
📌 Vocabulary Table – Time Expressions
| English | Korean | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | 한 달 | han dal |
| 1 year | 일 년 | il nyeon |
| 2 weeks | 이 주 | i ju |
| 3 days | 삼 일 | sam il |
| a while | 오래 | o-rae |
📘 2. Example Sentences
- 한국어를 배우ㄴ 지 1년 됐어요.
han-guk-eo-reul bae-un ji il-nyeon dwaet-seo-yo
👉 It’s been a year since I started learning Korean. - 여기에서 살은 지 오래됐어요.
yeo-gi-e-seo sal-eun ji o-rae-dwaet-seo-yo
👉 I’ve lived here for a long time. - 그 영화를 본지 한 달 됐어요.
geu yeong-hwa-reul bon ji han dal dwaet-seo-yo
👉 It’s been a month since I watched that movie. - 운동을 시작하ㄴ 지 3주 됐어요.
un-dong-eul si-jak-han ji sam-ju dwaet-seo-yo
👉 It’s been 3 weeks since I started exercising.
📘 Real-Life Dialogue
👦 준호: 한국어 공부한 지 얼마나 됐어요?
👧 수지: 6개월 됐어요.
👦 준호: 오, 발음이 아주 좋네요!
📘 Practice Sentences
- 운전한 지 10년 됐어요.
- 한국에 온 지 두 달 됐어요.
- 그 사람을 만난 지 오래됐어요.
- 아침을 먹은 지 3시간 넘었어요.
📘 Mini Quiz – 얼마나 됐어요?
- Translate: “It’s been 2 years since I graduated.”
Click to Show Answer
졸업한 지 2년 됐어요.
- What does “운전한 지 오래됐어요” mean?
Click to Show Answer
It’s been a long time since I started driving.
- Choose the correct sentence:
a) 공부했 지 1년 됐어요
b) 공부한 지 1년 됐어요
c) 공부는 지 1년 됐어요Click to Show Answer
✅ b) 공부한 지 1년 됐어요
✅ Conclusion
🎯 Excellent job! You now know how to express how much time has passed using ~ㄴ/은 지 in Korean.
- ✔️ Use ~ㄴ 지 or ~은 지 + time + 됐어요 / 넘었어요
- ✔️ Practice with different time expressions and verbs
- ✔️ Try using this pattern when talking about your Korean learning journey!
📘 Coming Up Next
Tomorrow: Intermediate Day 10: Talking About Experience – ~아/어 본 적 있어요 Learn how to say what you’ve tried or experienced in the past!
Related Keywords:
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