How to use Korean Grammar V/A + (으)ㄹ까 봐(서)

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Verb, Adjective + ㄹ까 봐 / 을까 봐

ㄹ까 봐 - if a word ends in a vowel or ㄹ, 을까 봐 - if it ends in a consonant (except ㄹ)

The Korean grammar structure -ㄹ까 봐 / -을까 봐 is used to express concern or fear that something may happen.

See examples,

친구가 화낼까 봐 솔직하게 말하지 못했어요.

Korean

친구

화내다

솔직하다

말하다

English

friend

to get angry

to be honest

to say

I couldn’t speak honestly because I was afraid my friend might get angry.

친구 화내+ㄹ까 봐 솔직하 말하지 못하++어요.

선생님이 실망할까 봐 열심히 공부했어요.

Korean

선생님

실망하다

열심히

공부하다

English

teacher

to be disappointed

hard

to study

I studied hard because I was afraid the teacher might be disappointed.

선생님 실망하+ㄹ까 봐 열심히 공부하++어요.

살이 찔까 봐 많이 안 먹어요.

Korean

살이 찌다

많이

먹다

English

to gain weight

a lot

not

to eat

I don't eat much because I'm afraid I'll gain weight.

찌+ㄹ까 봐 많이 안 먹어요.

코로나에 걸릴까 봐 마스크를 썼어요.

Korean

코로나

걸리다

마스크

쓰다

English

COVID-19

to get sick

mask

to used

I wore a mask because I was afraid I might catch COVID-19.

코로나 걸리+ㄹ까 봐 마스크 쓰++어요.

Quick reference (click to open)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j

Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)

Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')

Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.

Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky

Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her

Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel

Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive

Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently

Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till

Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while

Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.

Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?

Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!

Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!

Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).