Example Sentences#

1. 차라리 카페 가서 수다 떠는 게 낫지 않아?¹
   Wouldn’t it be better to go to a cafe and chat instead?
   • 떨다 typically means ‘to tremble’ or ‘to shake’. However, it can also mean ‘to repeat a certain act lightly and carelessly’. In the idiomatic expression 수다를 떨다, meaning ‘to chat’ or ‘to engage in casual conversation’, 떨다 takes on this latter, figurative meaning.
   • -는 is a present tense modifier that turns the preceding statement into a phrase describing the following noun.
2. 호랑이가 크게 울면 마을 사람들은 모두 떨었습니다.²
   When the tiger roared loudly, all the villagers trembled.
   • 떨다 means ‘to tremble’ or ‘to shake’.
   • 었 is a past tense marker.
   • 습니다 is a formal polite ending used in declarative sentences.