Example Sentences#

1. 둘이 너무 다른데, 그래서 더 재밌었던 것 같아.¹
   The two of them are so different, and I think that’s why it was more fun.
   • 재미있다 (composed of 재미 meaning ‘fun’ and 있다 meaning ‘to exist’) means ‘to be fun’ or ‘to be interesting’. It’s often contracted to 재밌다 in casual speech.
   • -었던 combines the past tense marker -었- with the retrospective modifier -던, which is derived from -더-, a suffix conveying past personal experience or observation, combined with the modifier -ㄴ, which turns the preceding statement into a phrase describing the following noun. It marks recalled past actions or states that were fully completed or occurred as one-time or temporary events, and are no longer ongoing, with a nuance of disconnection from the present context.
2. 알 수 없는 길이지만 재밌어 보여²
   It’s an unknown path, yet it looks fun
   • 재밌다 is the contracted form of 재미있다, derived from 재미 (fun, interest) and 있다 (to exist), meaning ‘to be fun or interesting’.
   • -어서 is a connective ending that indicates a sequence of related events, cause and effect, or ways or means. In this context, 서 is omitted.