Lesson 25
Korean is, often at times, very straightforward. If you are saying something, but you want to be less direct, there are several expressions which can “soften” your sentence. You will learn how to use one of those expressions in this lesson.
-ㄴ/은/는 편이다
In the dictionary, the word 편 by itself means “side”, and it is found in words such as 맞은편 (opposite side) or 같은 편 (same side/team). You can use the word 편 in the structure “adjective + 편 + -이다 (to be)” to say that something or someone is “rather + adjective”, “somewhat + adjective”, “on the + adjective + side” or “tend to be + adjective”. -ㄴ/은/는 is simply a way to change a verb into an adjective.
Take a look at some examples.
When you want to be direct and state that something is big, you can just say “커요” by using the verb 크다. If you use the same verb but use it in the -ㄴ/은/는 편이다 form, “큰 편이에요”, the meaning changes to “It is on the bigger side”, “It is rather big”, “It is somewhat big”, or even “It is not small.”
Conjugation
Descriptive verbs:
Verb stems ending with a vowel + -ㄴ 편이다
Verb stems ending with a consonant + -은 편이다
Action verbs:
Present tense → Verb stem + -는 편이다
Past tense → Verb stem + -ㄴ/은 편이다
More examples:
작다
→ 작아요 = It is small.
→ 작은 편이에요. = It is rather small. / It is on the smaller side. / It is not the biggest. / It tends to be small.
비싸다
→ 비싸요. = It is expensive.
→ 비싼 편이에요. = It is rather expensive. / It is not the cheapest. / It is a bit expensive.
피아노를 잘 치다
→ 피아노를 잘 쳐요. = I play the piano well.
→ 피아노를 잘 치는 편이에요. = I play the piano rather well. / I am not too bad at playing the piano.
-에 비해서 / -에 비하면
You can also use the -(으)ㄴ 편이다 structure when comparing two or more things or people with one another.
You already learned how to say “than” in Korean by using -보다. By adding -보다, you can say things like “이것보다 큰 편이에요” (= It is somewhat bigger than this one) or “저보다 바쁜 편이에요” (= He/She tends to be busier than me).
Another commonly used expression is -에 비해서.
The syllable 비 comes from the word 비교, and both 비 and 비교 mean “comparison”. Therefore, -에 비해서 means “compared to (something)”.
* Note: 비 is never used on its own to mean “comparison”.
Ex)
지난주에 비해서 바쁜 편이에요.
= We are somewhat busier compared to last week.
(Similarly: 지난주보다 바쁜 편이에요.)
한국어에 비해서 일본어는 발음이 쉬운 편이에요.
= Compared to Korean, Japanese tends to have easier pronunciation.
-에 비하면
-에 비하면 is similar to -에 비해서, but since it has the ending -(으)면, it contains the meaning of “IF”. Therefore, while -에 비해서 means just “compared to (something)”, -에 비하면 means “if you compare it to (something)”.
Sample Sentences
저에 비하면 잘하는 편이에요.
= If you compare it to me, you are pretty good at it.
저에 비해서 잘하는 편이에요.
= Compared to me, you are pretty good at it.
여기는 다른 곳에 비해서 조용한 편이에요.
= This place is, compared to other places, pretty quiet.
그래도 버스에 비해서 지하철이 빠른 편이에요.
= But still, compared to the bus, the subway is faster.
저도 여기 자주 오는 편이에요.
= I come here quite frequently, too.