Lesson 3

Unit 7. 벌써 vs. 이미

Translations:
벌써 = already
이미 = already

벌써 and 이미 both mean “already”., Basically, you use either 벌써 or 이미 to describe something that already happened, but IF you already knew about that fact, you can use 이미 (e.g. 이미 출발했어요 = They already departed.), whereas if you did NOT already know that something had already “happened, you can use 벌써 to show your surprise. (e.g. 벌써 출발했어요? = They already departed?)

When you are on the “telling” side of a story, 이미 and 벌써 are usually interchangeable because you do not know whether the story will be a surprise or not to the listener. But even when they are interchangeable, 이미 has a more formal feel to it than 벌써.

Example #1
A: 콘서트 벌써 끝났어요?
= Is the concert already over? (The speaker didn’t know.)

B: 한 시간 전에 이미 끝났어요.
= It was already over an hour ago. (This speaker knows.)

Example #2
A: 경화 씨 집에 갔어요.
= Kyung-hwa went home.

B: 벌써 집에 갔어요? (o)
= She already went home?
B: 이미 집에 갔어요? (x)

Example #3
벌써 두 시네요. (Wow. It’s already two o’clock!)
이미 두 시네요. (You see, it’s already two o’clock. It’s too late.)

Unit 8. 감사합니다 vs. 고맙습니다

Translations:
감사합니다 = Thank you.
고맙습니다 = Thank you.

They both mean "thank you." 감사합니다, a sino-Korean expression, sounds more formal than 고맙습니다, a native Korean expression, even though both words have the same -ㅂ니다 formal ending. 고맙습니다 is used more often in casual form (고마워) rather than with the formal ending whereas 감사합니다 is never used in casual form (감사해). Recently, however, young people tend to say 감사 or 감사해 very casually in a cute/informal way. You can also see some young people texting ㄱㅅ to mean “감사" or “thank you.”

Example #1
“Thank you very much.”
정말 감사합니다. (o)
정말 고맙습니다. (o)

Example #2
도와줘서 고마워. = Thank you for helping me.
“도와줘서 고마워. = Thank you for helping me.
도와줘서 감사해. (incorrect)

Example #3
“Thank you for helping me.”
도와줘서 고마워요. (o)
도와줘서 감사해요. (o)

Unit 9. 뿐이다 vs. 밖에 없다

Translations:
뿐이다 = only / it is the only (thing)
밖에 없다 = only / there is nothing(no one) else other than …

뿐 alone can mean “only” and with -이다, which means “to be,” 뿐이다 means that someone/something is the only person/thing (that is so-and-so or does so-and-so). 밖에 없다 literally means that “other than that” or “outside (밖에) of something,” there is nothing (없다), so it ends up meaning “only” too.

The difference between these two is that 밖에 없다 is used so commonly in everyday Korean that 뿐이다 or 뿐 is mainly used in written Korean. (e.g. 이거밖에 없어요 (more common) = I only have this. = 이것뿐이에요 (less common)) In song lyrics, text messages or romantic dating lines, however, you can often hear 뿐이다 being used.

Depending on the circumstances, however, 뿐이다 is sometimes used as part of some set idiomatic phrases, such as -(으)ㄹ 뿐이다 (= it’s only just that...), A는 -(으)ㄹ 뿐이지 B는 (= A is only so-and-so about one thing, and about this other thing(B), A is better or worse), etc.

Example #1
한 시간밖에 없어요 (We only have one hour.)
한 시간뿐이에요 (x) (-뿐이에요 can not be used together with the subject of the sentence because the meaning is not clear enough. It is possible, however, to use -뿐이에요 after the same word (한 시간) if 한 시간 is not the subject of the sentence. (e.g. 남은 건 한 시간뿐이에요.))

Example #2
너뿐이야. (o) (poetic) = You are the only one (I have).
너밖에 없어. (o) (poetic) = You are the only one (I have).

Example #3
동생이 한 명뿐이에요. (written language) = I only have one younger sibling.
동생이 한 명밖에 없어요. (spoken language) = I only have one younger sibling.