적이 meaning - jeog-i meaning

I think the answer by Super Cool Handsome Gel Boy makes sense, so let me supplement it. In my opinion, 아/어 보다 could be translated as 'try ~ing' rather than 'try to'. But I am not so confident in my English, so I need English speakers' help.

According to my understanding, 'try ~ing' is used when you are doing something already or try to do something expecting some future influence. For instance,

I am trying going vegetarian. (I have already stopped eating meat for a while.)

Try being quiet. (Be quiet and keep quiet.)

If this understanding is correct, I can give an explanation. Two expressions would be translated as

1. ㄴ적이 있다: there was an event that ~ (better translated as 'have ever ~')

2. 아/어 보다: try ~ing

If you are using the second expression in the past tense, you are saying that the action was already taken. So two sentences are basically the same in this case and can be used interchangeably. Of course you can combine two expressions.

1. 아/어 본 적이 있다 (have ever tried ~ing).

I think the third expression is most common in Korea because it sounds somewhat polite. The following might be an answer to Rathony.

• 서울에 가려고 했는데 못 갔다. (correct)

I tried to go to Seoul but couldn't.

• 서울에 가 봤는데 못 갔다. (very weird and not recommended, could possibly be used by some comedians because 가다 could be interpreted as either 'go' or 'reach')

I tried going to Seoul but couldn't.

• 서울 방향으로 가 봤는데, 다리가 끊어져서 도착하지 못했다. (fixed)

I tried going toward Seoul, but couldn't reach it because the bridge was broken.

이란?

관심있는 언어의 레벨을 의미합니다. 레벨을 설정하면 다른 사용자가 내 질문에 답변을 할 때 참고할 수 있습니다.

• 해당 언어의 짧은 질문조차 이해하기 어려운 수준입니다

• 간단한 질문과 답변을 할 수 있습니다

• 모든 종류의 일반적인 질문을 할 수 있고 어느정도 긴 답변을 이해할 수 있습니다.

• 길고 복잡한 답변을 이해할 수 있습니다.

프리미엄에 등록하고 다른 사용자들의 질문에 대한 음성/비디오 답변을 들으세요.

선물이 무엇인가요?

좋아요나 스탬프로 표현할 수 없는 감사의 마음을 표현하세요.

누군가에게 선물을 보내고 질문에 대한 답변을 더 쉽게 받아보세요!

누군가에게 선물한 뒤 질문을 올리면 선물 받는 당사자 피드의 특별 섹션에 그 질문이 보입니다.

검색에 지치셨나요? HiNative가 의문을 해소하는 답을 찾아드릴 수 있습니다.

• 

Grammar 1(Verb-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다/없다)

Let’s study in detail about the expressions we learned today.

“-Verb-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다/없다”

“Verb-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다/없다” that we learned today is a combination of the grammar “Verb-아/어/해 보다” and “Verb-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다/없다”.

“‘Verb-아/어/해 보다” is a grammar that we learned in the ‘Introduction to Korean’ course(5-7). It means trying something. Therefore, “Verb-아/어/해 본 적이 있다/없다” means that you have tried it correctly.

Therefore, if you want to simply talk about what you have experienced without the meaning of the attempt, you can use “Verb-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다/없다”.

Did you understand it? If you didn’t, please ask more questions in the comment section down below.

Moreover since it is good to know other examples, aside from those presented above, try to share yours through comments.

Examples

• 한국의 옛날 음악을 들은 적이 있어요.
• 휴대폰을 잃어버린 적이 있어요.
• 한국 영화를 본 적이 없어요.
• 혼자 여행한 적이 없어요.

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Intermediate Korean: Exploring the Language and Culture of Korea

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