In what situation can I use -네요 ending? Korean grammar

- Author: Niya (Trinidad and Tobago), Nina (The U.K.)
- Editor: Good Job Korean team 

 Today, we are going to learn -네요 ending. -네요 ending is used to express surprise, agreement, admiration, unexpected counter, event, or states.

Since 네요 ending is commonly used when you found out something new, its translation can be “Wow” or “Oh, now I see!”

It is used in many situations, right? It is also quite frequently used in daily conversations.

Let’s check out conjugations and how it is used in different situations with example sentences.

Conjugation

•Present tense

Verb stem + 네요.

Examples:

- 오다 -> 오네요

- 가다 -> 가네요

- 싸다 -> 싸네요

- 비싸다 -> 비싸네요

*오다: to come   *가다: to go   *싸다: to be cheap   *비싸다: to be expensive

If the verb stem ends with ‘ㄹ’ final consonant, you drop ‘ㄹ’ and add -네요.

Example:

- 길다 -> 기네요

- 멀다 -> 머네요

*길다: to be long   *멀다: to be far

NOTE: Even if the future tense with 네요 ending is ‘(으)ㄹ 거네요’, it is not really used. Korean people just use the present tense with 네요 even for future tense.

Ex) “내일 한국 가네요?”

“Oh, you will go to Korea tomorrow?” 

*내일: tomorrow  

•Adding after noun

A noun ending with a consonant, -이네(요) is added after the noun.

Examples:

- 학생 -> 학생이네요

- 선생님 -> 선생님이네요

- 겨울 -> 겨울이네요

*학생: student   *선생님: teacher   *겨울: winter

A noun ending with a vowel, -네(요) is added after the noun.

Examples:

- 의사 -> 의사네요

- 간호사 -> 간호사네요

- 목도리 -> 목도리네요

*의사: doctor   *간호사: nurse   *목도리: muffler

•Past tense

Past tense verb stem + 네요.

*You can get the past tense verb stem if you drop ‘어요’ from past tense verbs. For example, since the past tense of 자다 is 잤어요 (I slept), the past tense verb stem is ‘잤’.

Examples:

잤어요 -> 잤네요

살았어요 -> 살았네요

쌌네요 -> 쌌네요

*자다: to sleep   *살다: to live   *싸다: to be cheap

Now, let’s check out how -네요 ending is used in different situations with example sentences.

Example sentences

As I mentioned earlier -네요 ending can be used in many situations. Even if there are many situations where -네요 can be used, they share the basic principle!

-네요 ending is commonly used when you found out something new, so its translation can be “Wow” or “Oh, now I see!”.

•Surprise

Example:

매운 음식을 잘 드시네요? 

Wow, you eat spicy food very well!

*매운: to be spicy   *음식: food   *잘: well   *드시다: to eat(polite speech)

In this sentence, the speaker is surprised that the listener eats spicy food very well.

•Agreement

Example:

A: 오늘 엄청 춥죠?

A: It is really cold today, right?

B: 맞아요. 오늘 정말 춥네요.

B: Oh yeah, you’re right. It is really cold today.

*오늘: today   *엄청: really, very   *춥다: to be cold

In this sentence, A asks B “It is really cold today, right?” and B agrees with A that today is really cold.

•Admiration

Example:

A: 이 스카프 어때요?

A: How does this scarf look on me?

B: 엄청 잘 어울리네요!

B: Wow, It looks good on you!

*어떻다: to be how    *잘 어울리다: to look good on

In this sentence, A asks B how the scarf looks on her, and B answers with admiration that it looks good on A.

•Unexpected counter, event, or state.

Example:

우산이 없는데, 갑자기 비가 오네요.

I don't have an umbrella, but it's suddenly raining. (You just found out it’s raining as new info)

*우산: umbrella   *없다: to not have   *갑자기: suddenly   *비가 오다: to rain

In this sentence, the speaker didn’t expect it would rain suddenly. The speaker is talking about an unexpected event.

- Author: Niya (Trinidad and Tobago), Nina (The U.K.)
- Editor: Good Job Korean team