A2
아/어지다 and 게 되다 — becoming
How Korean expresses change with 아/어지다 and 게 되다, and why the second is preferred for decisions.
Korean has two ways of saying something became the case, and they attach to different word classes.
아/어지다 — a quality changes
It goes on adjectives, and turns be cold into get cold.
날씨가 추워졌어요.
Nalssiga chuwojyeosseoyo.
The weather has got cold.
한국어가 재미있어졌어요.
Hangugeoga jaemiisseojyeosseoyo.
Korean has become interesting to me.
Since Korean adjectives are verbs, this is a verb ending like any other and takes tense normally.
게 되다 — things turned out that way
It goes on action verbs, and says a situation came about rather than that you decided it.
한국에서 일하게 됐어요.
Hangugeseo ilhage dwaesseoyo.
I ended up working in Korea.
친구를 만나게 됐어요.
Chingureul mannage dwaesseoyo.
It turned out I met a friend.
Korean prefers it even for decisions
This is the part with no English equivalent. Announcing something you chose is often phrased as something that came about, because claiming full agency can sound self-important.
다음 달에 결혼하게 됐어요.
Daeum dare gyeolhonhage dwaesseoyo.
I’m getting married next month.
결혼해요 would be a plain statement of fact. 결혼하게 됐어요 is what is actually said, and the modesty is built into the grammar rather than added to it.
The two do not swap
추워지게 됐어요.
추워졌어요.
추워지다 already contains the change. 게 되다 is for action verbs and stacking the two says nothing extra.
되다 alone
After a noun, 되다 is become: 의사가 됐어요, I became a doctor. Note the particle — what you become takes 이/가, not 을/를.