A2
지만 and 는데 — but
How Korean joins contrasting clauses with 지만 and 는데, why 는데 is so common, and how a sentence can end on it.
지만 is the straightforward but. It attaches to the stem and takes tense freely.
비싸지만 살 거예요.
Bissajiman sal geoyeyo.
It’s expensive, but I’ll buy it.
한국어를 배웠지만 잘 못해요.
Hangugeoreul baewotjiman jal motaeyo.
I studied Korean, but I can’t speak it well.
는데 is the one you will hear
는데 gives background before the main point. Sometimes that background contrasts, often it simply sets the scene — which makes it far more common than 지만 and much harder to translate.
어제 영화를 봤는데 재미있었어요.
Eoje yeonghwareul bwanneunde jaemiisseosseoyo.
I saw a film yesterday, and it was good.
Nothing is contrasted there. The 는데 clause is the setup and the second half is the point, exactly as Japanese が can be.
실례지만 지금 몇 시예요?
Sillyejiman jigeum myeot siyeyo?
Excuse me, what time is it?
Which form
는데 after a verb, 은데 after a consonant-final adjective, ㄴ데 after a vowel-final one: 먹는데, 좋은데, 바쁜데.
Ending on it
A sentence can stop at 는데, leaving the rest unsaid. It is one of the most useful things in spoken Korean — a hesitation, a soft refusal, an objection you have not quite made.
좀 어려운데요…
Jom eoryeoundeyo…
It’s a bit difficult, though…
Said in full it would be a refusal. Left open, it is one the listener completes.
하지만 and 그런데 start sentences
비싸요 하지만 살 거예요.
비싸지만 살 거예요.
하지만 begins a new sentence — 비싸요. 하지만 살 거예요. Inside one sentence the ending is 지만 or 는데.
그런데 is the spoken but, anyway, by the way, and often just marks a change of subject rather than a contrast.