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Kris
How to say "was about to" in korean?
"I was about to cry"
Sep 14, 2013 7:25 PM
Answers · 3
2
Seone is correct but in case you wanted more explanation...
"I was about to cry"
"나 울 뻔 했어"
나 --> I
울다 --> to cry
뻔 doesn't literally mean "almost" but it can be taken as that.
하다 --> to do
To be in a situation that you almost did something ---> -(으)ㄹ 뻔 했다
You may be asking if this "-(을)ㄹ" is the same as future tense, and YES it is.
Now you may be wondering why we are using future tense to explain the past.
If you were in a situation that you almost did something, that thing that you almost did would be expressed in a future tense. "I almost cried" You didn't cry, but you were about to.
As always, the last verb has the most power tense-wise, so having 했다 overtakes the previous (으)ㄹ and makes the whole sentence past tense.
죽을 뻔 했어 = I almost died
갈 뻔 했어 = I almost went
September 15, 2013
1
나 울 뻔 했어.
나 막 눈물 나려고 해(그래).
September 15, 2013
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Kris
Language Skills
English, Korean, Portuguese
Learning Language
Korean
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