Understand -(으)ㄴ/는데요 grammar in just 5 minutes

The most common use of this grammar (으)ㄴ데요/는데요 is to shpw or express disagreement.

This ending is used when you want to express your disagreement or opposition to what the other person just told you. It can be used when you want to inform the other that what you think is kind of different or you just don’t agree with that. But this is not straightforward. I mean this ending is used to be more polite compared to when you’re just saying I don’t know or I didn’t think so I don’t agree with that.

(으)ㄴ데요/는데요 can be used in 3 different ways.

1

(으)ㄴ데요/는데요 grammar is a clausal connective and. So you cannot use this to connect two clauses. (으)ㄴ데/는데요 grammar is used in three different ways. The first usage is when you are showing disagreement or when you’re opposing someone’s opinion. For example 

let’s say you went to watch a movie with someone and after the movie, the person says that movie was very fun.저  영화는 정말 재미있었다.

But in your opinion it wasn’t so much fun so you say for me it wasn’t that fun. 저는 재미없었는데요.  

So it’s  (는데요) used when you’re saying for me that’s not the case and one thing I want to point out before moving on is that you can omit 요 when you’re speaking to your friend and someone that you can speak comfortably to. 

Let’s say for example you went to a restaurant with your friend and you guys are supposed to share food. So you’re discussing the menu with the friend and the friend says I will eat kimchi stew. 나는 김치찌개 먹을래.

 But you don’t really like kimchi stew or that day you don’t want anything spicy then you tell your friends 나는 김치찌개 안 먹고 싶은데. So the point is you don’t necessarily have to add 요 when you’re speaking to someone that you don’t have to be speaking in a polite ending.

So by using 은데/는데 as an ending you are contradicting the speaker’s opinion.

 2

The second usage is when you’re expecting a response so for example you are calling your friend Susie to see if she is still home or she stepped out but let’s say her mom picked up the phone and say 

여보세요, 수지 집에 있어요? Is Susie home?

and Susie’s mom speaking to you for the first time speaking politely to you. Susie is not home she could have said 수지 집에 없는데요.

By using 없는데요 Susie’s mom is saying she’s not home but is there anything I could help you or should I leave a message for you or do you still want to ask me another question. So she’s expecting a response to continue the conversation.

 Another example could be let’s say your friend suggests you go to a cafe.

Let’s go to the cafe since the weather is nice. 날씨가 좋은데 카페에 가자.

좋다 means to be good

은데/는데 – she’s giving background info. But you already have a plan today so you can’t go to the cafe with your friend and you tell your friends

오늘 약속이 있는데.

오늘 means today and 약속 means promise.

But at the same time it means I have a plan so what that implies is today I have a plan do you have any other date or you want to suggest.

so you’re kind of trying to continue the conversation by expecting your friend’s response to suggest a different day or kind of giving her a chance to offer something else so instead of saying that I have a plan. end of conversation.

3

The third usage of 는데요 grammar is when you Surprised by something unexpected. Lets see example-

한한말 잘 하는데요. I didn’t expect you to that well but wow you’re good at Korean 

오, 드레스 예쁜데.

At first, you didn’t think the dress would be that pretty but you wore it and you saw that and it’s unexpectedly pretty.

I didn’t expect much from that dress but it’s pretty.

얼마나 는데요 grammar

얼마나 means how much and by using 는데요 the speaker might be showing disagreement or surprised.

는데요 meaning

-(으)ㄴ데/는데요 is sentence ending. 는데요 grammar has 3 different meanings. They are

1. Disagreement/ opposition 
2. Expecting a response
3. Surprised by something unexpected 

인데요 meaning

인데요 is used after nouns as the 이다 form. And 아닌데요 is the 아니다 form. 저인데요 is often just shortened to 전데요.

외국인인데요. I’m a foreigner.

그는 한국사람아닌데요. He’s not Korean.

데요 grammar

데요 grammar is used when the speaker recollects something that he / she directly learned or felt in the past and is deliveing that information to someone else. It is used mainly in spoken language.

다는데 grammar

-ㄴ/는다는데 grammar is used to give background or contrasting information which you’ve heard from somewhere else. 다는데 is an expression used to deliver something heard or quote someone, adding the speaker’s own view / thought or question.

 이 책이 재미있다는데 두 권 삽시다.Let’s buy two books because this book is fun (speaker herald from somewhere).

네요 grammar

-네요 is similar to ‘really’, ‘certainly’, ‘wow’, or ‘My(!)’ in English.

-네요 express surprise or wonder when you learn something through direct experience or when agree with something said by another person.  -네요is added after adjectives and verbs semt.

는데 ending grammar

• 예쁘다 – 에쁜데요
• 작다 – 작은데요
• 보다 – 보는데요
• 듣다 – 듣는데요
• 피곤하다 – 피곤한데요
• 힘들다 – 힘든데요
• 일하다 – 일한데요
• 만들다 – 만드는데요
• 덥다 – 더운데요
• 친절하다 – 친절했는데요
• 편하다 – 편했는데요
• 살다 – 사는데요
• 받았다 – 바닸는데요
• 찾았다 – 찾았는데요
• 있다 – 있는데요
• 없다 – 없는데요
• 싰다 – 싰는데요
• 높다 – 높은데요
• 많다 – 많은데요
• 의사이다 – 의사인데요