In this lesson, you will learn the basic Korean word WHAT and related words of WHAT with their usage. What in Korean language is 무엇 and 뭐 is shortened form of 무엇.
The basic way to say what in Korean is 뭐 (mwo) but there are many different ways to say it. So in this lesson, I’ll teach you a different way to say what in Korean. There are 6 ways to say ‘what’ in Korean.
- 뭐 (MWO)
- 무슨 (MUSUN)
- 어떤 (EOTTON)
- 몇 (MYUT)
- 어떻게 (EOTOKKE)
- 며칠 (MYECHHIL)
뭐
뭐 (Mwo) is a shortened form of무엇. 무엇 is formal and 뭐 is informal. 뭐 is most commonly used 뭐 should not be followed by any other noun in a sentence so you cannot say 뭐 책, 뭐 노래, 뭐 밥 etc like that. 뭐라고 (mworago) can be used when you did not hear someone’s voice. Here are some example sentence with 뭐.
뭐야? What is it?
뭐예요? what is it?
뭐가 있습니까? What’s there? / What is it?
what’s your name? 이름이 뭐예요?
뭐 공부해요? What are you studying?
what’s this? 이거 뭐예요?
what are you doing? 뭐 해요?
what do you like? 뭐 좋아해요?
you wanna eat? What do you feel like eating? 뭐 먹을래?
뭐가 잘못됐나요?Is anything wrong?, What’s wrong?
뭐가 그렇게 웃기죠?What makes you laugh?
뭐가 뭔지 모르겠어.I’m totally lost
뭐가 맛있습니까? What’s good? What’s delicious?
뭐가 잘못 됐어?What’s wrong?
뭐가 그렇게 재미있는데?What makes you so funny?
뭐가 그리 더럽니?What’s so dirty?
무슨
we use 무슨 (Musun) when the word what is followed by a noun. 무슨 (MUsun) should always be followed by a noun and can not be used alone.
이것은 무엇입니까? What is this?
무엇을 하고 있니? What are you doing?
무엇을 먹고 있니? What are you eating?
무슨 일 있습니까? What happened?
What day is it? 무슨 요일이에요?
What does it mean? 무슨 뜻 이에요?
NO matter what happened. 무슨 일이 있어도
What do you do? 무슨 일 해요?
What song do you like? 무슨 노래 좋아해요?
무슨 일이 일어났니? What happened?
What kind of work are you in? 무슨 일을 하세요?
Who knows what the morrow will bring? 내일 무슨 일이 있을지 누가 알겠어?
What’s up with you? What’s the matter with you? What’s going on? 무슨 일이야?
I’ll be there whatever happens. 나는 무슨 일이 있어도 거기 갈 것이다.
What exactly do you mean? 정확하게 무슨 말씀이신지요?
어떤
어떤 (Eotton) should always be followed by a noun and can not be used alone. It means ‘what kind’ or ‘which.
어떤? What?
어떤 면? In what ways?
What will the cities of the future look like? 미래의 도시는 어떤 모습일까?
What do you do? 어떤 일 해요?
어떤춤? What kind of dance?
What kind of movies do you like? 어떤 영화 좋아해요?
What is he she like?/ What kind of person he/ she is? 그 사람 어떤 사람이에요?
What kind of equipment are you looking for? 어떤 장비를 찾으세요?
몇
몇(Myeot) literally mean how many and it is used to ask about numbers. 몇 is always followed by a noun which s counting unit.
What time is it? 몇 시예요?
What month is it? 몇 월이에요?
What year is it? 몇년도예요?
What year were you born in? 몇 년생이에요?
What grade are you in? 몇 학년 이에요?
What floor is it? 몇 층 이에요?
방 번호가 몇번 되시죠? What is your room number?
어떻게
어떻게 (Eotokhe) literally means how but in many cases 어떻게 mean what. 어떻게 is followed by a verb.
방 번호가 어떻게 되시죠? What is your room number?
What is your name? 성함이 어떻게 되세요?
What hours do you work? 근무 시간이 어떻게 되세요?
What do you think? 어떻게 생각합니까?
What does he/she look like? 그 사랑 어떻게 생겼어요?
며칠
며칠 (MYeochhil) means what date. Many people think that 며칠 is made by the combination of 몇 and 일. which is incorrect. 며칠 is made by the combination of 며칟날.
며칠이죠? What’s the date?
며칠이야? What’s the date?
오늘은 며칠이지? What day is this?
What date is it tomorrow? 내일 며칠 이에요?
What date is your wedding anniversary? 결혼기념일이 며칠이에요.
What date are you leaving? 며칠에 출발해요?
What was the date of the wedding? 결혼식이 몇 월 며칠이었습니까?
‘What’s the date today?’ ‘The 10th.’ “오늘이 며칠이지?” “10일이야.”
What day shall we set up the meeting? 회의 날짜를 며칠로 잡을까요?
“What the hell?” in Korean?
도대체 (dodaeche)
도대체 뭐야? (dodaeche mwoya) means What the hell?
도대체 무슨 뜻이야? (dodaeche museun tteusiya) What the hell do you mean?
아! 시발 is also used to say What the hell in korean.
뭔 개소리야? is also used to say What the hell in korean.
뭐야 미친 is also used to say WTF in korean.
헐 (heol) when you’re at loss of words. it is also used to say What the hell in korean.
