4 · Prepositions and fixed patterns
Bound to happen: -기 마련이다
how things naturally go
-기 마련이다 says that something is only natural and bound to happen, as a rule of life.
At a glance
- Remember
- Gi maryeonida: that is just how things go — for everyone, every time.
- Form
- 실수하다 → 실수하기 마련이에요verb
- Signal words
- -기 마련이다
- -게 마련이다
- 누구나
- -(으)면
- Trap
- Wrong:내일은 비가 오기 마련이에요.Right:내일은 비가 올 것 같아요.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Korean.
| verb | 실수하다 → 실수하기 마련이에요 |
| adjective | 어렵다 → 어렵기 마련이에요 |
| same meaning | 실수하게 마련이에요 |
| with a condition | 지나면 잊기 마련이에요 |
| a related pattern | -는 법이에요 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
-기 마련이다 states that something is natural and bound to happen.
누구나 실수하기 마련이에요.Everybody makes mistakes.
A condition often comes first.
시간이 지나면 잊기 마련이에요.With time, people forget.
It also follows adjectives.
처음에는 뭐든지 어렵기 마련이에요.Everything is hard at first.
-게 마련이다 means the same.
좋은 일이 있으면 나쁜 일도 있게 마련이에요.Where there are good times, there are bad times too.
Example sentences
누구나 나이가 들면 건강이 걱정되기 마련이에요.Everyone starts to worry about their health as they get older.
비밀은 언젠가 알려지기 마련이에요.Secrets come out sooner or later.
새 일을 시작하면 긴장하기 마련이에요.Anyone gets nervous when they start a new job.
물건은 쓰다 보면 고장 나기 마련이에요.Things break down eventually if you use them.
멀리 떨어져 살면 연락이 뜸해지기 마련이에요.When you live far apart, you naturally get in touch less often.
아이들은 다 싸우면서 크기 마련이에요.All children squabble as they grow up.
7 more example sentences
외국어는 안 쓰면 잊어버리기 마련이에요.If you do not use a foreign language, you forget it.
바쁘면 운동을 소홀히 하기 마련이에요.When you are busy, exercise tends to slip.
겨울에는 감기에 걸리기 마련이에요.People catch colds in winter.
열심히 노력하면 결과가 좋기 마련이에요.If you work hard, the results are usually good.
사람은 누구나 단점이 있기 마련이에요.Everybody has their faults.
오래 앉아 있으면 허리가 아프게 마련이에요.If you sit for a long time, your back starts to ache.
만나면 헤어지기 마련이에요.Every meeting ends in a parting.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Tomorrow's weather is a single event, not a rule of life, so -기 마련이다 does not fit. A guess about one occasion takes -(으)ㄹ 것 같다; -기 마련이다 is for what always happens.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
마련 here means “the natural course”. The verb or adjective takes -기, and 마련이다 follows: 사람은 누구나 실수하기 마련이에요, “everybody makes mistakes — it is only natural”. The stem does not change, and -게 마련이다 means exactly the same.
The pattern states a general truth, not a prediction about one occasion. It explains or consoles by placing a single event under a rule: 처음에는 누구나 긴장하기 마련이에요, “anyone gets nervous the first time”. Proverbs and advice are its natural home.
It is often preceded by a condition that makes the rule apply: 시간이 지나면 잊기 마련이에요, “with time, one forgets”; 열심히 하면 좋은 결과가 있기 마련이에요. The tense never changes on -기, and the pattern itself is nearly always in the present.
What it cannot do is forecast a particular event: “it will rain tomorrow” is a prediction, not a rule of life, and needs -(으)ㄹ 것 같다 or -(으)ㄹ 거예요. A related pattern, -는 법이다, also states a natural law and sounds more formal and proverbial.
A closer look
Comfort in a rule
The pattern is a favourite way to console. Telling somebody who has failed an exam that 처음에는 누구나 떨어지기 마련이에요 turns a personal failure into something everyone goes through.
Used about somebody else's bad luck in a cold voice, the same sentence can sound dismissive, as if the speaker were saying “what did you expect?”. The tone and the situation decide which it is.
Worth knowing (1)
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The other 마련
As an ordinary noun and verb, 마련 means “arranging, getting together”: 돈을 마련하다, “to raise the money”, 집을 마련하다, “to get a home of one's own”. Only after -기 does it mean “natural course”.
여행 경비를 마련하려고 아르바이트를 해요.I am doing a part-time job to raise money for the trip.
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