4 · Prepositions and fixed patterns
So much that: -(으)ㄹ 정도로
degree shown by a consequence
-(으)ㄹ 정도로 and -(으)ㄹ 정도이다 show how strong something is by naming what it was enough to cause.
At a glance
- Remember
- L jeongdoro: so much that this could happen — and the l never changes.
- Form
- 나다 → 눈물이 날 정도로after a vowel
- Signal words
- -(으)ㄹ 정도로
- -(으)ㄹ 정도이다
- 정도
- 너무
- Trap
- Wrong:배가 터지는 정도로 먹었어요.Right:배가 터질 정도로 먹었어요.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| after a vowel | 나다 → 눈물이 날 정도로 |
| after a consonant | 죽다 → 죽을 정도로 |
| can hardly | 걸을 수 없을 정도로 |
| at the end | 없을 정도예요 |
| after a number: about | 세 시간 정도 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-(으)ㄹ 정도로 shows a degree by naming a consequence it is enough for.
눈물이 날 정도로 웃었어요.I laughed so much I cried.
The modifier is always -(으)ㄹ, also for the past.
어제는 목이 쉴 정도로 노래를 불렀어요.Yesterday I sang so much I lost my voice.
At the end of a sentence, -(으)ㄹ 정도예요.
너무 추워서 손이 얼 정도예요.It is so cold my hands are nearly freezing.
After a number, 정도 means “about”.
집에서 회사까지 한 시간 정도 걸려요.It takes about an hour from home to work.
Example sentences
말을 못 할 정도로 피곤했어요.I was so tired I could not speak.
잠을 못 잘 정도로 걱정이 많아요.I am so worried I can hardly sleep.
그 영화는 다시 볼 정도로 재미있었어요.The film was good enough to watch again.
발음이 한국 사람이라고 착각할 정도로 좋아요.Her pronunciation is so good you would take her for a Korean.
숨을 쉴 수 없을 정도로 사람이 많았어요.It was so crowded you could hardly breathe.
그 음식은 혀가 마비될 정도로 매워요.That food is so spicy it makes your tongue go numb.
7 more example sentences
그 소식을 듣고 믿을 수 없을 정도로 놀랐어요.I was so shocked by the news I could not believe it.
발이 아플 정도로 많이 걸었어요.We walked so much our feet hurt.
너무 바빠서 화장실 갈 시간도 없을 정도예요.I am so busy I hardly have time to go to the toilet.
그 가수는 모르는 사람이 없을 정도로 유명해요.That singer is so famous that everyone knows her.
아기가 깰 정도로 큰 소리가 났어요.There was a noise loud enough to wake the baby.
한국어를 오 년 정도 배웠어요.I have learnt Korean for about five years.
귀가 아플 정도로 음악 소리가 커요.The music is so loud it hurts your ears.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The consequence that measures the degree takes the modifier -(으)ㄹ, whatever the tense of the sentence: 터질 정도로. It names what the amount would be enough for, not something that is happening.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
정도 means “degree, extent”. After the future modifier -(으)ㄹ it measures one thing by another: 눈물이 날 정도로 웃었어요, “I laughed so much I cried”, literally “to the degree that tears would come”. After a vowel the modifier is -ㄹ: 날 정도로; after a consonant -을: 죽을 정도로.
The -(으)ㄹ is not a future. It names a consequence that the degree would be enough for, whether or not it happened: 걸을 수 없을 정도로 다리가 아파요, “my leg hurts so much I can hardly walk”. This is the same modifier as in -(으)ㄹ 수 있다.
At the end of a sentence, -(으)ㄹ 정도예요 states the degree as a fact: 너무 바빠서 밥 먹을 시간도 없을 정도예요, “I'm so busy I hardly have time to eat”. The first half is often an exaggeration, as in English “I nearly died laughing”.
After a number, 정도 on its own means “about”: 세 시간 정도, “about three hours”. And next to 만큼, which compares two equal amounts, 정도 stresses how far something goes.
A closer look
정도로 and 만큼
-(으)ㄹ 만큼 can often replace -(으)ㄹ 정도로: 눈물이 날 만큼 웃었어요. 만큼sounds a little more like a measurement of equal amounts정도more like a level reached
With a past modifier, 만큼 compares with a real event: 먹은 만큼 운동하세요, “exercise as much as you ate”. 정도 does not do that; it always looks at a possible consequence.
Worth knowing (1)
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How bad is it? 어느 정도예요?
어느 정도 asks about a degree: 한국어를 어느 정도 하세요?, “how good is your Korean?”. As an answer, 어느 정도 means “to some extent”.
한국어를 어느 정도 할 수 있어요.I can speak Korean to some extent.
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