3 · Sentence endings with attitude
Whether, where, how: -는지
a question inside a sentence
-는지 and -(으)ㄴ지 turn a question into part of a larger sentence: I know where …, I wonder whether ….
At a glance
- Remember
- Neunji: the question keeps its words and changes only its ending.
- Form
- 가다 → 가는지action verb, present
- Signal words
- -는지
- -(으)ㄴ지
- 인지
- 알다
- 모르다
- 궁금하다
- Trap
- Wrong:그 식당이 왜 그렇게 유명하는지 궁금해요.Right:그 식당이 왜 그렇게 유명한지 궁금해요.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
From the base form to the new form
Each row first says what the form expresses, then shows it in Korean: the base form before the arrow, the result after it.
| action verb, present | 가다 → 가는지 |
| 있다 and 없다 | 맛있다 → 맛있는지 |
| adjective after a vowel | 비싸다 → 비싼지 |
| adjective after a consonant | 좋다 → 좋은지 |
| noun | 누구 → 누구인지 / 누군지 |
| past | 가다 → 갔는지 |
| a stem in rieul | 살다 → 사는지 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
A question with a question word becomes part of the sentence with -는지 or -(으)ㄴ지.
그 사람이 어디에 사는지 알아요?Do you know where he lives?
Without a question word, the clause means “whether”.
오늘 은행이 문을 여는지 확인해 보세요.Check whether the bank is open today.
An adjective takes -(으)ㄴ지, a noun 인지.
어느 쪽이 더 싼지 모르겠어요.I don't know which one is cheaper.
For the past, every kind of word takes -았/었는지.
어제 회의가 몇 시에 끝났는지 기억나요?Do you remember what time the meeting finished yesterday?
Example sentences
화장실이 어디인지 아세요?Do you know where the toilet is?
이 단어가 무슨 뜻인지 몰라요.I don't know what this word means.
민수 씨가 왜 안 왔는지 궁금해요.I wonder why Minsu didn't come.
이 버스가 시청에 가는지 물어볼게요.I'll ask whether this bus goes to City Hall.
그 식당이 맛있는지 한번 알아볼게요.I'll find out whether that restaurant is any good.
표가 얼마인지 확인해 주세요.Please check how much the ticket is.
8 more example sentences
지금 몇 시인지 아세요?Do you know what time it is?
어느 게 제 우산인지 모르겠어요.I can't tell which one is my umbrella.
그 영화가 재미있는지 친구한테 물어봤어요.I asked a friend whether the film was any good.
집에서 회사까지 얼마나 먼지 몰라요.You can't imagine how far it is from home to work.
누가 이 그림을 그렸는지 아무도 몰라요.Nobody knows who painted this picture.
내일 비가 오는지 일기예보를 봤어요.I looked at the forecast to see whether it is raining tomorrow.
그분이 선생님인지 학생인지 잘 모르겠어요.I'm not sure whether she is a teacher or a student.
문을 잠갔는지 다시 확인해 볼게요.I'll check again whether I locked the door.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
유명하다, “to be famous”, is an adjective, so it takes the adjective modifier: 유명한지. -는지 belongs to action verbs and to 있다 and 없다 — exactly as before a noun, where it is 유명한 식당 and never 유명하는 식당.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English makes a question part of a sentence by changing the word order: “where does he live?” becomes “I know where he lives”. Korean changes the ending instead. The question stays where it is and its verb takes -지 on a modifier: 어디에 사는지 알아요, “I know where he lives”. Then comes the verb that holds it: 알다, 모르다, 궁금하다, 물어보다, 알아보다, 확인하다.
The modifier is chosen as before a noun. An action verb in the present takes -는지: 가는지, 먹는지, and so do 있다 and 없다: 있는지. An adjective takes -은지 after a consonant and -ㄴ지 after a vowel: 좋은지, 비싼지. A noun takes 인지: 누구인지, often shortened to 누군지. The past is -았/었는지 for every kind of word: 갔는지, 비쌌는지.
With a question word, the clause asks what, where, who or how: 몇 시에 시작하는지 몰라요. Without one, it means “whether”: 오늘 문을 여는지 알아요?, “do you know whether it is open today?”. Both choices can be spelt out: 가는지 안 가는지, “whether or not he is going”.
A stem in rieul loses it before the n: 살다 → 사는지, 멀다 → 먼지. For something still to come, the same frame takes -(으)ㄹ지: 올지 모르겠어요 — see the topic on -(으)ㄹ지 모르다. The usual mistake is to give an adjective the verb form: 비싸는지 instead of 비싼지.
A closer look
How much it is — or how very much
얼마나 비싼지 몰라요 can be a real question, “I don't know how expensive it is”. Said with feeling, it is an exclamation: “you have no idea how expensive it is!”. 얼마나 맛있는지 몰라요 praises the food, it does not admit ignorance.
The tone and the context decide. As an exclamation the sentence usually starts with 얼마나 and is said about something the speaker clearly knows well: 우리 딸이 얼마나 귀여운지 몰라요.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
-
a stem ends in the letter rieul (살다, 만들다, 길다)
the rieul drops before the n: 사는지, 만드는지, 긴지.
이 빵을 어떻게 만드는지 알아요?Do you know how this bread is made?
A rieul at the end of a stem disappears before an n, as in 사는 곳 and 긴 머리.
Worth knowing (1)
-
With an object particle
The whole clause can take 을/를 before the verb that holds it, which makes it a little more emphatic: 어디에 사는지를 몰라요. Most of the time it is left out.
그 사람이 누구인지를 아무도 몰랐어요.Nobody knew who he was.
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