3 · Helping verbs and modal patterns
Done and gone: -아/어 버리다
completion with feeling
버리다, "to throw away", after -아/어: it is done completely — to the speaker's regret or relief.
The main verb takes -아/어 and 버리다 follows: 가 버리다, 먹어 버리다, 해 버리다. 버리다 carries the tense, and most of the time it is the past: 가 버렸어요. Two combinations are so common that dictionaries list them as single words, and they are always written together: 잊어버리다 "to forget" and 잃어버리다 "to lose".
As a main verb 버리다 means "to throw away", and the helping verb keeps that picture: the action is finished, nothing is left, and it cannot be taken back. 버스가 떠나 버렸어요 is not just "the bus left" but "the bus has gone, and that is that". English reaches for "gone and", "just", "already" or "all" to say the same.
The feeling attached is either regret or relief, and the context decides. 케이크를 다 먹어 버렸어요, "I ate the whole cake", sounds guilty; 숙제를 다 해 버렸어요, "I got all my homework out of the way", sounds pleased. Both have the sense that something is now over and done with. 다, "all", and 벌써, "already", are its natural companions.
It belongs to spoken, expressive Korean. A neutral report needs no 버리다: "I met a friend yesterday" is 어제 친구를 만났어요, and adding 버리다 would make the meeting sound like an accident or a disaster. In writing, the same regret is often expressed with -고 말다: 결국 울고 말았다, "in the end I broke down in tears".
The form
| last vowel a or o | 가다 → 가 버렸어요 |
| other vowels | 먹다 → 먹어 버렸어요 |
| 하다 verbs | 하다 → 해 버렸어요 |
| one word: forget | 잊어버렸어요 |
| one word: lose | 잃어버렸어요 |
| in writing | 잠들고 말았다 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-아/어 버리다 says that an action is complete and cannot be undone.
기차가 벌써 떠나 버렸어요.The train had already gone.
It often carries regret: something happened that should not have.
실수로 친구의 비밀을 말해 버렸어요.I let my friend's secret slip by mistake.
It can also carry relief: a burden is out of the way.
밀린 빨래를 오늘 다 해 버렸어요.Today I finally got all the washing done.
잊어버리다 and 잃어버리다 are single words and are written as one.
지갑을 잃어버렸어요.I have lost my wallet.
A closer look
Regret or relief
The pattern itself only says "completely, and for good". Whether that is bad or good comes from the situation: losing, forgetting, missing and breaking are regrets; finishing, deciding and throwing out what was in the way are reliefs. 고민하다가 그냥 사 버렸어요, "I agonised over it and then just bought it", can be either — and a Korean listener hears the tone of voice.
Written Korean prefers -고 말다 for the regretful side, which sounds more literary: 약속을 잊고 말았다. -고 말다 has no relief reading, so it is never a replacement for the pleased 버리다.
How to spot it
- -아/어 버리다
- -아/어 버렸어요
- 다
- 벌써
Example sentences
배가 너무 고파서 동생 몫까지 먹어 버렸어요.I was so hungry that I ate my younger sibling's share as well.
늦게 일어나서 비행기를 놓쳐 버렸어요.I overslept and missed my flight.
비밀번호를 또 잊어버렸어요.I have forgotten my password again.
하기 싫은 일은 빨리 해 버리는 게 좋아요.It's best to get the jobs you don't want to do out of the way quickly.
영화가 너무 지루해서 중간에 잠들어 버렸어요.The film was so boring that I fell asleep halfway through.
화가 나서 그 편지를 찢어 버렸어요.I was so angry that I tore up the letter.
7 more example sentences
친구가 화가 나서 먼저 가 버렸어요.My friend got angry and went off without me.
세일이라서 월급을 다 써 버렸어요.There was a sale, so I spent my whole salary.
우산을 지하철에 두고 내려 버렸어요.I got off the underground and left my umbrella behind.
아이스크림이 다 녹아 버렸네요.Oh no, the ice cream has completely melted.
그 사람 이름을 완전히 잊어버렸어요.I have completely forgotten that person's name.
보고서를 오늘 밤에 끝내 버릴게요.I'll get the report finished tonight and be done with it.
컴퓨터가 갑자기 꺼져서 파일이 다 없어져 버렸어요.The computer suddenly shut down and all the files disappeared.
Worth knowing (1)
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잊어버리다 rather than 잊다
잊다 and 잃다 exist on their own, but in conversation Koreans nearly always say 잊어버렸어요 and 잃어버렸어요. The plain 잊었어요 sounds a little bookish.
어디에 뒀는지 잊어버렸어요.I have forgotten where I put it.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
버리다 is not a neutral past tense. On an ordinary event it adds a feeling that is not there, and "I met a friend" turns into something like "I went and met a friend, worse luck".
Beorida throws the action away: done, gone, and the speaker has feelings about it.
Your turn
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