3 · Helping verbs and modal patterns
Coming to do: -게 되다
a change that happens to you
Stem plus -게 되다: things turned out so that you do it — through circumstance rather than a decision.
The pattern is the bare stem, then -게, then 되다, with no vowel choice: 가게 되다, 먹게 되다, 알게 되다. 되다 carries the tense: 가게 돼요, 가게 됐어요, 가게 될 거예요. The past 됐어요 is often used for something still to come, once the arrangement has been made: 다음 달에 서울로 가게 됐어요, "I'll be moving to Seoul next month".
It presents a change as something that came about rather than something you chose: 회사 때문에 부산에서 살게 됐어요, "because of work I ended up living in Busan". With verbs of feeling and knowing it describes a gradual change: 한국 음식을 좋아하게 됐어요, "I have come to like Korean food"; 알게 됐어요, "I found out".
Koreans use it to announce their own news, because it sounds modest: 다음 달에 결혼하게 됐어요 presents the wedding as something that has happened to you, not as a triumph. In formal speech and announcements it becomes -게 되었습니다. English renders it in many ways — "it turns out", "I've been transferred", "I get to", "I ended up" — so learners rarely think of it.
-게 되다 is for verbs. When an adjective changes — the weather gets cold, a room gets clean — Korean uses -아/어지다: 추워졌어요, not 춥게 됐어요. And it is the opposite of -게 하다: 되다 is what happens to you, 하다 is what you make happen to someone else.
The form
| any verb stem | 가다 → 가게 돼요 |
| past | 가게 됐어요 |
| future | 가게 될 거예요 |
| formal announcement | 가게 되었습니다 |
| no longer able | 못 가게 됐어요 |
| find out | 알게 됐어요 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-게 되다 attaches to any verb stem without change.
다음 달부터 서울에서 일하게 됐어요.From next month I'll be working in Seoul.
It presents a change as something that came about, not as your own decision.
회사 일 때문에 혼자 살게 됐어요.Because of work, I ended up living on my own.
With a verb of feeling or knowing, it describes a gradual change.
한국에 살면서 김치를 좋아하게 됐어요.Living in Korea, I have come to like kimchi.
In announcements, -게 되었습니다 sounds modest.
이번에 저희가 결혼하게 되었습니다.We are pleased to say that we are getting married.
A closer look
Decided, or it came about
Two sentences can report the same wedding. 결혼하기로 했어요 says "we decided to get married", with the couple as the actors. 결혼하게 됐어요 says "it has come about that we are getting married". The second is what most Koreans say when sharing good news, because putting yourself forward as the one who achieved something can sound self-satisfied.
The same modesty is behind -게 되었습니다 in notices from shops and companies: 영업시간이 변경되게 되었습니다 is common, if stylistically criticised as wordy. A simpler 변경되었습니다 says the same.
How to spot it
- -게 되다
- -게 됐어요
- 알게 되다
- -게 되었습니다
Example sentences
친구 소개로 지금 남편을 만나게 됐어요.I met my husband through a friend.
비가 많이 와서 소풍을 못 가게 됐어요.It rained so much that we couldn't go on the picnic after all.
그 일은 나중에 알게 됐어요.I only found out about that later.
처음에는 매운 음식을 못 먹었는데 이제는 잘 먹게 됐어요.At first I couldn't eat spicy food, but now I can.
다음 주에 출장을 가게 될 것 같아요.It looks as if I will be going on a business trip next week.
갑자기 발표를 맡게 돼서 걱정이에요.I've suddenly been given the presentation, and I'm worried.
8 more example sentences
한국 드라마를 보다가 한국어를 공부하게 됐어요.I got into studying Korean through watching Korean dramas.
그 사람이랑 같은 팀에서 일하게 됐어요.I've ended up working on the same team as that person.
이사를 해서 학교를 옮기게 됐어요.We moved house, so I had to change schools.
요즘 바빠서 운동을 거의 못 하게 됐어요.I've been so busy lately that I hardly get to exercise any more.
이 책을 읽고 많은 것을 생각하게 됐어요.This book got me thinking about a lot of things.
내년에는 아마 고향으로 돌아가게 될 거예요.Next year I will probably end up going back home.
어떻게 이 일을 하게 되셨어요?How did you come to be doing this job?
저희 가게는 이번 달 말에 문을 닫게 되었습니다.Our shop will be closing at the end of this month.
Worth knowing (1)
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Asking how someone got into something
어떻게 한국어를 배우게 되셨어요? is the polite way to ask how someone came to learn Korean. 왜 배워요? can sound like a challenge; -게 되다 asks for the story instead.
어떻게 한국에 오게 되셨어요?What brought you to Korea?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
An adjective that changes takes -아/어지다: 추워졌어요, "it has got cold". -게 되다 is for verbs — for coming to do something.
Ge doeda: it turned out that way — circumstances, not a decision.
Your turn
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