3 · Helping verbs and modal patterns
Know how to: -(으)ㄹ 줄 알다/모르다
a learned skill
For skills you have learned or never learned: -(으)ㄹ 줄 알아요 and -(으)ㄹ 줄 몰라요.
The verb takes the same modifier as in -을 수 있다, followed by the dependent noun 줄, "the way, the method", and 알다 "to know": 탈 줄 알아요, 읽을 줄 알아요, 만들 줄 알아요. 알다 drops its l before some endings — 압니다, 아세요, 아는 — and the negative is not 안 알아요 but the separate verb 모르다, which doubles its l: 몰라요, 모르세요.
The meaning is knowing the method, so the pattern is for skills somebody learnt: driving, swimming, skiing, an instrument, a language, using chopsticks, cooking a dish, working a machine. That separates it from -을 수 있다, which is about whether the circumstances allow it. A person can know how to drive and still be unable to: 운전할 줄 알지만 오늘은 술을 마셔서 운전할 수 없어요.
It is a natural small-talk question — 수영할 줄 알아요? — and with 모르다 a modest admission: 요리할 줄 몰라요, "I never learnt to cook". With someone older, honour the subject on both verbs: 운전하실 줄 아세요?.
In the past tense the pattern has a second meaning that catches English speakers out. 비가 올 줄 알았어요 does not mean "I knew how to rain": it is "I thought it would rain" when it did not, and "I knew it would rain" when it did — the situation decides. 이렇게 추울 줄 몰랐어요 is "I never expected it to be this cold". When the verb in front is not a skill, or the sentence is about a surprise, read it as an expectation.
The form
| after a vowel | 타다 → 탈 줄 알아요 |
| after a consonant | 읽다 → 읽을 줄 알아요 |
| stem ending in l | 만들다 → 만들 줄 알아요 |
| don't know how | 탈 줄 몰라요 |
| honorific question | 타실 줄 아세요? |
| I thought it would … | 비가 올 줄 알았어요 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-을 줄 알다 is for a skill somebody has learnt.
저는 자전거를 탈 줄 알아요.I know how to ride a bicycle.
The negative is 모르다, never 안 알다.
저는 수영할 줄 몰라요.I can't swim (I never learnt).
When the skill is there but the situation blocks it, use -을 수 없다 instead.
운전할 줄 알지만 오늘은 술을 마셔서 운전할 수 없어요.I can drive, but I've had a drink today, so I can't.
In the past, 알았다 and 몰랐다 can mean "I thought" and "I never expected".
여기가 이렇게 추울 줄 몰랐어요.I never expected it to be this cold here.
A closer look
What you thought was true
With the present or past modifier instead of the future one, the pattern says what you assumed about a situation: 학생인 줄 알았어요, "I thought you were a student"; 벌써 간 줄 알았어요, "I thought you had already left". With 알았다 the assumption has often turned out to be wrong.
With 몰랐다 it says you were unaware: 오늘이 휴일인 줄 몰랐어요, "I didn't know today was a holiday". Context decides between skill and assumption, and in practice it rarely leaves any doubt: nobody learns how to be a holiday.
How to spot it
- -(으)ㄹ 줄 알다
- -(으)ㄹ 줄 모르다
- -(으)ㄹ 줄 알았다
- 줄
Example sentences
혹시 젓가락을 사용할 줄 아세요?Do you know how to use chopsticks, by any chance?
우리 할머니는 컴퓨터를 쓸 줄 모르세요.My grandmother does not know how to use a computer.
저는 한글은 읽을 줄 아는데 뜻은 잘 몰라요.I can read Hangul, but I don't really know what the words mean.
동생은 기타를 칠 줄 알아요.My younger sibling can play the guitar.
아버지는 요리를 전혀 하실 줄 모르세요.My father has no idea how to cook.
비가 올 줄 알고 우산을 가져왔어요.I thought it would rain, so I brought an umbrella.
8 more example sentences
친구는 떡볶이를 만들 줄 알아요.My friend knows how to make tteokbokki.
저는 아직 운전할 줄 몰라요.I still don't know how to drive.
이 기계를 쓸 줄 몰라서 직원에게 물어봤어요.I didn't know how to use this machine, so I asked a member of staff.
혹시 피아노 칠 줄 알아요?Do you play the piano, by any chance?
그 사람이 그렇게 유명한 줄 몰랐어요.I had no idea that person was so famous.
시험이 이렇게 어려울 줄 몰랐어요.I never expected the exam to be this difficult.
스키를 탈 줄 아는 사람이 있어요?Is there anyone here who knows how to ski?
저희 아이는 벌써 혼자 옷을 입을 줄 알아요.Our child already knows how to get dressed alone.
Worth knowing (1)
-
I thought …, and I was wrong
The pattern with the present modifier is the everyday way to admit a mistaken assumption. It is polite as well as honest: it says the error was yours.
오늘이 토요일인 줄 알았어요.I thought today was Saturday.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
알다 has its own opposite, 모르다, and Korean uses it every time. 안 알아요 is not Korean at all.
Jul alda for a skill you learnt, jul moreuda for one you never did — and in the past it can mean "I thought".
Your turn
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