나 혼자 먹기 아까운데 meaning / How MONSTAX Kihyun says “It’s a waste to eat alone” in Korean.

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How to say “It’s a waste to eat alone” in Korean

Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn two things today. First, we’re going to learn about the expression ‘아깝다.’ Next, we’ll learn about the form of ‘혼자 (verb)기 아깝다.’

After reading today’s post, you’ll not only be able to know how to say “it’s such a waste to ~” in Korean, but you’ll also be able to learn how this expression is grammatically formed and conjugated forms of it. Moreover, we’ll look into the actual expression that Kihyun of MONSTA X used for his Instagram post. Let’s begin!

The Korean expression ‘아깝다’

First, let’s look at the commonly used expression, ‘아깝다.’ It is a Korean adjective that does not have a directly equivalent word in English. ‘아깝다’ is mainly used in two meanings.

아깝다
(1) Having a feeling of disappointment or disappointment because of the loss of something to cherish.
(2) having a feeling of pity that valuable objects are not used or handled properly.

Let’s look at some cases where ‘아깝다’ would be used a lot.

- When you could've succeeded, but failed by a narrow gap (the first meaning)
- When valuable goods such as water and money are wasted (the second meaning)

Now, let’s look at some example sentences.

안나는 시험을 정말 아깝게 통과하지 못했다.
= Anna didn’t pass the exam by a really narrow score. (first meaning)

이번엔 정말 성공할 수 있었는데... 아깝다.
= This time, I could’ve really succeeded... but it's such a shame. (Implying that I didn't make it and failed by a really narrow gap)

이 양말에 20달러를 주기에는 아깝다.
= It feels like a waste to pay 20 dollars for these socks. (second meaning)

이 귀한 종이를 낙서하는데 쓰다니, 너무 아깝다.
= How can you use this precious paper for random scribbling, it’s such a waste. (second meaning)

The conjugated form ‘혼자 (verb)기 아깝다’

Now, let’s go a step further. In this form, ‘혼자 (verb)기 아깝다,’ ‘아깝다’ has the second meaning (When valuable goods such as water and money are wasted). However, it has a strong meaning of regret and frustration that it would’ve been better to do (verb) together, and (verb) is too good to do alone.

혼자 (verb)기 아깝다
= It’s a waste to do (verb) alone.

So, how can we make this expression? It’s very easy. To use this expression, all you need to do is remove ‘-다’ from the original form of verbs and add ‘기’ to it.

하다 (to do)
→ 혼자 하기 아깝다. (It’s a waste to do it alone - implying that doing that is such a cherished opportunity)

먹다 (to eat)
→ 혼자 먹기 아깝다. (It’s a waste to eat it alone - implying that the food tastes really good or special)

보다 (to see, to watch)
→ 혼자 보기 아깝다. (It’s a waste to watch it alone - implying that the thing that you're seeing is such a spectacular or rare view)

Kihyun says: 진짜 맛있는데, 나 혼자 먹기 아까운데

To wrap up with, let’s look at the full statement Kihyun posted on his Instagram post. ‘진짜 맛있는데’ can be translated as “it’s really delicious, tho.” Therefore, the given sentence, “진짜 맛있는데, 나 혼자 먹기 아까운데” has the meaning of “it’s really delicious, feels like such a waste to eat it alone.” It includes a feeling a regret that the food is too good to eat it alone. As he posted photos of a chewing candy and added the hashtags that it is an ad, he seems to advertising a candy, saying it is too good for him to eat alone.