📙 Lesson point
How to say “The ultimate younger line” in Korean
Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn three things today. First, we’ll learn a very difficult but commonly used Korean noun ‘궁극.’ We’ll take a look at its meaning and its various conjugation forms. Next, we’ll learn about the Korean possessive postposition ‘의’, which roughly has a similar role as ‘of’. Lastly, we’ll take a look at a commonly used Korean expression ‘동생’ (younger sibling). We’ll learn about its various meanings and use.
After reading today’s post, not only will you be able to learn how to say “The ultimate younger line” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how this Korean expression is grammatically formed. Moreover, we’ll look into the actual expression that Hanjin, Kyungmin and Jihoon of TWS used for their Instagram post. Let’s begin!
The Korean noun ‘궁극’
To begin with, let’s look at the Korean noun ‘궁극.’ This word itself means “the final end point of a journey or a direction.” It is a difficult Sino-Korean word that is based on Chinese characters, but is also one of the very commonly used words in daily conversations. It is not commonly used in its noun form independently. Rather, the adjective or adverb conjugations are used way more.
궁극적이다 : to be ultimate (adjective)
궁극적으로 : Ultimately (adverb)
Let’s look at some examples.
나의 궁극적인 목표는 세계 평화야.
My ultimate goal is world peace.
종교의 궁극적인 목적은 영적 깨달음이다.
The ultimate purpose of a religion is spiritual epiphany.
문제의 원인은 궁극적으로 사회 구조에 있어.
The cause of the problem ultimately lies in the structure of the society.
나의 모든 계획은 궁극적으로 세계 정복을 위해 존재한다.
All my plans exist ultimately for the purpose of conquering the world.
Korean possessive postposition ‘의’
Now, we’re going to learn about the Korean possessive postposition ‘의.’ It has the similar usage as the English preposition “of.” Let’s look at some examples to see how it’s used.
나 - I
나의 - My
나의 계획 - My plan
너 - You
너의 - Your
너의 가족 - Your family
종교 - Religion
종교의 - of the religion
종교의 목적 - the purpose of religion
문제 - Problem
문제의 - of the problem
문제의 원인 - the cause of the problem
What does ‘궁극의 (Noun)’ mean?
Therefore, ‘궁극의 (Noun)’ means ‘(Noun) of the ultimacy.’ Idiomatically, this phrase is used very often to mean ‘The ultimate (Noun).’ Let’s look at some examples.
궁극의 맛 - The ultimate taste
궁극의 커피 - The ultimate coffee
궁극의 퍼포먼스 - The ultimate performance
Korean word ‘동생’ (younger sibling)
Lastly, let’s learn about the Korean word ‘동생.’ It is a noun that means “younger sibling.” But, there are some things you need to know when using this expression.
Firstly, this word is a gender-neutral word. It doesn’t specify the gender of the younger sibling. Secondly, Koreans use this word to anyone who they feel close to or friendly with, even though that person is not blood-related family. Lastly, there is no gender-neutral term for ‘Older sibling’ (the opposite of ‘동생’). There are 4 different words that you can use for ‘older bro’ or ‘older sis.’
형 (speaker is male - the older bro is also male) 오빠 (speaker is female - the older bro is male) 누나 (speaker is male - the older sis is female) 언니 (speaker is female - the older sis is also female)
Hanjin, Kyungmin and Jihoon says: “궁극의 동생 라인”
To conclude, let’s look at the post Hanjin, Kyungmin and Jihoon of TWS posted on Instagram. ‘동생 라인’ would mean “the younger line,” so ‘궁극의 동생 라인’ can be translated as “the ultimate younger bros line.” It seems that Hanjin, Kyungmin and Jihoon are the younger ones in TWS, so they are calling themselves “the ultimate younger line!”