(Verb)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어 pattern / How BLACKPINK Jisoo says “Didn’t know I’d meet you” in Korean.

Korean sentence pattern ‘(Verb)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어’

Hi, everyone! Today, we’re going to practice an advanced Korean sentence pattern ‘(Verb)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어’. After reading today’s post, not only will you be able to learn how to say “Didn’t think ~ would happen” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how to grammatically adjust this pattern according to Korean conjugation rules. Moreover, we’ll take a look at the actual expression that BLACKPINK Jisoo used for her Instagram post. Let’s begin!

Korean verb ‘모르다’ (to not know)

First, let’s look at the word ‘몰랐어’ (Mol’lat’seo). The original verb form of ‘몰랐어’ (Mol’lat’seo) used here is ‘모르다’ (Mo’reu’da). ‘모르다’ means “to not know” and ‘몰랐다’ is the past tense.

모르다: to not know (present tense)
몰랐다: did not know (past tense)
몰랐어: did not know (conversational form)

Now, as some of you would already know, dictionary form Korean verbs change into various forms for their different uses. ‘몰랐어’ (Mol’lat’seo) is the casual and informal tone of speech for the verb ‘몰랐다’. You could say that it’s a conversational conjugation used for actual speech.

What does ‘(Verb)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어’ mean?

This expression means the following: the speaker recognized that the given (Verb) has taken place, but the speaker is also saying that they didn’t know it would happen. Hence, the expression indicates unexpectedness from the speaker’s point of view, that something happened unexpectedly.

Conjugation Rules with 만나다/하다/오다

Korean verbs have -‘다’ ending in their original dictionary forms. To use the pattern, you have to get rid of ‘다’ and add ‘-ㄹ ‘ as the final third consonant to the last syllable of the verb stem. If the verb stem already has a ‘ㄹ’ as it’s own final consonant, you can just leave it there and add ‘줄은 몰랐어’. Hence, the expression is ‘(Verb stem)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어’.

Let’s take at some examples for practice.

만나다: to meet
만나(Verb stem)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어

만날 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would meet
= Didn’t know I’d meet you here.
= Didn’t know they’d meet each other there

하다: to do
하(Verb stem)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어

할 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would do it
= Didn’t expect that you’d do it
= Didn’t expect that they’d do it

오다: to come
오(Verb stem)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어

올 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would come
= Didn’t know you’d come.
= Didn’t know she’d come.

Conjugation Rules with 먹다/찾다

Let’s take a look at some more advanced stuff. What if the last syllable of the verb stem already has its own third consonant? Let’s take the verb ‘먹다’ (to eat) as an example. We first ditch the ‘-다’ ending as usual, so that we have the verb stem ‘먹’ from ‘먹다’. The verb stem already has a ‘ㄱ’ as the final consonant, so there’s no place for ‘ㄹ’ to fit in. In this case, you’d leave the original final consonant there and add an entirely new syllable ‘-을’ to the verb stem instead of just ‘-ㄹ’.

먹다: to eat
먹(Verb stem)-을 줄은 몰랐어

먹을 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would eat (the omitted object)
= Didn’t know you’d eat that
= Didn’t know he’d eat it

찾다: to find
찾(Verb stem)-을 줄은 몰랐어

찾을 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would find (the omitted object)
= Didn’t know you’d find it
= Didn’t know they’d find you

Conjugation Rules with 눕다/굽다

There’s an exception to this rule. Only if the final consonant of the verb stem is ‘ㅂ’, then you have to delete the ‘ㅂ’ and then add an entirely new syllable ‘울’ instead of ‘-ㄹ’ or ‘-을’. Please remember, final consonant ‘ㅂ’ is paired with ‘울’ for Korean conjugation rules.

눕다: to lie down
누(Verb stem)-울 줄은 몰랐어 

누울 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would lie down
= Didn’t know he’d lie down there
= Didn’t know we’d have to lie down

굽다: to bake, to roast
구(Verb stem)-울 줄은 몰랐어

구울 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would bake it
= Didn’t know you’d roast it
= Didn’t know she’d bake it

The same goes for other verbs like ‘줍다’ (to pick something up) or adjectives including ‘어둡다’ (to be dark), ‘맵다’ (to be spicy), etc. Except, there’s an exception to the exception: ‘잡다’ (to grab). Although the verb stem of ‘잡다’ has ‘ㅂ’ as the final consonant, this verb follows the second conjugation rule instead of the third one. What was conjugation rule number two, again? Leave the original final consonant of the verb stem, and add ‘-을’ instead.

잡다: to grab, to set up (an appointment)
잡(Verb stem)-을 줄은 몰랐어  

잡을 줄은 몰랐어
= Didn’t know (the omitted actors) would grab (omitted object)
= Didn’t know you’d catch the ball
= Didn’t know they’d set up an appointment

Summary of the conjugation rules

(Verb stem)-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어

• When there’s no original final consonant, or if ‘ㄹ’ is the final consonant of the verb stem
• 하다 (to do), 만나다 (to meet), 오다 (to come)
• 울다 (to cry), 팔다 (to sell)

(Verb stem)을 줄은 몰랐어

• When the original final consonant of the verb stem is something other than ‘ㄹ’ or ‘ㅂ’
• 먹다 (to eat), 찾다 (to fine), 갚다 (to pay back), 숨다 (to hide)
• 잡다 (to grab, to catch) takes this conjugation form as an exception

(Verb stem)울 줄은 몰랐어

• When the original final consonant of the verb stem is ‘ㅂ’
• 눕다 (to lie down), 굽다 (to bake), 줍다 (to pick up)
• 맵다 (to be spicy), 어둡다 (to be dark)

“안녕? 널 파리에서 만날 줄은 몰랐어”

Jisoo’s instagram post here says “안녕?(Hello?) 널(you) 파리에서(in Paris) 만날 줄은 몰랐어.” As we learned from today’s post, ‘만날 줄은 몰랐어’ is the use of ‘-ㄹ 줄은 몰랐어’ (Didn’t know ~ would happen) sentence pattern with the verb ‘만나다’ (to meet). Hence, this can be translated as: Hello? Didn’t know I’d meet you in Paris.