🇺🇸 Translation
Coming back to homeland
📙 Lesson point
How to say “Coming back to homeland” in Korean
Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn two things today. First, we’ll learn about the Hanja word ‘귀국,’ which is used in Giselle’s post. Next, we’ll learn about a similar but different word, which is ‘귀가.’
After reading today’s post, not only will you be able to learn how to say “Coming back to homeland” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how this Korean word is structured. Moreover, we’ll look into the actual expression that Giselle of AESPA used for her Instagram post. Let’s begin!
Hanja word ‘귀국’
In Korea, there are a lot of native Korean words, but there are also a lot of Sino-Korean words that root from traditional Chinese characters. We call these words ‘Hanja’ words.
Chinese characters are often unable to compose words alone, and two or more Chinese characters are combined to form Chinese characters. Now, let’s look at the meaning of the Hanja word ‘귀국’ by looking at the Chinese characters that form this word.
귀 歸 - Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘return, going back’
국 國 - Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘country’
귀국 (歸國): The act of coming back to one’s home country from a foreign land
Therefore, ‘귀국하다,’ which is a verb, would mean “to go back to one’s own country, to come back to one’s own country.”
Advanced examples using ‘귀국’
저는 오늘 아침에 귀국했어요
= I came back into the (home) country this morning
에릭은 캐나다로 오늘 아침에 귀국했어요
= Eric went back to his home country, to Canada, this morning
민수 귀국 기념으로 파티하자!
= Let’s throw a party to celebrate Minsu’s homecoming (from a foreign country)!
안전 상의 이유로 대통령의 귀국 일정이 연기됐습니다.
= The president’s return schedule (back into the home country) has been postponed due to security reasons.
What does ‘귀가’ mean?
Now, let’s go a step further. Let’s look at the Hanja word ‘귀가,’ that uses similar Chinese characters, but have a slightly different meaning.
귀 歸 - Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘return, going back’
가 家 - Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘house’
귀가 (歸家): The act of coming back to one’s house from outside
Therefore, the verb form of ‘귀가,’ which is ‘귀가하다,’ would mean “to go back to one’s own house, to come back to one’s own house.” Let’s look at some examples to see how this expression is used.
걱정 마세요. 안전하게 귀가했습니다.
= Don’t worry. I got home safely
벌써 귀가 시간이야
= It’s already time to go home
Giselle says: “귀국”
To conclude, let’s look at the post Giselle of AESPA posted on her Instagram. Giselle said ‘귀국,’ with pictures of herself on an airplane. Therefore, she seems to be telling her fans that she came back home after doing her schedules abroad!