거나 / 나: 'Or' Between Clauses (Pointer)

English has exactly one word for "or," and it does not care what it joins — "coffee or tea," "sleep or watch a movie," it's "or" either way. Korean splits that single job in two, and the split is structural: to offer two nouns as alternatives you use the particle (이)나, but to offer two predicates (verbs or adjectives) as alternatives you use the connective -거나 attached to the verb stem. Because English fuses both under one word, learners reach for whichever "or" they learned first and glue it onto the wrong kind of word. This short page draws the boundary; the full treatment of each form lives on its own page.

Nouns take (이)나

When the two things being offered are nouns — coffee or tea, this week or next — join them with (이)나: 나 after a vowel, 이나 after a batchim. The particle attaches to the first noun.

In 커피나 차, 커피 is a noun and takes 나 directly. This is the "or" of things — you're choosing between two nouns, not two actions.

Predicates take -거나

When the two alternatives are whole actions or states — sleep or watch a movie, be cold or be hot — you cannot use a noun particle. You attach the connective -거나 to each verb or adjective stem (the dictionary form minus 다).

자다 → stem 자- → 자거나; 춥다 → stem 춥- → 춥거나. Notice there's no 으 insertion and no vowel change — -거나 clamps straight onto the stem, consonant or vowel, with no allomorphy. This is the "or" of predicates.

The contrast in one sentence

Put both in a single context and the division of labor is obvious: the drinks are nouns (커피나 차), the activities are verbs (자거나 쉬다).

The two "or"s here are 나 (between the nouns 커피 and 차) and 거나 (between the verbs 자다 and 쉬다). They are not interchangeable: you can't say ×커피거나 차, and you can't say ×자이나 쉬다.

거나 … 거나: "whether … or"

Repeat -거나 on a pair of opposite predicates and it means "whether … or …" — the outcome is the same regardless of which holds. This use overlaps heavily with the free-choice particle 든지, and the two are often interchangeable here.

가거나 말거나 (go or not) and 크거나 작거나 (big or small) each pair a predicate with its opposite, yielding "no matter which." This is a set frame worth memorizing as a unit.

Where the full stories live

This page is a signpost, not the full map. -거나 is a connective ending, part of verb conjugation, and it belongs to the wider system of clause-joining forms — see the connectives overview for how it sits among -고, -지만, and the rest. The noun particle (이)나 has its own complete page, including its second life as an approximation marker ("about, roughly"): see (이)나: or / approximately. And for joining two whole sentences with "or" (as a standalone conjunction, "or else"), Korean uses 아니면.

Common Mistakes

1. Gluing the noun particle 이나 onto a verb stem. Verbs never take (이)나 for "or." Use -거나.

2. Gluing the connective 거나 onto a noun. Nouns never take -거나. Use (이)나.

3. Forgetting the batchim allomorph on the noun particle. After a consonant, (이)나 surfaces as 이나.

4. Attaching -거나 to the full dictionary form. -거나 goes on the stem (자-), not on 자다.

Key Takeaways

• English "or" splits in Korean by what is being joined: nouns → the particle (이)나 (커피나 차); predicates → the connective -거나 (자거나 봐요).
• (이)나 attaches to the first noun (나 after a vowel, 이나 after a batchim); -거나 attaches to each verb/adjective stem with no allomorphy.
• 거나 … 거나 on opposite predicates means "whether … or" (가거나 말거나), overlapping with 든지.
• Don't cross the wires: ×커피거나 and ×자이나 are both ungrammatical.
• For "or else" between whole sentences, use the conjunction 아니면; for the full particle and connective treatments, see (이)나 and the connectives overview.