Written Korean prose — the essay (수필), the editorial (논설), the reading passages on TOPIK II — runs on a register that sounds jarring to learners raised on -아요/-습니다: the bare 한다체 (plain written style). There is no politeness ending at all. Verbs end in -(ㄴ/는)다, adjectives in bare -다, the past in -았/었다, and the effect is not rudeness but authority and impersonality — the written equivalent of the English academic "one" or the agentless passive. Nobody is speaking to anybody; the text simply asserts.
This paragraph — on technology and human connection — also showcases the connectives that carry an argument: the proportional -(으)ㄹ수록 ("the more … the more"), the trade-off -(으)ㄴ 대신 ("in return for"), the escalating -(으)ㄹ 뿐만 아니라 ("not only … but also"), and the move English speakers find most alien: -기 때문이다 as a standalone justifying sentence that puts the reason at the very end. Read sentence by sentence below.
The paragraph, sentence by sentence
현대 사회에서 인간관계는 점점 더 복잡해지고 있다.
hyeondae sahoe-eseo ingan-gwangyeneun jeomjeom deo bokjapaejigo itda
In modern society, human relationships are growing steadily more complex.
The opening sets the register immediately: 있다, not 있어요, not 있습니다. 복잡해지고 있다 is the progressive -고 있다 with the bare plain ending — "is growing complex." Note there is no subject-honorific, no politeness marker, no addressee. That bareness is the essay voice. (On this level, see written plain 한다체.)
기술은 사람 사이의 거리를 놀라울 만큼 좁혀 놓았다.
gisureun saram sai-ui georireul nollaul mankeum jopyeo noatda
Technology has narrowed the distance between people to a remarkable degree.
The past -았/었다: 놓았다 ("has narrowed and left [it that way]"). 좁혀 놓다 is the resultant auxiliary 놓다 ("do and leave in place"). 놀라울 만큼 = "to a degree that is astonishing." This is the past tense stripped of any politeness — the plain -았다 that essays and narration use.
그러나 사람들은 편리함을 얻은 대신 진정한 소통을 잃어버렸다.
geureona saramdeureun pyeollihameul eodeun daesin jinjeonghan sotong-eul ireobeoryeotda
But people, in exchange for gaining convenience, have lost genuine communication.
The argument turns with 그러나 (the formal-written "but," stiffer than spoken 하지만). The key construction is the trade-off -(으)ㄴ 대신(에): 편리함을 얻은 대신 = "in return for having gained convenience." 대신 ("instead of / in exchange for") frames a cost-benefit swap — you got X, and the price was Y. 잃어버렸다 ("have lost [for good]") is again bare plain past, with the auxiliary 버리다 marking irreversible loss.
우리는 수백 명과 연결되어 있으면서도 정작 더 큰 외로움을 느낀다.
urineun subaek myeonggwa yeongyeoldoe-eo isseumyeonseodo jeongjak deo keun oeroumeul neukkinda
Even while we are connected to hundreds of people, we in fact feel a greater loneliness.
느낀다 is the plain present of a verb — 느끼다 → 느낀다 (verb stem + -ㄴ다). The paradox is built with -(으)면서도 ("even while"): 연결되어 있으면서도 = "even while [we] are connected." 정작 ("actually, when it comes to it") sharpens the contrast. Notice again: a verb takes -ㄴ다 (느낀다), the mark of the plain declarative.
이러한 단절은 개인의 문제일 뿐만 아니라 사회 전체의 문제이다.
ireohan danjeoreun gaein-ui munjeil ppunman anira sahoe jeonche-ui munjeida
This disconnection is not merely an individual problem but a problem for society as a whole.
The escalation -(으)ㄹ 뿐만 아니라 ("not only … but also"): 개인의 문제일 뿐만 아니라 = "is not only an individual problem." Built on the bound noun 뿐 ("only") + 만 아니라 ("not just"), it raises the stakes from small to large. And the sentence ends in the plain copula 문제이다 — not 문제예요, not 문제입니다. The bare -이다 is how essays assert identity.
개인의 고립이 공동체 전체를 병들게 하기 때문이다.
gaein-ui goribi gongdongche jeonchereul byeongdeulge hagi ttaemunida
It is because the isolation of the individual sickens the entire community.
Here is the construction that reorganizes how English speakers think about reasons: -기 때문이다 as a complete, standalone sentence. It does not attach to the previous clause; it follows the claim it justifies, as its own sentence, meaning "[This is so] because…". 병들게 하다 = "cause to fall ill" (the -게 하다 causative). English would fold this into the prior sentence ("…because it sickens the community"); Korean essays routinely split the reason off and end it with 때문이다. (Contrast the subordinate connector 때문에.)
그러나 기술이 발전할수록 우리는 서로를 더 깊이 이해하려고 노력해야 한다.
geureona gisuri baljeonhalsurok urineun seororeul deo gipi ihaeharyeogo noryeokaeya handa
Yet the more technology advances, the harder we must try to understand each other more deeply.
The proportional -(으)ㄹ수록: 발전할수록 = "the more it advances." It pairs naturally with a 더 ("more") in the main clause — 발전할수록 … 더 깊이 = "the more … the more deeply." 이해하려고 uses the intention connective -(으)려고 ("in order to"), and the obligation -어야 하다 ("must") closes in plain 한다 — 노력해야 한다. (On the proportional, see -(으)ㄹ수록.)
진정한 소통은 편리함이 아니라 꾸준한 관심에서 나오기 때문이다.
jinjeonghan sotong-eun pyeollihami anira kkujunhan gwansimeseo naogi ttaemunida
This is because genuine communication comes not from convenience but from steady attention.
A second standalone -기 때문이다, justifying the claim before it. The pattern A이/가 아니라 B ("not A but B") — 편리함이 아니라 관심에서 — is the essay's favorite way to correct a false assumption. Again the reason lands as its own sentence, ending in 때문이다.
따라서 우리는 기술을 도구로 삼되 그것에 지배당해서는 안 된다.
ttaraseo urineun gisureul doguro samdoe geugeose jibaedanghaeseoneun an doenda
Therefore we must use technology as a tool, yet not be dominated by it.
따라서 ("therefore") is the formal-written conclusion marker. 삼되 uses the bookish connective -되 ("do X, but/while"), and 지배당하다 ("to be dominated," a 당하다-passive) plus -아/어서는 안 되다 ("must not") ends in the plain 안 된다. The whole apparatus stays in 한다체.
결국 인간을 인간답게 만드는 것은 기술의 속도가 아니라 관계의 깊이이다.
gyeolguk in-ganeul in-gandapge mandeuneun geoseun gisurui sokdoga anira gwangye-ui gipi-ida
In the end, what makes a human being human is not the speed of technology but the depth of relationships.
The conclusion, built as a cleft: 만드는 것은 … 깊이이다 ("what makes … is depth"). 인간답게 = "in a human-like way" (the -답다 suffix + adverbial -게). It closes, fittingly, on the bare copula -이다 — the plain assertion that is the whole register's signature. (See the plain written copula.)
What to notice
- Every predicate is bare 한다체: verbs in -ㄴ다/-는다 (느낀다, 된다), adjectives and the copula in plain -다/-이다 (복잡하다, 문제이다, 깊이이다), the past in -았/었다 (놓았다, 잃어버렸다). No politeness ending appears anywhere — that impersonality is the point.
- The argument moves on written connectives: 그러나 / 따라서 frame the turns, -(으)ㄴ 대신 marks the trade-off, -(으)ㄹ 뿐만 아니라 escalates, -(으)ㄹ수록 states the proportion.
- -기 때문이다 ends a reason as its own standalone sentence — the reason lands after the claim, not folded inside it.
- The frame A이/가 아니라 B ("not A but B") recurs as the essay's tool for correcting a false premise.
Common Mistakes
1. Slipping a politeness ending into 한다체 prose. An essay must stay bare; -아요 or -습니다 breaks the register.
❌ 인간관계는 점점 더 복잡해지고 있어요.
Wrong register for an essay — plain written style takes the bare ending: 복잡해지고 있다.
✅ 인간관계는 점점 더 복잡해지고 있다.
ingan-gwangyeneun jeomjeom deo bokjapaejigo itda
Human relationships are growing steadily more complex.
2. Putting -ㄴ다 on an adjective. Verbs take -ㄴ다/-는다, but adjectives and the copula keep plain -다.
❌ 진정한 소통은 무엇보다 중요한다.
Wrong — 중요하다 is an adjective, so plain style keeps -다: 중요하다 (not 중요한다).
✅ 진정한 소통은 무엇보다 중요하다.
jinjeonghan sotong-eun mueotboda jung-yohada
Genuine communication is more important than anything.
3. Using -(으)면 where the argument needs the proportional -(으)ㄹ수록. -(으)면 means "if/when"; it cannot express "the more … the more."
❌ 기술이 발전하면 우리는 더 노력해야 한다.
Meaning shift — 발전하면 means 'if it advances'; for 'the more it advances' use 발전할수록.
✅ 기술이 발전할수록 우리는 더 노력해야 한다.
gisuri baljeonhalsurok urineun deo noryeokaeya handa
The more technology advances, the harder we must try.
4. Ending a standalone justification with -기 때문에 instead of -기 때문이다. -기 때문에 is a subordinate connector and leaves the sentence a fragment; a standalone reason needs the copula 이다.
❌ 진정한 소통은 꾸준한 관심에서 나오기 때문에.
Fragment — as a standalone justifying sentence it must end 나오기 때문이다, not 때문에.
✅ 진정한 소통은 꾸준한 관심에서 나오기 때문이다.
jinjeonghan sotong-eun kkujunhan gwansimeseo naogi ttaemunida
It is because genuine communication comes from steady attention.
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- 한다체: The Default Written StyleTOPIK 3 — The plain -(느)ㄴ다 / -다 endings are the register-less voice of impersonal Korean writing — books, news, essays, diaries — carrying no rudeness at all, because register lives in the channel, not the form.
- 한다체: The Plain / Written Declarative (-ㄴ/는다)TOPIK 2 — The plain style whose declarative splits action verbs (간다, 먹는다) from adjectives and the copula (좋다, 학생이다) — the addressee-neutral register of books, news, and diaries, and the cleanest place to internalize Korean's verb-vs-adjective divide.
- -(으)ㄹ수록: The More… The MoreTOPIK 3 — The proportional ending -(으)ㄹ수록 packs the whole English 'the more X, the more Y' correlative into a single verb ending — usually paired with a -(으)면 clause repeating the same verb.
- -기 때문에 · -(으)ㄴ 탓에 · -(으)ㄴ 덕분에: Because / Fault / ThanksTOPIK 3 — Three noun-based causal frames that force you to color the cause: neutral 때문에, blaming 탓에, and grateful 덕분에 — picking the wrong one flips the meaning.
- A News Headline & Lede (뉴스 표제·리드)TOPIK 5 — A real economic-policy headline and its opening lede, annotated line by line — the verbless noun-predicate of the headline, the plain-narrative 한다체 of the body, the quotative -다고 밝히다 ('revealed that'), the passive -되다 / -(으)ㄹ 것으로 전망되다 ('is forecast to'), and the dense Sino-Korean compounding of written journalism.