Breakdown of gagyeogeun johgineun hajiman maseun geunyang geurae.
~은~eun
topic particle
좋다johda
good
하지만hajiman
but
그냥geunyang
just
Questions & Answers about gagyeogeun johgineun hajiman maseun geunyang geurae.
What does the pattern -기는 하지만 add compared to a simple -지만?
- -기는 하지만 means “it’s true that …, but …,” acknowledging the first point before downplaying it. It has a mild, concessive tone: “I’ll give you that it’s good, but…”
- -지만 is more bare and direct: “it’s good, but …”
- Spoken contractions are common: 좋기는 하지만 → 좋긴 하지만 / 좋긴 한데. The -한데 version is especially natural in speech.
Why use 은 on both 가격은 and 맛은? Could I use 이/가 instead? And what’s the difference between 맛은 and 맛이?
- 은/는 marks topics and is perfect for contrast: 가격은 …, (하지만) 맛은 … = “as for the price…, but as for the taste…”
- 이/가 marks the grammatical subject and tends to present neutral/new information.
- You could say 가격이 좋기는 하지만 맛이 그냥 그래, and it’s grammatical, but using 은 on both sides makes the contrast sharper and more natural here.
- 맛은 = “as for the taste (specifically), …” (contrastive/topical). 맛이 = “the taste (as the subject) …” (more neutral).
Is anything omitted here? What is the subject?
Yes. Korean often drops obvious subjects. The understood subject is the item being evaluated (e.g., a dish, a restaurant, a product). So it means “As for the price (of this thing) … as for the taste (of this thing) …”
What level of politeness is this, and how can I make it polite or formal?