Word
책상을 정리하는 김에 지우개랑 가위도 서랍에 넣었어.chaeksangeul jeongrihaneun gime jiugaerang gawido seorabe neoheosseo.
Meaning
While I was organizing the desk anyway, I also put the eraser and scissors in the drawer.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of chaeksangeul jeongrihaneun gime jiugaerang gawido seorabe neoheosseo.
~에~e
destination particle
~을~eul
object particle
~도~do
additive particle
책상chaeksang
desk
Questions & Answers about chaeksangeul jeongrihaneun gime jiugaerang gawido seorabe neoheosseo.
What does -는 김에 mean in this sentence?
-는 김에 means something like:
- while I’m at it
- since I’m already doing that
- taking the opportunity to do something else
So 책상을 정리하는 김에 means:
- while I was tidying the desk
- since I was already cleaning up the desk, I went ahead and...
It often implies that the second action was done because the first action created a good chance to do it.
Why is it 정리하는 김에 and not 정리한 김에?
In this pattern, -는 김에 is the normal form with action verbs.
- 정리하는 김에 = while tidying / since I’m tidying
- it focuses on the action as an ongoing situation or occasion
Even if the whole sentence is in the past, Korean still commonly uses -는 김에 to describe the situation that provided the opportunity.
So:
- 책상을 정리하는 김에 = while I was tidying the desk / since I was tidying the desk
It is best to learn -는 김에 as a set grammar pattern.
What exactly is 김 here?