Questions & Answers about uija-e orae anja isseossdeoni heoriga apaseo jamkkan georeosseo.
Why is there no subject like 내가 in this sentence?
Korean often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.
In 의자에 오래 앉아 있었더니 허리가 아파서 잠깐 걸었어, the understood subject is I because:
- the sentence describes a personal experience
- -더니 often refers to something the speaker directly experienced or observed
- the ending -었어 is casual speech, often used when talking about your own actions
So Korean does not need to say 내가 unless the speaker wants extra emphasis.
Why is it 의자에 and not 의자에서?
With 앉다 and 앉아 있다, Korean normally uses 에 to mark the place where someone sits.
- 의자에 앉다 = to sit on/in a chair
- 의자에 앉아 있다 = to be sitting on/in a chair
Here, 에 marks the location/state.
에서 is more commonly used for places where an action happens, such as:
- 학교에서 공부하다 = to study at school
So in this sentence, 의자에 is the natural choice.
What does 오래 mean exactly?
오래 is an adverb meaning for a long time or long.
In this sentence, it modifies the whole verb phrase 앉아 있었더니, so it means the speaker had been sitting for a long time.
Compare:
- 오래 기다렸어 = I waited a long time
- 오래 잤어 = I slept for a long time
Why is it 앉아 있었더니 instead of just 앉았더니?
This is an important difference.
- 앉다 = to sit down
- 앉아 있다 = to be sitting
So:
- 앉았더니 sounds more like after I sat down
- 앉아 있었더니 means after/while I had been sitting
Because the sentence includes 오래 and describes a prolonged state that caused back pain, 앉아 있었더니 is much more natural.
What does -더니 mean here?
In this sentence, -더니 connects the first situation to a result that the speaker experienced or noticed.
So 앉아 있었더니 means something like:
- after I had been sitting
- when I had been sitting
- I had been sitting, and then I found that...
Here it introduces the result:
- sitting for a long time led to back pain
It often carries a nuance of direct experience or discovery.
Why is it 허리가 아파서 and not 허리를 아파서?
Because 아프다 usually treats the body part that hurts as the subject, not the object.
So Korean says:
- 허리가 아프다 = my back hurts
- 머리가 아프다 = my head hurts
- 배가 아프다 = my stomach hurts
That is why 허리 takes 가 here.
For English speakers, this can feel unusual because English often says my back hurts, where my back feels like the thing affected. Korean structures it similarly, but grammatically it uses 이/가 with 아프다.
What does 아파서 mean in this sentence?
아파서 is 아프다 plus -아서/어서, which often means because or so.
Here it gives the reason for the next action:
- 허리가 아파서 잠깐 걸었어
- My back hurt, so I walked for a bit
So the flow is:
- I had been sitting for a long time
- my back hurt
- because of that, I walked briefly
Does this sentence have two cause-and-effect links?
Yes. It is basically a chain:
- 의자에 오래 앉아 있었더니
after I had been sitting in a chair for a long time
→ 허리가 아파서
my back hurt, so / because my back hurt
→ 잠깐 걸었어
I walked for a bit
So the sentence naturally builds from one event to the next.
What does 잠깐 걸었어 mean exactly?
잠깐 means for a moment, briefly, or for a short while.
걸었어 comes from 걷다, to walk.
So 잠깐 걸었어 means:
- I walked for a little while
- I took a short walk
It does not strongly focus on destination. It just means the speaker walked briefly, probably to relieve the back pain.
What speech level is 걸었어?
걸었어 is in a casual, non-polite speech style.
The verb ending -어/아 is commonly used:
- with friends
- with younger people
- in informal conversation
- in diaries or casual narration
More polite versions would be:
- 걸었어요 = polite casual
- 걸었습니다 = formal
If you change the final verb to a polite form, the rest of the sentence should usually match that level too.
Could I replace -더니 with -아서/어서 or -니까?
Sometimes, but the nuance changes.
앉아 있었더니
after/when I had been sitting, I found that...- has a result/discovery feeling
- based on the speaker’s experience
앉아 있어서
because I was sitting...- sounds more like a simple reason
앉아 있으니까
because/when I was sitting...- can also work, but feels different in tone
In this sentence, -더니 is nice because it makes the back pain sound like the result the speaker noticed after sitting for so long.
Does 허리 mean the whole back?
Not exactly.
허리 often refers to the waist or lower back area. In many English translations, it may simply be rendered as back because that sounds natural in context.
So here, the meaning is closer to:
- my lower back hurt
- or more naturally in English, my back hurt
Is the pain happening while the speaker is sitting, or after sitting?
It is best understood as a result of having sat for a long time.
So the nuance is:
- the speaker had been sitting for a long time
- as a result, their back started hurting or was hurting
- because of that, they walked for a bit
It does not sharply separate during and after in the way English sometimes does. The important point is the causal connection from prolonged sitting to back pain.
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