seonsaengnimkke jilmunhal ttaemada ginjangdwaeyo.

Questions & Answers about seonsaengnimkke jilmunhal ttaemada ginjangdwaeyo.

Why is used after 선생님?

is an honorific particle meaning something like to when the person receiving the action deserves respect.

So in 선생님께 질문할 때마다, the speaker is showing politeness toward the teacher.
A less honorific version would be:

  • 선생님에게
  • 선생님한테

Those are also grammatically possible, but sounds more respectful and is very natural with 선생님.

Why is it 질문할 instead of 질문을 할?

Both are possible.

  • 질문할 때마다
  • 질문을 할 때마다

Here, 질문하다 means to ask a question. Since 질문하다 is a noun + 하다 verb, Korean often drops the object marker 을/를 in these combinations when modifying a noun like .

So 질문할 때마다 is just a slightly more compact, natural version of 질문을 할 때마다.

What does -할 때마다 mean exactly?

때마다 means every time or whenever.

Breakdown:

  • 질문하다 = to ask a question
  • 질문할 = asking / when asking
  • = time, when
  • 마다 = every, each

So 질문할 때마다 means every time I ask a question or whenever I ask a question.

It is stronger than just 질문할 때, which would mean when I ask a question.
Adding 마다 gives the sense of repetition: it happens every single time.

Why is the sentence 긴장돼요 instead of 긴장해요?

긴장되다 means to become nervous / to feel nervous / to be tense.
In everyday Korean, 긴장돼요 is a very common way to say I get nervous or I feel nervous.

Compare:

  • 긴장해요 = I tense up / I am nervous
  • 긴장돼요 = I become nervous / I get nervous

In many situations, both are possible, but 긴장돼요 often sounds especially natural when describing a feeling that arises in a situation.

Also, 돼요 is the contracted form of 되어요.

Why is it written 돼요, not 되요?

Because 되다 + 어요 becomes 되어요, and that contracts to 돼요.

So:

  • 되어요돼요
  • 되요

This is a very common spelling point in Korean.
If the full form is 되어, the contraction is .

Who is getting nervous in this sentence? Is I missing?

Yes, the subject is omitted.

Korean often leaves out subjects when they are understood from context. In this sentence, the natural interpretation is:

  • I get nervous every time I ask the teacher a question.

But technically, without context, the subject could be someone else. Korean does this a lot, so learners need to get used to understanding the omitted subject from the situation.

Does 질문하다 mean to ask or to ask a question?

More literally, 질문하다 means to ask a question.

That is why the sentence feels a little more specific than just the English verb ask.
You are not asking for anything in general; you are specifically asking a question.

So:

  • 선생님께 질문하다 = to ask the teacher a question
What politeness level is this sentence in?

It is in the polite informal style, often called the -요 form.

The ending 긴장돼요 is polite and commonly used in everyday conversation. It is appropriate in many normal situations.

Compare:

  • 긴장돼요 = polite
  • 긴장돼 = casual / plain spoken
  • 긴장됩니다 = more formal
Could I say 선생님한테 질문할 때마다 긴장돼요 instead?

Yes, you could, and it would still be natural in conversation.

But there is a nuance:

  • 선생님께 = more respectful
  • 선생님한테 = less formal, more casual
  • 선생님에게 = neutral

Because the person is a teacher, is especially appropriate and sounds more polite.

Is 선생님께 질문할 때마다 a full clause?

It is a dependent clause, not a complete sentence by itself.

It sets up the situation:

  • 선생님께 질문할 때마다 = whenever I ask the teacher a question

Then the main clause tells what happens:

  • 긴장돼요 = I get nervous

So the full sentence structure is:

  • Whenever I ask the teacher a question, I get nervous.
Can this sentence also imply a habitual feeling, not just one moment of nervousness?

Yes. Because of 때마다, the sentence strongly suggests a repeated pattern.

It is not talking about a single occasion. It means that this is what usually happens every time that situation occurs.

So the nuance is:

  • not I was nervous once
  • but I always get nervous in that situation
Why is there no topic marker like 저는?

Because Korean often omits information that is already obvious.

You could say:

  • 저는 선생님께 질문할 때마다 긴장돼요.

This would explicitly mean As for me, I get nervous every time I ask the teacher a question.

But in many contexts, 저는 is unnecessary, so Korean naturally leaves it out. The shorter version sounds smooth and normal.

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How do speech levels work in Korean?
Korean has multiple speech levels that indicate formality and politeness. The most common are the formal polite (‑습니다/‑ㅂ니다), informal polite (‑아요/‑어요), and casual (‑아/‑어) forms. Which level you use depends on who you're speaking to and the social context.

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