seonsaengnimkke jilmunhal ttaemada ginjangdwaeyo.

Questions & Answers about seonsaengnimkke jilmunhal ttaemada ginjangdwaeyo.

Why is 께 used after 선생님?

께 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 께 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 때.

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
  • 때 = 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:

  • 되어요 → 돼요 ✔
  • 되요 ✘

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

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, 께 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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