oneul jeonyeogeneun saengseoneul gupneun daesine dwaejigogireul bokka meogeosseoyo.

에 marks the time, so 오늘 저녁에 simply means this evening / at dinner tonight.

Adding 는 after 에 makes it 오늘 저녁에는, which gives a topic or contrastive feeling. It can sound like:

• As for tonight’s dinner...
• Tonight, though...
• At least for dinner tonight...

In this sentence, 에는 helps set up the situation before the contrast with 대신에 (instead of). So it feels very natural.

Because 생선 is the direct object of 굽는 (grilling).

So:

• 생선 = fish
• 생선을 = fish + object marker
• 굽다 = to grill / roast

Even though 굽는 is not the final verb of the sentence, it is still a verb, and 생선 is still its object. So 생선을 굽는 대신에 means instead of grilling fish.

대신에 does mean instead of / in place of, but when it follows a verb, that verb usually appears in a modifying form.

For action verbs, Korean commonly uses:

• -는 대신(에)

So:

• 굽다 → 굽는 대신에
• 먹다 → 먹는 대신에
• 가다 → 가는 대신에

That gives the meaning instead of doing X.

Here:

• 생선을 굽는 대신에 = instead of grilling fish

So 대신에 is not standing alone; it is being connected to the action 굽는.

This is because the grammar pattern here is verb stem + 는 대신에 for action verbs.

Compare:

• 굽는 대신에 = instead of grilling
• 볶는 대신에 = instead of stir-frying
• 가는 대신에 = instead of going

구운 is a different modifier form, usually meaning grilled or that was grilled. For example:

• 구운 생선 = grilled fish

굽기 turns the verb into a noun-like form (grilling), but that is not the pattern used here.

So in this sentence, 굽는 대신에 is the correct and natural structure.

This is a very common Korean pattern:

• 볶다 = to stir-fry
• 먹다 = to eat
• 볶아 먹다 = to stir-fry something and eat it

The first verb describes how the food is prepared, and 먹다 shows that the speaker actually ate it.

So:

• 돼지고기를 볶았어요 = I stir-fried pork
• 돼지고기를 볶아 먹었어요 = I stir-fried pork and ate it / I ate pork stir-fried

This often sounds more natural in Korean when talking about food because it emphasizes both the cooking method and the eating.

Similar examples:

• 끓여 먹다 = boil and eat
• 구워 먹다 = grill and eat
• 데워 먹다 = heat up and eat

Not exactly.

• 볶었어요 = stir-fried it
• 볶아 먹었어요 = stir-fried it and ate it

So 먹었어요 adds the idea that this was something eaten as a meal, not just cooked.

In food-related sentences, Korean often prefers this kind of expression because it sounds complete and natural.

Korean often omits the subject when it is already understood from context.

So this sentence does not explicitly say:

• I ate
• we ate
• my family ate

But a listener will usually understand it from the situation.

In natural English, we often need to add a subject:

• I ate stir-fried pork instead of grilling fish for dinner tonight.
• We had stir-fried pork instead of grilled fish tonight.

In Korean, leaving the subject out is very normal.

They are different cooking verbs:

• 굽다 = to grill, roast, broil, cook over direct heat
• 볶다 = to stir-fry, sauté, fry while stirring

So:

• 생선을 굽다 = to grill fish
• 돼지고기를 볶다 = to stir-fry pork

These are specific cooking methods, so Korean often uses different verbs where English might sometimes just say cook.

Because 돼지고기 is the object of the action.

• 돼지고기 = pork
• 돼지고기를 = pork + object marker

The speaker is doing something to the pork: stir-frying and eating it.

Using 가 would make 돼지고기 the subject, which would not fit this sentence naturally.

It shows two things:

1. Past tense

   • 먹어요 = eat / eats
   • 먹었어요 = ate

2. Polite speech

   • -어요 / -아요 style is polite but not formal-stiff
   • very common in everyday conversation

So 볶아 먹었어요 means (I/we) stir-fried it and ate it in a polite, natural style.

Yes. In many cases, 대신 and 대신에 are both used, and the meaning is basically the same.

So these are both natural:

• 생선을 굽는 대신에 돼지고기를 볶아 먹었어요.
• 생선을 굽는 대신 돼지고기를 볶아 먹었어요.

The version with 에 can sound a little fuller or smoother, but the difference is small in everyday use.

Yes, but Korean word order is flexible in some ways.

The basic structure here is:

• 오늘 저녁에는 = as for tonight’s dinner
• 생선을 굽는 대신에 = instead of grilling fish
• 돼지고기를 볶아 먹었어요 = (I/we) stir-fried pork and ate it

Korean usually puts the main verb at the end, so the full action comes last.

A very literal order would be:

• Tonight, instead of grilling fish, pork stir-fry eat-did.

That sounds strange in English, but it is normal in Korean.

Yes, very possibly.

Because of 대신에 (instead of) and also 에는, the sentence can suggest that grilling fish was an expected option or original plan, but something else happened:

• maybe there was no fish
• maybe they changed their mind
• maybe they wanted pork instead

So the sentence does not just list two actions. It specifically contrasts them: rather than doing X, we did Y.

Yes, that is possible, but it changes the nuance slightly.

• 생선을 굽는 대신에 = instead of grilling fish
• 생선을 구워 먹는 대신에 = instead of grilling fish and eating it

The original sentence focuses on the cooking action 굽는 as the alternative. If you say 구워 먹는 대신에, you make the whole eating event the thing being replaced.

Both can work, but the original sentence is simpler and very natural.