Breakdown of jipju-inege surireul butakhaessdeoni gojang nan jeongureul baro bakkwo jwosseo.
Questions & Answers about jipju-inege surireul butakhaessdeoni gojang nan jeongureul baro bakkwo jwosseo.
What does 부탁했더니 mean here?
It is 부탁했다 + -더니.
- 부탁하다 = to ask a favor / request something
- -았/었더니 often means when I did X, (then/as a result) Y happened
So 부탁했더니 means something like:
- I asked, and then...
- After I asked, ... happened
- I asked, and as a result...
In this sentence, it connects asking the landlord for repairs with the result the landlord immediately changed the broken light bulb.
It often carries a nuance that the speaker personally experienced or observed the result.
Why is it 집주인에게?
에게 marks the person who receives the request.
So:
- 집주인에게 부탁하다 = to ask the landlord
- literally, to the landlord
A native English speaker may expect something like a direct object, but in Korean the person you ask is commonly marked with 에게 or 한테.
- 에게 = neutral/written-leaning
- 한테 = more conversational
So 집주인한테 수리를 부탁했더니 would also be very natural in speech.
Why is 수리 marked with 를 in 수리를 부탁하다?
Because 수리 is the thing being requested.
- 수리 = repair, repair work
- 수리를 부탁하다 = to request repairs / to ask for a repair
So the structure is:
- A에게 B를 부탁하다
- ask A for B
Here:
- A = 집주인에게
- B = 수리를
That is why 를 appears after 수리.
Could this also be said as 수리해 달라고 부탁했더니?
Yes. That would also be natural, and it is a little more explicit.
Compare:
- 수리를 부탁했더니 = I asked for repairs
- 수리해 달라고 부탁했더니 = I asked them to repair it
The original sentence is slightly more compact and noun-based. The -해 달라고 version spells out the requested action more directly.
Both are common.
What exactly is -더니 doing? Is it just and then?
Not exactly. -더니 is more specific than a simple and then.
Here it suggests:
- the speaker did something first
- then the speaker saw the result
- often there is a cause-and-result or discovery feeling
So 부탁했더니 ... 바꿔 줬어 is not just a neutral sequence. It feels like:
- I asked, and then sure enough / as a result, they changed it
This pattern is very common when talking about what happened after doing something.
What is 고장 난 grammatically?
고장 난 comes from 고장 나다.
- 고장 나다 = to break down / stop working / go out of order
- 고장 난 = broken / that has stopped working
The -ㄴ form turns the verb into a modifier before a noun.
So:
- 고장 난 전구 = a light bulb that is broken / a broken light bulb
This is the same kind of pattern as:
- 문 닫은 가게 = a store that closed
- 잘 익은 과일 = well-ripened fruit
Why is it written 고장 난 and not 고장난?
The standard spacing is 고장 난, because it comes from the verb phrase 고장 나다.
So:
- dictionary form: 고장 나다
- noun-modifying form: 고장 난
- standard spelling: 고장 난 전구
You may still see 고장난 in casual writing, but 고장 난 is the standard spacing.
Does 고장 난 전구 sound natural? I thought a bulb is usually burned out, not exactly broken.
Yes, it sounds natural.
In Korean, 고장 나다 is used broadly for things that do not work properly anymore. So for a light bulb, 고장 난 전구 can mean:
- a broken bulb
- a bulb that stopped working
In everyday Korean, you may also hear other expressions depending on the situation, but 고장 난 전구 is understandable and natural.
What does 바로 mean here?
바로 here means right away, immediately, or on the spot.
So:
- 고장 난 전구를 바로 바꿔 줬어 = they changed the broken light bulb immediately
It adds the nuance that the landlord responded quickly.
Its position is also natural: it comes right before the verb phrase it modifies.
Why is it 바꿔 줬어 instead of just 바꿨어?
Because -아/어 주다 adds the meaning of doing something for someone.
So:
- 바꿨어 = changed it
- 바꿔 줬어 = changed it for me / did me the favor of changing it
In this sentence, 줘 shows that the action benefited the speaker.
That is very common in Korean and often sounds more natural than leaving it out when someone helps you.
How do 바꿔 and 줬어 get formed?
They are contracted spoken forms.
- 바꾸다 → 바꾸어 → 바꿔
- 주다 → 주었어 → 줬어
So:
- 바꿔 줬어 is the shortened everyday form of 바꾸어 주었어
This kind of contraction is extremely common in normal speech.
Who is the subject of 바꿔 줬어? Why isn’t it stated?
The subject is omitted because it is easy to infer from context.
In this sentence, the understood subject of 바꿔 줬어 is the landlord.
So the logic is:
- I asked the landlord for repairs
- the landlord changed the broken light bulb right away for me
Korean often leaves out subjects when they are obvious, much more often than English does.
What speech level is 줬어?
줬어 is informal, casual speech.
It is natural when speaking to:
- a friend
- someone younger
- someone close to you
More polite versions would be:
- 집주인에게 수리를 부탁했더니 고장 난 전구를 바로 바꿔 줬어요.
- or more formal: 집주인에게 수리를 부탁했더니 고장 난 전구를 바로 바꿔 주었습니다.
So the original sentence is casual everyday spoken Korean.
Is the sentence natural even though it says 수리를 부탁했더니 and then talks about changing the bulb?
Yes, that is natural.
수리 can refer broadly to repair work or fixing a problem. In real life, fixing the problem may involve:
- repairing something
- replacing something
- adjusting something
So the sentence means that the speaker asked for repair/help with a maintenance issue, and the landlord solved it by replacing the broken bulb.
That combination is completely normal.
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