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hubaeneun donggideuri chucheonhan hagwone danigiro haesseo.

후배는 동기들이 추천한 학원에 다니기로 했어.hubaeneun donggideuri chucheonhan hagwone danigiro haesseo.
My junior decided to go to the academy that her classmates recommended.
FromLesson 44inHardcore Korean

Questions & Answers about hubaeneun donggideuri chucheonhan hagwone danigiro haesseo.

What does 후배 mean here?

후배 means a junior—someone who is younger or lower in rank/experience than the speaker or another reference person in a school, workplace, club, etc.

It does not simply mean younger person in general. It is a relationship word, usually opposed to 선배 (senior).

So in this sentence, 후배는 means as for the junior... or the junior... depending on context.

What does 동기들 mean?

동기 refers to people who started at the same time in the same school, company, program, military unit, and so on. A common English translation is peers, classmates of the same cohort, or people from the same intake/class.

Adding 들 makes it plural:

  • 동기 = a same-year peer / cohort-mate
  • 동기들 = same-year peers / cohort-mates

So 동기들이 means the peers who started at the same time are the ones doing the recommending.

Why is there a 들 in 동기들? Is the plural marker required?

No, 들 is often optional in Korean when plurality is already clear from context.

So both of these can work:

  • 동기가 추천한 학원
  • 동기들이 추천한 학원

Using 들 makes the plural idea more explicit: it tells you there were multiple peers recommending the academy.

How does 동기들이 추천한 학원 work grammatically?

This is a noun-modifying clause.

Break it down like this:

  • 동기들이 = the peers (subject)
  • 추천한 = recommended
  • 학원 = academy / cram school / private institute

So literally it is:

  • the academy that the peers recommended

In Korean, this kind of relative clause comes before the noun it describes.

English:

  • the academy that the peers recommended

Korean:

  • 동기들이 추천한 학원
Why is it 추천한 and not 추천했는 or something else?

추천한 is the past adnominal form of 추천하다 (to recommend), used when a verb modifies a noun.

Pattern:

  • 추천하다 = to recommend
  • 추천한 + noun = the noun that someone recommended

So:

  • 동기들이 추천한 학원 = the academy that the peers recommended

You cannot use the plain past form 추천했어 / 추천했다 directly before a noun. Korean uses a special modifier form instead.

Does 추천한 mean the recommendation happened in the past?

Yes. 추천한 shows that the recommending happened before the current decision.

So the sequence is roughly:

  1. The peers recommended the academy.
  2. The junior decided to attend it.

That is why 추천한 학원 sounds natural here.

Why is it 학원에 다니다 instead of 학원을 다니다?

The verb 다니다 usually means to go to regularly, to attend, or to commute to a place. Because it is treated as movement/regular attendance to a location, Korean normally uses the particle 에.

So:

  • 학원에 다니다 = to attend an academy
  • 학교에 다니다 = to go to school
  • 회사에 다니다 = to work at / go to a company

Using 을/를 with 다니다 is generally not the normal pattern for this meaning.

What exactly does 학원 mean?

학원 is a private educational institute. Depending on context, it may be translated as:

  • academy
  • private institute
  • cram school
  • tutoring center

In Korean, 학원 often refers to places where students take extra classes outside regular school, but adults can attend them too—for languages, test prep, music, art, coding, and more.

What does -기로 했어 mean here?

-기로 했어 means decided to.

Pattern:

  • verb stem + 기로 하다 = to decide to do something

So:

  • 다니다 = to attend
  • 다니기로 하다 = to decide to attend
  • 다니기로 했어 = decided to attend

Even though 했어 is past tense, the whole expression often means a decision was made, and the action itself may happen after that.

So this does not mean the person already attended; it means they made the decision to do so.

Why is 했어 in the past tense if the attending may happen in the future?

Because the past tense is marking the decision, not necessarily the attending.

Compare the logic:

  • 다니다 = attend
  • 다니기로 하다 = make a decision to attend
  • 다니기로 했어 = made the decision to attend

So the sentence focuses on the fact that the decision is already completed.

What speech level is 했어?

했어 is the informal casual style, often used:

  • with friends
  • with younger people
  • in relaxed conversation
  • in diaries or internal thoughts

More formal versions would be:

  • 후배는 동기들이 추천한 학원에 다니기로 했어요.
    polite
  • 후배는 동기들이 추천한 학원에 다니기로 했습니다.
    formal
Why is 후배는 marked with 는 instead of 이/가?

는 is the topic marker, so 후배는 sets up the junior as the topic of the sentence.

This often gives a sense like:

  • As for the junior, ...
  • The junior, ...

Using 이/가 would make 후배 the grammatical subject in a more neutral or focus-heavy way:

  • 후배가 동기들이 추천한 학원에 다니기로 했어.

Both can be possible depending on context, but 는 is very common when introducing or talking about someone as the topic.

Why is 동기들이 marked with 이/가?

Because inside the noun-modifying clause, 동기들 are the ones who performed the action 추천한 (recommended).

So within 동기들이 추천한 학원:

  • 동기들이 = subject of 추천한
  • 학원 = thing being recommended

That is why 이/가 appears there.

How should I mentally parse the whole sentence?

A helpful way is to group it like this:

  • 후배는
  • [동기들이 추천한 학원]에
  • 다니기로 했어

So:

  1. 후배는 = as for the junior
  2. 동기들이 추천한 학원 = the academy the peers recommended
  3. 에 다니기로 했어 = decided to attend

This kind of chunking makes Korean word order much easier to follow.

Is the object of 추천한 missing?

Yes, but this is very normal in Korean.

With 추천하다, you might expect something like:

  • 동기들이 학원을 추천했다 = The peers recommended the academy.

When the noun being talked about is 학원, Korean often leaves the object position unspoken and lets the modifying clause connect directly to the noun:

  • 동기들이 추천한 학원 = the academy that the peers recommended

So the meaning is understood even though there is no separate 학원을 inside the clause.

Could this sentence mean the junior and the peers are the same people?

Usually no. 후배 and 동기들 refer to different groups/people here.

The most natural reading is:

  • the junior decided to attend
  • the peers/cohort-mates were the ones who recommended the academy

Exactly whose peers they are may depend on context, but grammatically the roles are clear:

  • 후배 = the one who decided
  • 동기들 = the ones who recommended
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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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