Word
교통사고가 나면 자동차 보험이 필요해요.gyotongsagoga namyeon jadongcha boheomi piryohaeyo.
Meaning
Car insurance is necessary when a traffic accident occurs.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of gyotongsagoga namyeon jadongcha boheomi piryohaeyo.
자동차jadongcha
car
필요하다piryohada
necessary
나다nada
to occur / to appear
교통사고gyotongsago
the traffic accident
Questions & Answers about gyotongsagoga namyeon jadongcha boheomi piryohaeyo.
Why is 나다 used here? I thought 나다 meant to come out or to appear.
In this sentence, 나다 means to happen, to occur, or to break out.
So 교통사고가 나다 is a very common expression meaning for a traffic accident to occur.
A few similar uses of 나다:
- 불이 나다 = a fire breaks out
- 문제가 나다 = a problem occurs
- 사고가 나다 = an accident happens
So here, 교통사고가 나면 means if a traffic accident happens.
Why does 교통사고 take 가 in 교통사고가 나면?
The particle 가 marks 교통사고 as the subject of 나다.
Since 나다 means to occur/happen, the accident is treated as the thing that happens:
- 교통사고가 나다 = a traffic accident happens
This is different from English, where we often just say if there is a traffic accident or if you get into a traffic accident. In Korean, the accident itself is the subject of the verb 나다.
What does -면 mean?