haru Korean › Grammar › Level 4A › V-다가는
V-다가는 — if you keep … (something bad will happen) — warnings
If you keep … (something bad will happen) — warnings. Korean grammar for upper intermediate learners — Level 4A, lesson 3: 건강한 삶 (A healthy life — habits, excuses and warnings).
What it means
-다가는 warns that if something goes on, a bad result will follow: 그렇게 매일 밤을 새우다가는 병이 날 거예요 'if you keep staying up every night like that, you'll get ill'. It is built from -다가 (Lesson 2A-7), which shows an action going on, plus the topic marker 는, which picks that action out as the condition — 'carry on with this, and …'. The first half is a habit or an action, usually with 그렇게, 이렇게, 계속 or 매일; the second half is a bad result that you guess, so it ends in -(으)ㄹ 거예요, -(으)ㄹ 수도 있어요 or -게 될 거예요 (Lesson 2B-1). No -았/었- goes in front of -다가는, and neither a request nor a good result follows it: for a good result, use -(으)면 — 매일 운동하면 건강해질 거예요. -다가는 is a Level 5 item in the national standard that the textbooks bring in early, so today it is enough to recognise it in warnings, advice and campaign posters, and to use it in the pattern above. To soften a warning, choose -(으)ㄹ 수도 있어요 rather than -(으)ㄹ 거예요.
Forms
| Pattern | When | Example |
|---|---|---|
| V-다가는 | 동사 + 다가는 → 뒤에 나쁜 결과: -(으)ㄹ 거예요 · -(으)ㄹ 수도 있어요 | 과식하다 + 다가는 → 과식하다가는 |
Key points
- V-다가는 = if you keep …ing (like this): the habit with -다가는, then a bad result you guess with -(으)ㄹ 거예요 or -(으)ㄹ 수도 있어요. It often comes with 그렇게 · 이렇게 · 계속 · 매일.
- A taste of a Level 5 form from the textbook — today we mostly read and hear it. Never a good result after it (→ -(으)면), and no -았/었- in front.
Examples
- 나쁜 습관을 바꾸지 않으면 나쁜 일이 생길 거라고 말할 때 써요: 그렇게 매일 밤을 새우다가는 병이 날 거예요.
- 동사 + 다가는: 과식하다가는 · 과속하다가는 · 밤을 새우다가는.
- 뒤에는 나쁜 결과의 추측이 와요: -(으)ㄹ 거예요 · -(으)ㄹ 수도 있어요 · -게 될 거예요.
- 앞에 「그렇게 · 이렇게 · 계속 · 매일」이 자주 와요: 계속 과음하다가는 건강을 해칠 수도 있어요.
- 좋은 결과는 -(으)면: 매일 운동하면 건강해질 거예요. (운동하다가는 ✗)
Where university textbooks teach it
This point also appears in: Seoul National University Korean 4A, lesson 2; Yonsei University Korean 4-2, lesson 13; Ewha Womans University Korean 4, lesson 9; Hongik University Korean 4A, lesson 5; Hanyang University Korean 4-2, lesson 12.
Also in this lesson
- A/V-(으)ㄹ 정도로 — so … that … · to the point of … — showing how bad (or how good) it is
- A/V-는 탓에 · N 탓에 — because of … (and it's to blame) — the cause of a bad result
- V-다시피 — as you know · as you can see — starting from what the listener already knows