모르다

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Korean

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Etymology

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First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 모ᄅᆞ〮다〮 (Yale: mwòló-tá), very likely originally a contraction equivalent to modern (mot, cannot) + 알다 (alda, to know), with intervocalic lenition of */t/ to [ɾ] during the transition from Old to Middle Korean. Compare Old Korean 毛冬 (*mwotol, cannot).

The original adverb resurfaces in the long negation 못하다 (al-ji mothada, to not know).

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ˈmo̞(ː)ɾɯda̠]
    • Audio:(file)
  • Phonetic hangul: [(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?moreuda
Revised Romanization (translit.)?moleuda
McCune–Reischauer?morŭda
Yale Romanization?mōluta

Verb

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모르다 (moreuda) (infinitive 몰라, sequential 모르니)

  1. (transitive) to not know, to be ignorant of
    Antonym: 알다 (alda, to know)
    이름 몰라.
    Na-neun gyae ireum-eul molla.
    I don't know his name.
    우리 어디 가고 있는지 모르겠어.
    Uri eodi gago inneunji moreugesseo.
    I'm not sure where we're going.
  2. (after 는지, 던지, 을지, often with ) to be possibly so
    아직 살아 을지 모른다.
    Ajik sara iss-eulji-do moreunda.
    Perhaps he is still alive.
  3. (after 는지, 던지, 을지) Used with 얼마나, 어찌, etc., for emphasis.
    얼마나 추운지 몰라.
    Eolmana chuunji molla.
    It's so cold.
    (literally, “I don't know how cold it is.”)
    어찌 슬펐는지 몰라.
    Eojji seulpeonneunji molla.
    I was so sad.
    (literally, “I don't know how sad I was.”)
  4. (after 어도, ) to not care
    어도 몰라.
    Jug-eodo nan molla.
    I don't care if you die.
    (literally, “I don't know even if you die.”)

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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