답다, 롭다 and 디: new adjectives from old words

By Daniel Buckley · 10 minute read · TOPIK 5

Vocabulary

어른 - an adult
행동하다 - to behave, to act
기자 - a journalist
날카롭다 - to be sharp
정답다 - to be warm, affectionate
자유롭다 - to be free
평화롭다 - to be peaceful
지혜롭다 - to be wise
해롭다 - to be harmful
향기롭다 - to be fragrant
차다 - to be cold (to the touch)

A friend who's always on time turns up an hour late, and you say 너답지 않아. That's not like you. Korean has taken the word for "you" and made an adjective out of it, which English can't do.

You've met 스럽다, which builds adjectives from nouns. 답다 and 롭다 do the same job, each with its own meaning. They're worth separating, because 답다 in particular is common in speech and easy to confuse with 스럽다.

답다: living up to the name

답다 goes on a noun, a pronoun or even a whole noun phrase. It says the subject has what you'd expect of that thing. The speaker has an idea of what a student or a professional should be, and says this one measures up.

Using 답다

Noun plus 답다. It's a ㅂ irregular adjective, like 스럽다.학생 → 학생다워요학생 → 학생다운 태도학생 → 학생답게
The negative: 답지 않다.너 → 너답지 않아

오늘 왜 그래? 너답지 않아.
What's wrong with you today? This isn't like you.
정말 민수 씨다운 대답이네요.
That's just the kind of answer you'd expect from Minsu.
어른답게 행동하세요.
Behave like an adult.
학생답게 옷을 입어야지.
You should dress the way a student should.
그 선수는 프로답게 끝까지 최선을 다했다.
The player gave his all to the end, like the professional he is.
오랜 경력의 기자답게 질문이 날카로웠어요.
As you'd expect from such an experienced journalist, her questions were sharp.
11월답지 않게 날씨가 따뜻해요.
It's unusually warm for November.

Example 6 shows how far it can reach. 답다 sits on 기자, but it covers the whole phrase 오랜 경력의 기자. That's why it can be used so freely, where 롭다 can't.

A few 답다 words have set into adjectives with a meaning of their own. 정답다, from 정, affection, describes people who are warm with each other. 꽃답다 mostly appears as 꽃다운 나이, the prime of youth, and you'll often see it in sad stories about someone who died young.

두 사람이 정답게 이야기하고 있어요.
The two of them are chatting warmly.
그녀는 꽃다운 나이에 세상을 떠났다.
She died in the prime of her youth.

답다 or 스럽다?

This is the distinction that matters. 답다 says it is the thing, and it measures up. 스럽다 says it reminds you of the thing, usually without being it. So 어른스럽다 mostly describes a child, and 어른답다 describes an adult.

아직 일곱 살인데 참 어른스러워요.
She's only seven, but she's very grown-up.
마흔이 넘었으면 어른답게 행동해야죠.
If you're over forty, you should act like a grown-up.

아직 초등학생인데 말하는 게 참 ___.
She's only in primary school, but she talks like a grown-up.
우리 팀은 ___ 마지막까지 최선을 다했습니다.
Our team gave everything to the very end, as champions do.
한 시간이나 늦다니, 정말 ___.
An hour late? That's really not like you.

Listen and type

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Play it as often as you like.

consonants · left hand vowels · right hand

롭다: full of it

롭다 goes on a word ending in a vowel, and it says something is full of that quality or deserves the word. It's an old suffix and a closed set. You learn these as vocabulary and don't make new ones.

Common 롭다 words

Vowel-final word plus 롭다, a ㅂ irregular.자유 → 자유롭다평화 → 평화롭다지혜 → 지혜롭다향기 → 향기롭다해 (harm) → 해롭다
The forms:자유로워요자유로운 생활자유롭게

일을 그만두고 나니까 정말 자유로워요.
Now that I've quit my job, I feel really free.
아침의 호수가 참 평화로워요.
The lake is so peaceful in the morning.
할머니는 정말 지혜로운 분이세요.
My grandmother is a really wise woman.
부엌에서 향기로운 커피 냄새가 났어요.
There was a lovely smell of coffee from the kitchen.
담배는 건강에 해로워요.
Smoking is bad for your health.

After a consonant, 스럽다 usually fills the gap: 사랑스럽다 and 자연스럽다 can't take 롭다. A few words can take either, so you'll see 평화스럽다 too, but the 롭다 form is the usual one. 외롭다 and 날카롭다 belong to the same family, though there's no noun left in them to find.

디: the same adjective twice

Say an adjective stem, add 디, then say the stem again, and the quality goes about as far as it can. 차다 is cold to the touch, and 차디차다 is ice cold. This is a writer's device: you'll read it in novels and hear it in songs, but in conversation you'd usually say 진짜 차가워요.

It usually comes in front of a noun, so the second stem takes ㄴ/은. It's written as one word. It works on simple adjectives of sense and size, and the common ones are worth knowing by sight.

Making the 디 form

Stem, 디, then the stem with ㄴ/은.차다 → 차디찬 손높다 → 높디높은 산쓰다 → 쓰디쓴 약깊다 → 깊디깊은 바다
Irregular stems change only the second time.곱다 → 곱디고운 얼굴

차디찬 바람이 불어왔다.
An icy cold wind blew in.
그들은 높디높은 산을 넘어갔다.
They crossed the towering mountains.
깊디깊은 산속에 작은 집이 있었다.
There was a small house deep, deep in the mountains.
눈앞에 넓디넓은 바다가 펼쳐졌다.
A vast sea opened up before them.
우리는 쓰디쓴 패배를 맛봤다.
We tasted a bitter defeat.
그녀는 곱디고운 한복을 입고 있었다.
She was wearing an exquisite hanbok.

※ 차가운 and 차디찬 are both cold, but the second one is doing something in the sentence. If you see it, the writer wants you to feel the cold.

Common mistakes

학생답은 태도가 좋아요.
학생다운 태도가 좋아요.
답다 is a ㅂ irregular, so 답 becomes 다우 before a vowel.
아기가 사랑로워요.
아기가 사랑스러워요.
롭다 goes after a vowel, and 사랑 ends in a consonant.
곱디곱은 얼굴이었다.
곱디고운 얼굴이었다.
곱다 is a ㅂ irregular, and the second stem changes as usual.

Check yourself

Quick check

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___ 행동하세요. (어른, use 답다 as an adverb) Behave like an adult.

consonants · left hand vowels · right hand

Add 게 to the stem of 어른답다.

Summary

ㄴ/은 forms
Dictionary	Stem	ㄴ/은
어른답다	어른답	어른다운
정답다	정답	정다운
자유롭다	자유롭	자유로운
평화롭다	평화롭	평화로운
높디높다	높디높	높디높은
차디차다	차디차	차디찬

Three ways to build an adjective

답다: it is the thing, and it lives up to it. Works on nouns, pronouns and noun phrases.학생다운, 너답지 않아, 어른답게
롭다: full of that quality. A closed set, after vowels.자유로워요, 평화로운, 해롭다
디: stem, 디, stem, for the extreme. Mostly written, mostly before a noun.차디찬, 높디높은, 쓰디쓴

Now you can say

오늘 왜 그래? 너답지 않아.
What's wrong with you today? This isn't like you.
어른답게 행동하세요.
Behave like an adult.
일을 그만두고 나니까 정말 자유로워요.
Now that I've quit my job, I feel really free.