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Grammar / Level 4 / Lesson 120

당하다, 받다, 아/어뜨리다: the passive in full

By Daniel Buckley · 14 minute read · TOPIK 5

Vocabulary

  1. 사기 - a scam, fraud
  2. 무시하다 - to ignore, to look down on
  3. 거절하다 - to refuse, to turn down
  4. 해고하다 - to fire, to dismiss
  5. 배신하다 - to betray
  6. 칭찬하다 - to praise
  7. 존경하다 - to respect
  8. 인정하다 - to recognise, to acknowledge
  9. 밟다 - to step on
  10. 무너지다 - to collapse

해고됐어요 and 해고당했어요 both come out in English as "I was fired". They aren't the same sentence. The first reports what happened, and the second says it was done to you and you minded.

Passive verbs gave you the mechanics, and causative verbs gave you the reverse. What's left is how Korean says the way an event reached you: as something you were given, something you suffered, or something that simply came about.

되다, 받다, 당하다: how it reached you

All three go after a noun that would otherwise take 하다. 되다 reports the event and leaves feelings out. 받다 and 당하다 keep the person in view. They're dictionary suffixes, so they're written as one word with the noun, unless 을/를 comes between them, as in 사랑을 받다.

Three ways to swap 하다

  • 되다: it came about.취소하다 → 취소되다해고하다 → 해고되다
  • 받다: you received it, and usually you don't mind.사랑하다 → 사랑받다칭찬하다 → 칭찬받다초대하다 → 초대받다
  • 당하다: you suffered it.무시하다 → 무시당하다거절하다 → 거절당하다해고하다 → 해고당하다

받다: what you're given

This is the 사랑받다 that passive verbs promised. 사랑하다 has no 되다 form, so 받다 does the job. The person who gives it takes 에게, 한테 or 께, as with any passive.

  1. 그 가수는 세계적으로 사랑받고 있어요.

    That singer is loved all over the world.

  2. 선생님께 칭찬받았어요.

    I got praised by my teacher.

  3. 친구 결혼식에 초대받았어요.

    I was invited to my friend's wedding.

  4. 회사에서 능력을 인정받았어요.

    My abilities were recognised at work.

  5. 세종대왕은 지금도 많은 사람에게 존경받아요.

    King Sejong is still respected by many people.

받다 means you received it, so the thing itself doesn't have to be nice. 상처받다 is to be hurt, and 스트레스를 받다 is to be stressed. Think of it as something handed to you, whether you wanted it or not.

  1. 친구 말에 상처받았어요.

    I was hurt by what my friend said.

  2. 요즘 일 때문에 스트레스를 많이 받아요.

    Work has been stressing me out lately.

당하다: what you suffer

당하다 says something bad was done to you. It works on verbs of harm, and it also stands as a full verb after nouns like 사기, 사고 and 창피, with 을/를 in between. On its own, 당했어요 means you've been had, and it's what you say when a friend's prank works.

  1. 회사에서 갑자기 해고당했어요.

    I got fired out of the blue.

  2. 가장 친한 친구한테 배신당했어요.

    I was betrayed by my best friend.

  3. 데이트 신청을 했는데 거절당했어요.

    I asked her out and got turned down.

  4. 회의에서 또 무시당했어요.

    I got ignored again in the meeting.

  5. 인터넷에서 사기를 당했어요.

    I got scammed online.

  6. 아버지가 교통사고를 당하셨어요.

    My father was in a car accident.

Now put 되다 and 당하다 side by side. The event is the same, and what changes is whether someone is on the receiving end, and how they feel about it. With 되다 the subject is often a thing, and with 당하다 it's usually a person.

  1. 신청이 거절됐어요.

    The application was rejected.

  2. 저는 또 거절당했어요.

    I got rejected again.

  3. 직원 열 명이 해고됐어요.

    Ten staff were let go.

  4. 저는 아무 이유 없이 해고당했어요.

    I got fired for no reason at all.

※ 맞다 does a smaller version of this job in a few set words: 도둑맞다, to be robbed, and 야단맞다, to be told off. 휴대폰을 도둑맞았어요 is "my phone got stolen".

  1. 그 배우는 많은 사람에게 ___.

    That actor is loved by a lot of people.

  2. 선생님께 ___.

    My teacher praised me.

  3. 비 때문에 경기가 ___.

    The match was cancelled because of the rain.

  4. 길에서 사기를 ___.

    I got scammed in the street.

Who did it: 에게, 에 and 에 의해

People and animals take 에게 or 한테, as you know. Things and forces take 에: the wind, the snow, the rain. Writing adds a third option, 에 의해, which names the doer or the cause more formally.

  1. 모기한테 물렸어요.

    I got bitten by a mosquito.

  2. 문이 바람에 닫혔어요.

    The door was blown shut by the wind.

  3. 산이 눈에 덮였어요.

    The mountain was covered with snow.

  4. 이 건물은 프랑스 건축가에 의해 지어졌다.

    This building was built by a French architect.

You'll read 에 의해 in history and news, but style guides often mark it as a translation habit, usually blamed on English "by". Where English says "this building was built by a French architect", Korean is often happier making the doer the subject: 프랑스 건축가가 이 건물을 지었다.

The object that stays: 발을 밟혔어요

Passive verbs told you the object becomes the subject, so 문을 열렸어요 is wrong. There's one case where an object stays, though. When it's part of a person or something of theirs, the person becomes the subject and the part keeps 을/를.

  1. 지하철에서 발을 밟혔어요.

    Someone stepped on my foot on the subway.

  2. 모기한테 다리를 물렸어요.

    A mosquito bit my leg.

  3. 도둑이 경찰에게 손목을 잡혔어요.

    The police grabbed the thief by the wrist.

  4. 동생한테 자리를 빼앗겼어요.

    My little brother took my seat.

Look at the English here. It needs a new subject, "someone" or "a mosquito". Korean keeps you at the centre of the sentence, because you're the person this happened to. 제 발이 밟혔어요 is possible, but to me it sounds like a report about a foot.

One verb, two directions

Causative verbs showed you that 보이다 faces both ways. So do several others, and now you can see why. A passive takes a person out of the sentence, and a causative brings one in, so you can tell them apart by counting who's involved.

  1. 엄마가 아이를 안았어요.

    The mother held the child.

  2. 아이가 엄마에게 안겼어요.

    The child was held by her mother.

  3. 아빠가 엄마에게 아이를 안겼어요.

    The father put the child in her mother's arms.

  4. 이 책은 쉽게 읽혀요.

    This book reads easily.

  5. 선생님이 학생들에게 책을 읽혔어요.

    The teacher had the students read the book.

Example 1 is the plain verb. Example 2 loses the doer from the centre and turns the child into the subject, so it's passive. Example 3 adds someone new who makes it happen, so it's causative, with the same spelling as example 2.

  1. 아이가 엄마에게 안겼어요.

  2. 아빠가 엄마에게 아이를 안겼어요.

  3. 여기에서 바다가 보여요.

  4. 친구에게 사진을 보여 줬어요.

  5. 이 소설은 정말 잘 읽혀요.

  6. 아이에게 동화책을 읽혔어요.

아/어뜨리다: the active partner

One form here isn't a passive at all, but it's the other half of one. Many 지다 verbs describe something that just happens, like 떨어지다, to fall. Swap 지다 for 뜨리다 and someone has made it happen, as in 떨어뜨리다, to drop.

지다 and 뜨리다

  • It happened → someone did it.떨어지다 → 떨어뜨리다넘어지다 → 넘어뜨리다쓰러지다 → 쓰러뜨리다무너지다 → 무너뜨리다깨지다 → 깨뜨리다부러지다 → 부러뜨리다터지다 → 터뜨리다망가지다 → 망가뜨리다

The dictionary calls 뜨리다 a suffix that adds emphasis, and that's the feel of it: sudden, forceful, or careless. It's often an accident, but not always. 트리다 is the same suffix and just as correct, so 떨어트리다 and 떨어뜨리다 are the same word.

  1. 휴대폰을 떨어뜨렸어요.

    I dropped my phone.

  2. 컵을 깨뜨렸어요.

    I smashed a cup.

  3. 동생이 제 안경을 부러뜨렸어요.

    My little brother snapped my glasses.

  4. 아이가 친구를 넘어뜨렸어요.

    The child knocked a friend over.

  5. 강한 바람이 나무를 쓰러뜨렸어요.

    A strong wind blew the tree down.

  6. 풍선을 터뜨렸어요.

    I burst the balloon.

This gives you a choice when something breaks. 컵이 깨졌어요, the cup broke, keeps you out of the sentence. 제가 컵을 깨뜨렸어요 owns up. Both are correct, and only one of them is an apology.

  1. 아이가 길에서 ___.

    The child fell over in the street.

  2. 제가 실수로 컵을 ___.

    I dropped the cup by mistake.

  3. 지진으로 건물이 ___.

    The building collapsed in the earthquake.

Listen and type

1 / 3

Play it as often as you like.

When Korean doesn't use a passive

English reaches for the passive when it doesn't want to name a doer. Korean doesn't need to, because a sentence can leave its subject out. So many English passives come out as plain active sentences, and these are usually the natural choice.

  1. 여기서 표를 팔아요.

    Tickets are sold here.

  2. 이 건물은 작년에 지었어요.

    This building was built last year.

  3. 오늘 회의는 세 시에 합니다.

    Today's meeting is being held at three.

※ Stacked passives like 보여지다 and 되어지다 are all over Korean writing, for the same reason as the 쓰여지다 in passive verbs. Editors correct them, so use 보이다 and 되다.

In a conversation

A

왜 그렇게 기분이 안 좋아요?

Why that way mood not good?

B

회의에서 또 무시당했어요.

At meeting again got ignored.

A

지난달에는 칭찬받았잖아요.

Last month got praised, you know.

B

그랬죠. 그런데 그 프로젝트가 결국 취소됐어요.

Did so, right. But that project in the end got cancelled.

A

그 휴대폰은 또 왜 그래요?

That phone again why like that?

B

회의실에서 나오다가 떨어뜨렸어요. 화면이 다 깨졌어요.

From meeting room coming out dropped. Screen all broke.

Common mistakes

  1. 그 가수는 많은 사람에게 사랑돼요.

    그 가수는 많은 사람에게 사랑받아요.

    사랑하다 has no 되다 form. Love is received.

  2. 선생님께 칭찬당했어요.

    선생님께 칭찬받았어요.

    당하다 is for what you suffer, and praise isn't.

  3. 컵을 깨졌어요.

    컵을 깨뜨렸어요.

    깨지다 can't take an object. If you want 컵 as the object, use 깨뜨리다.

One sentence in each group is wrong. Tap it.

Check yourself

Quick check

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그 가수는 세계적으로 ___ 있어요. (사랑, use 받다 with 고) That singer is loved all over the world.

받다 joins the noun, with no space.

Summary

Every way an action can reach you

  • 이/히/리/기: the passive verbs, learned one at a time.막히다, 열리다, 밟히다
  • 아/어지다: it comes about, with the doer out of the picture.만들어지다, 꺼지다
  • 되다: a noun plus 하다 verb, reported neutrally.취소되다
  • 받다: you received it.사랑받다, 상처받다
  • 당하다: you suffered it.무시당하다, 사기를 당하다
  • 이/히/리/기/우/구/추: the causatives, which bring a doer in.먹이다, 안기다, 재우다
  • 아/어뜨리다: the active partner of a 지다 verb.떨어뜨리다, 깨뜨리다

Now you can say

  1. 친구 결혼식에 초대받았어요.

    I was invited to my friend's wedding.

  2. 지하철에서 발을 밟혔어요.

    Someone stepped on my foot on the subway.

  3. 휴대폰을 떨어뜨렸어요.

    I dropped my phone.

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