-고 보다 / -다가 보다 find out

-고 보다

means ‘after you finish an action and realize/find out‘. -고 보다 is often used with other conjunctions such as -(으)니까, -(으)면, and it is similar to -고 나다. (Click here To study -고 나다)

1. -고 보니까 After I do, I found out  : it is similar to -고 나니까
   듣고 보니까 기분 나쁘네요.  After I heard, (I found out) I feel terrible.
   알고 보니까 정말 착한 사람이었어요. After I know him, (I found out) he is a nice person.
   공부를 하고 보니까 어렵지 않았어요.  After I studied, (I found out) it was not difficult.
   만들고 보니까 사람 얼굴처럼 생겼더라고요. After I made, (I found out) it looks like a human face.
2. -고 보면  If you do, you will~ : it is similar to -고 나면, but it is used with certain verbs.
   알고 보면 좋은 사람이에요. If you know her, (you will realize) she is a good person.
   듣고 보면 공감하실 거예요. If you listen, you will feel the same way.

 

-다(가) 보다

means ‘while you are doing something, you find out/realize’. It is often used with other conjunctions like -(으)니까 or -(으)면.  (click here to study -다가)

1. Verb + 다가 보니까 While I am doing something, I find out (you can omit 가 and 까, like -다 보니)
   살다가 보니까 별일이 다 있네요. (While I am living) I have seen everything.
   공부하다 보니까 어렵지 않았어요. During study, I found out it was not difficult.
   먹다가 보니까 제가 시킨 게 아니었어요.  While I was eating, I found out it was not my order.
   처음에는 이상했는데 자꾸 보다 보니까 예쁜 것 같아요. It was very weird at first, but more I use it, I found out that it is pretty.
   계속 쓰다 보니 편한 것 같습니다. As I use it many times, I found that it is very comfortable.
2. Adjective + 다가 보니까 Because I ~
   돈이 없다 보니까 아이들한테 좋은 물건을 사 줄 수 없어요.  Because I do not have money, I cannot buy good stuff to my kids.
   돈이 필요하다 보니까 훔칠 수밖에 없었어요. Because I do not have money, I have nothing to do but stealing.
   배가 고프다 보니 아무거나 먹게 됐어요. Because I am too hungry, I just become to eat anything.
3. -다가 보면 When you do ~, you will/it will
   살다가 보면 좋은 일이 있을 거예요.  In your life(while you are living), good things will happen.
   쭉 걷다 보면 백화점이 나올 거예요. If you keep walking straight, you will find a department store.
   생각 없이 말하다 보면 실수할 수도 있어요. When you talk to someone without thinking, you can make mistake.
   듣다 보면 이해하실 거예요. While you are listening, you will understand.

Click here to listen to the audio files

 

[Grammar] -고 나다,-고 나면,-고 나서 after doing

-고 나다

express sequence of two actions, it is similar to -고. -고 나다 is often used with other conjunctions such as -아/어/여서, -(으)니까, -(으)면. For example,

1. -고 나서  after I do and then =(-(으)ㄴ 다음에)
   밥을 먹고 나서 숙제를 하려고 해요.  After I eat, then I will do my homework.
   몸이 다 낫고 나서 공부를 다시 시작할 거예요. After I get better, I will start studying again.
   손을 씻고 나서 음식을 만듭시다. Let’s wash our hands first, and make the food.
   밥을 먹고 나서 식탁을 깨끗하게 치웠어요. After I ate, I cleaned the table.
   여자 친구하고 헤어지고 나서 소중함을 알게 됐어요.  After I broke up with my girlfriend, I realized how grateful she was to me.
2. -고 나니까 after I do and find out a fact (similar to -고 보니까)
   밥을 많이 먹고 나니까 이제 졸려요. After I ate a lot,(I found out) I am sleepy now.
   돈을 벌고 나니까 비싼 물건을 사고 싶어졌어요. After I made a lot of money, (I found out) I wanted to buy some expensive things.
   샤워를 하고 나니까 기분이 훨씬 좋네요. After I took a shower, (I found out) I felt much better.
   집을 청소하고 나니까 더 넓어 보여요. After I cleaned the house, (I found out) the house looks much big.
   약을 먹고 나니까 머리가 안 아파요. After I took the medicine, (I found out) I do not have a headache.
3. -고 나면 if I do, it will~(second sentence should be present/future tense)
   약을 먹고 나면 좋아질 거예요.  If you take medicine, you will be fine.
   일을 마치고 나면 보람을 느낄 수 있을 거예요. When you finish the job, you will feel worth.
   이걸 마시고 나면 괜찮아 질 거예요. When you drink this, you will feel better.
   규칙을 알고 나면 수학이 아주 쉬워질 겁니다. If you know rules, math will be very easy.
   컴퓨터를 배우고 나면 엔지니어가 될 수 있어요? If I learn computer, can I become an engineer?

• -고 보면 is similar to this, but -고 보면 is used for fixed verbs such as 알고 보면, 듣고 보면.
  알고 보면 그 사람도 참 착한 사람이에요. After you know him, (you will realize) he is a nice person.
  듣고 보면 이해가 더 쉬울 겁니다. After you listen, it will be easy to understand.

I will post -고 보다 /-다가 보다 in a few days.

Click here to listen to the audio files. 

 

[Grammar] -(으)니까 realize, find out

We learned -(으)니까 as a meaning of reason/result in beginners level (you can study -(으)니까 for beginner by clicking here).  In this post, we are going to learn another meaning which is ‘to realize a new fact or to find out a situation after a subject does this action’.

For example,
학교에 가니까 사람이 한 명도 없었어요. When I went to school, nobody is there.
In this sentence, it is not ‘because~so~’, it means the speaker(subject) found out there are no people after he arrived at school. Let’s look at another sentence.

먹어 보니까 맵지 않더라고요. I tried it, and it was not spicy.
In this sentence, the speaker(subject) realized it was not spicy after he tried something.

Like the sentence above, -(으)니까 can be with -아/어/여 보다, -고 나다 or -다가 보다.

(*’까’ can be omitted sometimes, but it feels more formal. )

 

Here are more examples,

우체국에 가니까 문이 닫혀 있었어요. I found out the post office was closed after I got there.

생각해 보니까 나쁘지 않았어요.  I realized that it was not that bad.

시간이 지나고 나니까(지나고 보니까) 좋은 경험이었던 것 같아요.  I realized after a while that it was great experience.

일을 끝내고 나니(까) 기분이 좋아졌어요.  I realized that I felt better after I finished working.

알고 보니(까) 좋은 사람이더라고요. I found out that he is actually a good person.

듣고 보니(까) 기분 나쁘네. I realized that I feel terrible hearing.

공부를 하다가 보니(까) 어렵지 않았어요. I realized that it was not difficult after I studied for a while.

듣다가 보니(까) 좋아졌어요. I realized that I began enjoying it after I kept listening to it.

 

You can listen to audio files for these sentence by clicking here.