Postby trutherous » June 30th, 2012 7:22 pm
Hi Nicholas, and welcome to KC101 -- please use the forum often
suffix pattern: ~나 보다/ ~ㄴ가 보다 -"it seems that," "appears that," "looks like," "I guess"
~가 봐요/ ~ㄴ 봐요 are expressions used to show an inferred assessment of a given situation
~ㄴ 가 봐요 is used with adjectives 'Jamie는 아픈가 봐요' -"Jamie appears to be sick," and linking verbs '그사람인가 봐요' -"It appears to be that person (I think he is probably the one)"
~나 봐요 is used with verbs 'Jamie는 잘 먹나 봐요' -"Looks like Jamie eats well." // 그 일을 하나 봐요 - "Looks like (she) does that work."
However, in the past tense(았/었) ~나 봐요 is always used; 'Jamie는 아팠나 봐요' - "Looks like Jamie was(had been) sick."
some forms you may encounter:
~가/나 보다
~가/나 봐 (~가 봐요)
~가/나 봅니다
~가/나 보네 (~가 보네요) wow - it appears that, wow - looks like/I guess (shows a degree of surprise)
~가/나 보구나 oh my- it looks like (shows a degree of surprise)
Points to help expand your understanding:
보다 - (lit) to see
보아요 -(polite conjugation) to be seeing
보+아 = 봐 (contracted form) +요 = 봐요
이것 봐요 - (lit)Look at this/ see this! / (also means) Listen to me!
이것 봐라 (+라 =informal and commanding imperative) -this form gets shortened to just '거 봐' meaning "SEE! I told you so!"
so having a better understanding of 보다 we can easily SEE (understand) why ~ㄴ 가/나 봐요 means "appears that" or "looks like"
now wasn't that fun?
Keep up the good work, I look forward to talking with you in Korean someday.
George Posten -fellow student --also-known-as 나영훈