The particle ‘-만’ in Korean grammar: Only

- Author: Isabella Nardone (Italy)
- Editor: Good Job Korean team 

 There are several ways to say ‘only’ in Korean. Among those several ways to say ‘only’, ‘-만’ is the most commonly used and basic way to say ‘only’.

 Let’s check out how it is conjugated and used in sentences!

 Adding ‘-만’ after nouns

 Adding ‘-만’ after a noun is very simple you just simply add ‘만’ after a noun. But depending on where you put ‘-만’, the emphasis of the sentence can be completely different.

 Ex)

  어제는 집에서 드라마만 봤어요

  I only watched drama at home yesterday.

  *어제: yesterday   *집: home   *드라마: drama   *보다: to watch

 In this sentence ‘only’ is emphasizing ‘drama’ as '-만' is added after the noun '드라마'.

 Whereas, if you add the particle '-만' the other noun, it can have totally different meanings.

  Ex)

 어제만 집에서 드라마 봤어요.

 Only yesterday, I watched drama at home.

 This sentence emphasizes that normally I don’t watch drama at home, but ONLY YESTERDAY, I exceptionally watch drama at home. In this case, it is wrong to say ‘어제는만’, because you cannot use 만 with Topic/subject/object particles (은/는/이/가/을/를).

 Ex)

 어제는 집에서만 드라마 봤어요.

 I watched drama Only at home yesterday.

 This sentence emphasizes that I watched drama ONLY AT HOME yesterday. And as you can see, you can add the particle 만 with a location particle ‘에서’.

 Adding ‘-만’ after verbs

 When using the particle ‘-만’ with a verb, you simply add ‘-기만 하다’ to the verb stem, because you cannot add the particle to a verb directly. You have to change a verb into a noun form first.

 Ex)

 하다(to do) -> 하기(noun form: doing) -> 하기만(only doing) -> 하기만 하다 (to do only doing)

 먹다(to eat) -> 먹기(noun form: eating) -> 먹기만(only eating) -> 먹기만 하다 (to do only eating)

 *하다: to do    *먹다: to eat

 *NOTE
 You can make a verb into its’ noun form by adding ‘기’ after the verb stem.

 친구가 도서관에서 공부하기만 했어요. 
 My friend did only studying at the library. (=My friend only studied at the library.)

 *시험: exam, test   *전: before   *날: day    *제: my(polite speech)   *친구: friend  
 *공부하다: to study

 Now, let’s see more example sentences.

 Examples

 제 딸은 야채만 먹어요.

 My daughter only eats vegetables.

 *제: my     *딸: daughter    *야채: vegetable   *먹다: to eat

 저만 왔어요.

 Only I came.

 *저: me(polite speech)   *오다: to come

 주말에만 시간이 있어서, 주말에 운동해요.

 I have time only on weekends, so I work out on weekends.

 *주말: weekend   *시간: time    *있다: to have   *운동하다: to work out, to exercise.

 오늘 피곤해서 집에서 자기만 할 거예요.

 Today I'm tired, so I will only sleep at home. (I’ll do nothing but sleeping at home today)

 *오늘: today   *피곤하다: to be tired   *집: home   *에서: at(location particle)   *자다: to sleep

 어제는 오후에 요리하기만 했어요.

 I only cooked yesterday afternoon. (I did nothing but cooking yesterday afternoon)

 *어제: yesterday   *오후: afternoon   *요리하다: to cook

 저는 인터넷으로 한국어만 공부해요.

 I only study Korean on the internet. (All I do on the internet is studying Korean)

 *인터넷: internet   *한국어: Korean(language)   *공부하다: to study

- Author: Isabella Nardone (Italy)
- Editor: Good Job Korean team