Usage

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i) Evidence-based negative conjectures

철수는 집에서 게임할 게 뻔하다.
철수 is obviously playing games at home.

Conjugation

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Type	Example	Past	Present (processive)	Future (prospective)	Retrospective
AV (vowel)	하다	한 게 뻔하다	하는 게 뻔하다	할 게 뻔하다	하던 게 뻔하다
AV (cons.)	듣다	들은 게 뻔하다	듣는 게 뻔하다	들을 게 뻔하다	듣던 게 뻔하다
DV (vowel)	빠르다	빨랐을 게 뻔하다	빠른 게 뻔하다	빠를 게 뻔하다	빠르던 게 뻔하다
DV (cons.)	어둡다	어두웠을 게 뻔하다	어두운 게 뻔하다	어두울 게 뻔하다	어둡던 게 뻔하다
Noun (vowel)	남자	남자였을 게 뻔하다	남자인 게 뻔하다	남자일 게 뻔하다	남자던 게 뻔하다
Noun (cons.)	사람	사람이었을 게 뻔하다	사람인 게 뻔하다	사람일 게 뻔하다	사람이던 게 뻔하다

Where:
AV = action verb / processive verb.
DV = descriptive verb / ‘adjective’.
Nouns take the copula (이다) and this becomes a DV.

Contents

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1.  Introduction

2.  i) Evidence-based negative conjectures

3.  Expanded forms

1.  게 나을 뻔하다

4.  Additional details

5.  Associated grammar

6.  See also

7.  Bibliography

8.  User examples

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The grammatical form M 게 뻔하다 is used by speakers to conjecture something negative which is obviously evident (to them). It comes from the descriptive verb 뻔하다 meaning ‘clear/obvious’ and M 것이 (게) which nominalises the preceding clause.

뻔한 거짓말
an obvious lie

뻔한 속셈
clear intentions

• While this form can take any modifier (ㄴ|는|ㄹ|던), speakers use the prospective modifier (으)ㄹ to wager a guess.

• In simple terms, 게 (것이) makes the preceding clause a concrete entity (see nominalisation).

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Speakers use 게 뻔하다 when they have some reason to foretell a negative circumstance. The speaker must have good reason to suspect whatever they conjecture as they are saying “this is clearly the case”.

철수는 집에서 게임할 게 뻔하다.
철수 is obviously playing games at home.
(since we know he’s crazy about games and he isn’t at school).

Here the speaker makes a conjecture on 철수’s whereabouts based on their understanding of his character and the situation at hand.

그는 오지 않을 것이 뻔하다.
He obviously isn’t coming.

걔가 하는 말이면 거짓말인 게 뻔해.
It’s obvious whatever he says is a lie.

너는 아직도 걔 생각만 할 게 뻔하지.
It’s obvious you’re still thinking about her.

사업을 해서 실패한 사람들을 여럿 봤으니 나도 사업을 한다면 실패할 게 뻔해.
I’ve seen lots of people fail with their businesses, so I’ll probably fail too if I try (obviously).

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게 뻔하다 is sometimes expanded with the following form(s):

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When the negative circumstance is already present, speakers use 게 나을 뻔하다 to mean “Clearly, it would have been better to do this instead”.

얘기 안 하는 게 나을 뻔 했다.
It would have been better not to say anything.

버스를 타는 게 나을 뻔했어.
We would have been better off taking the bus.

• Note that 나을 is an irregular conjunction of 낫다 (to recover, get well) + prospective modifier (으)ㄹ.

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General

• 게 뻔하다 is clearly different from ㄹ 뻔했다, though there is a common theme. Both forms are usually used to express an imagined, negative circumstance. In 게 뻔하다, the speaker is saying they have reason to think something negative is happening / will happen; while in ㄹ 뻔했다, the speaker usually expresses relief over something negative which nearly happened.

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Affiliate links help support uK.

— Ahn, J., & Sun, E. (2014). Korean Grammar in Use: Advanced. Paju-si: Darakwon.
— Cho, H., Kim, U., Kwon, J., Jeong, H., Lee, S., Son, J., & Kim, K. (2008). Master Korean 4-2 Intermediate. Paju-si: Darakwon

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