-(으)ㄹ 뻔하다

-(으)ㄹ 뻔했다 means something almost happened, usually something bad, but in the end it did not.

정도·비교Degree & comparison

Han: A near miss is already over, so the pattern is used in the past tense: 넘어질 뻔했어요.

Examples

알람 소리를 못 들어서 회의에 늦을 뻔했어요.I didn't hear the alarm, so I was almost late for the meeting.

길이 미끄러워서 넘어질 뻔했어요.The road was slippery, so I almost fell.

친구가 말해 주지 않았으면 시험 날짜를 잊어버릴 뻔했어요.If my friend hadn't told me, I would have forgotten the exam date.

하마터면 버스를 놓칠 뻔했어요.I nearly missed the bus.

Don’t mix up

-(으)ㄹ 뻔하다vs거의 V-았/었어요거의 + past means most of the action did happen, while -(으)ㄹ 뻔했다 means it did not happen at all: 숙제를 거의 다 했어요 (I've done almost all my homework).

-(으)ㄹ 뻔하다vs뻔하다 (adjective)On its own, without -(으)ㄹ, the adjective 뻔하다 means 'obvious, predictable', not 'almost': 결과가 뻔해요 (The result is obvious).

How to build it

V+(으)ㄹ 뻔하다 (usually past: V + (으)ㄹ 뻔했다)

늦다 → 늦을 뻔했어요, 넘어지다 → 넘어질 뻔했어요

It is normally used in the past tense (-(으)ㄹ 뻔했어요), because a near miss is already over; present forms like 늦을 뻔해요 sound wrong.
The event did not actually happen. If it did happen, use the plain past (넘어졌어요), not 넘어질 뻔했어요.
It is often used with 하마터면 ('nearly'), or after -지 않았으면 / -았/었으면 to say 'if not for X, Y would have happened'.
In speech it is also used as exaggeration: 배고파서 죽을 뻔했어요 ('I was starving to death').

Classic mistake

Wrong: ~~어제 지하철에서 넘어질 뻔해요.~~

Right: 어제 지하철에서 넘어질 뻔했어요.

A near miss is already over, so the pattern is used in the past tense: 넘어질 뻔했어요.

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