TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-(으)ㄹ세라
-(으)ㄹ세라 means someone quickly or carefully does something out of anxiety that an unwanted event might happen ("for fear that", "lest").
추측·판단Guessing & judgingHan: -(으)ㄹ세라 cannot be followed by a command; to tell someone to prevent something, use -지 않도록.
Examples
누가 볼세라 그는 편지를 얼른 서랍에 넣었다.For fear someone might see it, he quickly put the letter in the drawer.
형이 노래를 부르자 동생도 질세라 더 큰 소리로 따라 불렀다.When the older brother started singing, the younger one, not to be outdone, sang along even louder.
아이가 깰세라 엄마는 조심조심 방문을 닫았다.Afraid the child might wake up, the mother closed the door very carefully.
기차를 놓칠세라 우리는 역까지 뛰어갔다.Afraid we would miss the train, we ran all the way to the station.
Don’t mix up
-(으)ㄹ세라vs-(으)ㄹ까 봐-(으)ㄹ까 봐 is the everyday spoken choice and can also express just worry without action (늦을까 봐 걱정했어요); -(으)ㄹ세라 is literary and is followed by a hurried or careful action.-(으)ㄹ세라vs-지 않도록-지 않도록 neutrally states a goal of prevention and allows commands (아이가 깨지 않도록 조용히 하세요); -(으)ㄹ세라 expresses anxious feeling and does not allow commands.
How to build it
V+(으)ㄹ세라 (vowel stem / ㄹ stem + ㄹ세라, consonant stem + 을세라)
깨다 → 깰세라, 놓치다 → 놓칠세라, 잃다 → 잃을세라
- It sounds literary and is an advanced pattern used mainly in writing and storytelling; in everyday speech Koreans usually say -(으)ㄹ까 봐 instead.
- The main clause describes an action someone actually took; it cannot be a command or suggestion (-(으)세요, -(으)ㅂ시다).
- The feared event is something that has not happened yet, so past tense -았/었- is normally not added before -(으)ㄹ세라.
- It often appears with 행여, 혹시 or 누가, and 질세라 is a set phrase meaning "not wanting to be outdone".
Classic mistake
Wrong: 아이가 깰세라 조용히 하세요.
Right: 아이가 깨지 않도록 조용히 하세요.
-(으)ㄹ세라 cannot be followed by a command; to tell someone to prevent something, use -지 않도록.
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄹ 리 만무하다A formal, emphatic way to say "there is absolutely no way that ~", based on the speaker's firm reasoning.
- -(으)ㄹ 소지가 있다Something has a flaw or condition in it that could lead to an undesirable result, such as a misunderstanding, dispute or abuse.
- -(으)ㄴ/는 감이 있다Used to say, softly, that something strikes you as a bit too much or not quite enough: 'it feels somewhat ~'.
- -(으)ㄹ라A casual sentence ending used to warn someone close that something bad might happen if they are not careful.
- -(으)리라고-(으)리라 + quotative 고 before a verb of thinking or expecting: '(think/believe/expect) that … will …'. Literary; very common in -(으)리라고는 생각하지 못했다 'never imagined that …'.
- -지 싶다-지 싶다 expresses the speaker's own fairly confident guess, like 'I suppose / I'd say it's probably ~'.
- -(으)리라는 + NA literary noun modifier giving the content of an expectation, belief or resolve: 'the expectation/belief that … will …'. It is -(으)리라 + -는 (from -고 하는) and is typical of news, essays and narratives.
- -(으)매-(으)매 is a bookish, literary way to say 'because' or 'as', linking a cause to its natural result in formal writing.
- -(으)나 -(으)나Two paired or opposite verbs/adjectives, each with -(으)나, mean 'whichever of these is the case, the following stays the same', which often amounts to 'regardless' or 'all the time'.