TOPIK II · LEVEL 4
-(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 게 틀림없다
-(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 게 틀림없다 expresses a confident guess: 'there's no doubt that / it must be …'.
추측·판단Guessing & judgingHan: 틀림없다 is an adjective; it conjugates as 틀림없어요, not 틀림없어해요.
Examples
이 정도면 그가 범인인 것이 틀림없다.With this much evidence, there's no doubt he is the culprit.
불이 꺼져 있는 걸 보니 다들 퇴근한 게 틀림없어요.Seeing the lights are off, everyone must have gone home.
저렇게 웃는 걸 보면 좋은 일이 있는 게 틀림없어요.Smiling like that, something good must have happened.
Don’t mix up
-(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 게 틀림없다vs-(으)ㄴ/는 것 같다-것 같다 is a soft 'I think'; -게 틀림없다 is near-certain: 아픈 것 같아요 vs 아픈 게 틀림없어요.How to build it
V+는 게
A+(으)ㄴ 게
past V+(으)ㄴ 게
future+(으)ㄹ 게+틀림없다
오다 → 오는 게 틀림없어요, 바쁘다 → 바쁜 게 틀림없어요
- 게 = 것이; the written form is 것이 틀림없다.
- Stronger than -(으)ㄴ/는 것 같다; based on clear evidence.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 그 사람은 학생인 게 틀림없어해요.
Right: 그 사람은 학생인 게 틀림없어요.
틀림없다 is an adjective; it conjugates as 틀림없어요, not 틀림없어해요.
Practise -(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 게 틀림없다 on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄹ 리가 없다Use -(으)ㄹ 리가 없다 when you are convinced that something cannot possibly be true or happen, based on what you know.
- -(으)ㄹ 법하다-(으)ㄹ 법하다 says that something is quite plausible or would be natural to expect, given the situation or common sense.
- -(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 듯(하다)A written-style way to guess, 'it seems / it looks like', the bookish counterpart of -(으)ㄴ/는 것 같다; used as -듯(하다) at the end, or as -(으)ㄴ/는 듯 to link a description to the next clause.
- -(으)ㄹ까 봐-(으)ㄹ까 봐 means 'worried that something bad might happen', and that worry is the reason for what you do or feel.
- -(으)ㅁ직하다It says that something is worth doing or quite likely to happen, as in food that looks good to eat (먹음직하다) or an event that could plausibly happen (있음직하다).
- -기 일쑤다-기 일쑤다 says that something undesirable happens again and again, almost as a bad habit.
- -기 마련이다-기 마련이다 says that something naturally happens as a general rule of life, so it is no surprise.
- -는가 보다The verb form of the evidence-based guess 'it seems that…': V + 는가 보다 (가는가 보다). Same meaning as -나 보다, slightly more careful and frequent in writing and narration.
- -(으)나-(으)나 is a formal written 'but / however', linking two contrasting clauses.
