TOPIK II · LEVEL 4
-(으)ㄹ 무렵
-(으)ㄹ 무렵 means 'around the time when …'.
시간·순서Time & sequenceHan: 무렵 only takes -(으)ㄹ, even when the event is past.
Examples
봄이 올 무렵 꽃이 피기 시작한다.Around the time spring comes, the flowers start to bloom.
해가 질 무렵 집에 도착했어요.I got home around sunset.
대학교를 졸업할 무렵 처음 한국에 왔어요.I first came to Korea around the time I graduated from university.
Don’t mix up
-(으)ㄹ 무렵vs-(으)ㄹ 때-(으)ㄹ 때 = 'when' (exact time); -(으)ㄹ 무렵 = 'around the time when' (approximate): 도착했을 때 vs 도착할 무렵.How to build it
V+(으)ㄹ 무렵
N+무렵
해가 지다 → 해가 질 무렵, 졸업 → 졸업 무렵
- Always -(으)ㄹ before 무렵, even for past events: 도착할 무렵.
- Slightly literary; in speech -(으)ㄹ 때쯤 is common.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 해가 진 무렵
Right: 해가 질 무렵
무렵 only takes -(으)ㄹ, even when the event is past.
Practise -(으)ㄹ 무렵 on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄴ/는 가운데Sets up a background situation that is going on while the main event happens ('amid…', 'while … is going on'), typical of news and formal speech.
- -(으)ㄹ락 말락Use it when something hovers right at the edge of happening: it almost happens, but not quite, or seems to go back and forth.
- -고 보다Means 'do X first, and worry about the rest later': the speaker puts one action ahead of any further thought, sometimes with a hint of rashness.
- -고서야A-고서야 B: B happens (or becomes possible) only after A is done, often describing a late realization.
- -(으)나-(으)나 is a formal written 'but / however', linking two contrasting clauses.
- -(으)되-(으)되 states or allows a first action and then adds a condition or limit to it, in a formal or written style.
- -(이)면 (조사)Attaches to a noun to mean 'if it is N / whenever it is N'; repeated as N(이)면 N, it means 'in every field, whatever you name'.
- -(으)ㄹ 게 아니라Use it to say that doing X is not the right move, so you should do Y instead: "rather than doing X, do Y."
- -(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.