TOPIK II · LEVEL 5
-아/어서야
Marks the point at which something finally happened, often later than expected ('only when/after ~'). In rhetorical questions it criticizes a situation: 'if things are like this, how could ~?'
격식 표현Formal & written phrasesHan: Past tense is not attached before -아/어서야; the final verb 알았어요 already shows it happened in the past.
Examples
새벽 두 시가 되어서야 보고서를 다 끝냈다.It was only at two in the morning that I finished the report.
집에 도착해서야 휴대폰을 회사에 두고 온 걸 알았어요.Only when I got home did I realize I had left my phone at the office.
이렇게 매일 지각해서야 어떻게 승진을 하겠어요?If you're late every day like this, how could you ever get promoted?
부모가 되어서야 부모님 마음을 이해하게 됐어요.Only after becoming a parent myself did I understand how my parents felt.
Don’t mix up
-아/어서야vs-고 나서야-고 나서야 stresses that an action was fully completed and has no rhetorical use; -아/어서야 also works with times and state changes: 밥을 다 먹고 나서야 약이 생각났다 vs 밤이 되어서야 비가 그쳤다.
-아/어서야vs-아/어야-아/어야 states a necessary condition (often general or future); -아/어서야 reports that something actually happened late: 밤이 되어야 시원해져요 vs 밤이 되어서야 시원해졌어요.-아/어서야vs-아/어서는In the critical sense, -아/어서는 is the plainer form often followed by 안 되다; -아/어서야 sounds stronger and usually ends in a rhetorical question: 이렇게 해서는 안 돼요 vs 이렇게 해서야 되겠어요?
How to build it
V/A+아/어서야 (하다 → 해서야)
도착하다 → 도착해서야, 되다 → 되어서야/돼서야, 늦다 → 늦어서야
- Do not put -았/었- before -아/어서야; the tense is shown only by the final verb.
- In the 'only after' meaning, the second clause reports something that actually happened (usually past tense); it does not combine with commands or suggestions.
- In the rhetorical meaning it is usually followed by a question such as 어떻게 ~겠어요? or 되겠어요?, expressing worry or reproach, not a neutral condition.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 회의가 끝났어서야 그 사실을 알았어요.
Right: 회의가 끝나서야 그 사실을 알았어요.
Past tense is not attached before -아/어서야; the final verb 알았어요 already shows it happened in the past.
Practise -아/어서야 on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㅁ에 따라Use -(으)ㅁ에 따라 in formal writing to say that as one situation changes or progresses, another change follows from it.
- -(으)ㅁ으로써-(으)ㅁ으로써 presents the first action as the means or method that brings about the result in the second clause: 'by doing A, B happens'.
- -다 (표제·제목)In headlines, titles, captions and chapter headings, a verb in its bare dictionary form (stem + 다) states an event briefly and impersonally, usually one that has just happened: 'X wins', 'X opens'.
- -에 걸쳐-에 걸쳐 shows that an action or state stretches over a whole span of time, an area, or a series of occasions.
- -에 달려 있다N에 달려 있다 means that the outcome in the subject is decided by N: 'it all depends on N'.
- -에 이르기까지N에 이르기까지 marks the far end of a wide range, stressing that everything from one point all the way to N is included.
- -을/를 두고N을/를 두고 marks the issue that people argue about, debate, worry over or judge, like 'over / concerning N'.
- -을/를 계기로N을/를 계기로 means that an event or experience became the turning point that started a new action, decision or change.
- -을/를 비롯해N을/를 비롯해 puts the most important or representative member of a group first and then includes the others: 'including, above all, from N to the rest'.