TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-기 짝이 없다
-기 짝이 없다 says a quality is so extreme that nothing can match it, usually in a strong negative judgment: 'utterly, beyond compare'.
정도·비교Degree & comparisonHan: Past tense goes only on 없다 at the end; the adjective before -기 stays in its plain stem form.
Examples
십 년 만에 고향 친구를 만나니 반갑기 짝이 없었다.Seeing my childhood friend from home after ten years made me happier than words can say.
회의 중에 계속 전화를 받는 그의 태도는 무례하기 짝이 없었다.The way he kept taking phone calls during the meeting was incredibly rude.
안전 장비도 없이 높은 곳에서 일하는 것은 위험하기 짝이 없다.Working at heights without any safety equipment is extremely dangerous.
이렇게 쉬운 문제를 틀리다니 부끄럽기 짝이 없습니다.I am utterly ashamed to have gotten such an easy question wrong.
Don’t mix up
-기 짝이 없다vs-기 그지없다Same 'beyond measure' meaning, but 그지없다 sounds neutral and is the natural choice for gratitude or joy: 도와주셔서 감사하기 그지없습니다.-기 짝이 없다vs-기 십상이다Looks similar, but it means 'something is very likely to happen' and attaches to verbs, not a degree of a quality: 서두르면 실수하기 십상이다.How to build it
A+기 짝이 없다
한심하다 → 한심하기 짝이 없다
- Attach it to adjectives, mostly evaluative or emotional ones (무례하다, 한심하다, 부끄럽다, 위험하다); it does not go with action verbs: *먹기 짝이 없다.
- Mark tense and politeness on 없다, not before -기: 무례하기 짝이 없었다, 부끄럽기 짝이 없습니다.
- It usually carries criticism or a negative feeling; positive feelings are possible (반갑기 짝이 없다), but for gratitude and joy -기 그지없다 is more common.
- It is bookish and emphatic, typical of writing, speeches and formal complaints; in casual chat it sounds exaggerated, so 진짜 너무 is more natural there.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 그의 태도는 무례했기 짝이 없었다.
Right: 그의 태도는 무례하기 짝이 없었다.
Past tense goes only on 없다 at the end; the adjective before -기 stays in its plain stem form.
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄹ 대로 -아/어서A state has gone as far as it can go, to its very limit, and this extreme state causes what follows.
- -(으)ㄹ 바를 모르다A formal way to say someone is so shocked, moved or embarrassed that they are at a complete loss about what to do.
- -(으)ㄹ 판이다-(으)ㄹ 판이다 says that things have reached a point where something bad or extreme is about to happen.
- -(으)ㄹ 나위가 없다 (더할 나위 없다)There is no room left to do more of something, so a thing is already perfect (더할 나위 없다) or too obvious to need saying (말할 나위도 없다).
- -디 (강조)Joins an adjective stem to a repeat of the same adjective to intensify it: 차디찬 'ice-cold', 희디흰 'pure white'. Literary and expressive: descriptions, poems, novels.
- -다 못해-다 못해 means that something has gone past its limit: with verbs, you can no longer bear or keep doing it and finally act; with adjectives, a state becomes so extreme that it turns into something stronger.
- -기 이를 데 없다Says that a quality or feeling is so extreme that words cannot fully describe it: 'indescribably ~, ~ beyond words'.
- -기 그지없다Says in a formal, literary way that a feeling or quality is so strong it has no limit: 'extremely, beyond words'.
- -아/어 빠지다Added to a word with a negative sense, it says a person or thing is in that bad state to an extreme degree, and it carries the speaker's contempt or annoyance.