TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-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.
정도·비교Degree & comparisonHan: A-디-A forms one word and is written without a space.
Examples
그 시절의 쓰디쓴 경험이 오히려 나를 단단하게 만들었다.The bitter experiences of those days actually made me stronger.
차디찬 겨울바람에 손끝이 얼어붙는 듯했다.In the ice-cold winter wind my fingertips felt as if they were freezing.
창밖으로 희디흰 눈이 소리 없이 쌓이고 있었다.Outside the window, pure white snow was silently piling up.
Don’t mix up
-디 (강조)vs아주/매우 + A아주 차가운 바람 is a neutral 'very cold wind'; 차디찬 바람 is vivid and literary.
-디 (강조)vsA-고 A-(으)ㄴAnother repetition intensifier, used with adjectives like 길다, 멀다, 넓다: 길고 긴 밤, 멀고 먼 길.
-디 (강조)vs-디? (회상 물음)A different, old-fashioned sentence-final -디 asks about what the listener saw: 그 사람 집에 있디? It has nothing to do with intensifying.
How to build it
A-stem+디+the same A (one word), mostly as a modifier -(으)ㄴ
차다 → 차디찬; 희다 → 희디흰; 푸르다 → 푸르디푸른; 쓰다 → 쓰디쓴; 곱다 → 곱디고운; 맵다 → 맵디매운; 달다 → 달디단
- Only with adjectives, and only a limited set of sensory ones (colour, temperature, taste, depth, width): 차다, 희다, 푸르다, 붉다, 쓰다, 달다, 짜다, 깊다, 넓다, 곱다. Not with verbs: 먹디먹은 (X).
- Written as one word: 차디찬, not 차디 찬. Irregular stems change only in the second half: 곱디고운, 맵디매운, 달디단 (ㄹ drops before ㄴ).
- Mostly before a noun (차디찬 바람); as a predicate it appears in literary writing: 하늘이 푸르디푸르다.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 차디 찬 바람이 분다.
Right: 차디찬 바람이 분다.
A-디-A forms one word and is written without a space.
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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).
- -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 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'.
- -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.