TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-아/어 마지않다
-아/어 마지않다 is a formal way to say you feel something such as respect, thanks or hope with your whole heart, to the fullest degree.
정도·비교Degree & comparisonHan: Because of 않다, learners attach -지 as in negation, but 마지않다 connects with -아/어: 축하해 마지않습니다.
Examples
그는 모두가 부러워해 마지않던 직장을 그만두고 고향으로 돌아갔다.He quit the job everyone had envied so much and went back to his hometown.
제가 존경해 마지않는 선생님께서 올해 은퇴하십니다.My teacher, whom I deeply respect, is retiring this year.
앞으로 두 나라의 관계가 더욱 발전하기를 바라 마지않습니다.I wholeheartedly hope that relations between our two countries will develop even further.
여러분의 건강과 행복을 진심으로 기원해 마지않습니다.I sincerely wish you all good health and happiness.
Don’t mix up
-아/어 마지않다vs-기 그지없다-기 그지없다 attaches mostly to adjectives and describes an extreme state (기쁘기 그지없습니다), while -아/어 마지않다 attaches to attitude verbs directed at someone (축하해 마지않습니다).-아/어 마지않다vs-지 않을 수 없다-지 않을 수 없다 means you are forced by the situation to do something (감탄하지 않을 수 없었다), while -아/어 마지않다 expresses your own heartfelt, willing feeling (감사해 마지않습니다).
How to build it
V (feeling/attitude verb)+아/어 마지않다
존경하다 → 존경해 마지않다 / 바라다 → 바라 마지않는
- Use it mainly with verbs of feeling or attitude toward someone or something: 바라다, 기원하다, 감사하다, 존경하다, 축하하다, 사랑하다, 부러워하다. Ordinary action verbs like 먹다 or 가다 do not take it.
- It is highly formal: speeches, official letters, congratulatory messages and written texts. In casual speech it sounds strange; end it with -습니다 or use the modifier form 마지않는.
- Tense goes on 마지않다, not on the first verb: 부러워해 마지않던, not 부러워했어 마지않다.
- Despite 않다, it is not a negative: it means 'cannot stop ~ing', i.e. 'deeply ~'. It is used in statements, not in commands or suggestions.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 두 분의 결혼을 진심으로 축하하지 마지않습니다.
Right: 두 분의 결혼을 진심으로 축하해 마지않습니다.
Because of 않다, learners attach -지 as in negation, but 마지않다 connects with -아/어: 축하해 마지않습니다.
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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 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'.