TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-아/어 빠지다
Added 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.
정도·비교Degree & comparisonHan: 빠지다 is a verb describing a resulting state, so the modifier must be -(으)ㄴ (낡아빠진), not the present -는.
Examples
이 낡아빠진 소파는 이제 좀 버리자.Let's finally get rid of this worn-out old sofa.
요즘 젊은 사람들이 약해 빠졌다고들 하지만 나는 그렇게 생각하지 않는다.People say young people these days are hopelessly soft, but I don't think so.
그렇게 게을러빠져서 어떻게 회사를 다니려고 그래?Being that hopelessly lazy, how do you expect to keep a job?
썩어빠진 정치를 바꾸겠다고 나섰지만 결국 달라진 건 없었다.He stepped forward promising to change the rotten politics, but in the end nothing changed.
Don’t mix up
-아/어 빠지다vs-아/어 죽겠다죽겠다 exaggerates the speaker's own feeling and can be positive (좋아 죽겠다); 빠지다 criticizes a person's or thing's quality: 배고파 죽겠다 vs 게을러빠진 사람.
-아/어 빠지다vs-기 짝이 없다짝이 없다 marks an extreme degree in a more formal, written tone without slangy contempt; 빠지다 is colloquial and scornful: 무례하기 짝이 없다 vs 낡아빠진 가방.How to build it
A/V (negative meaning)+아/어 빠지다 → 아/어 빠진+N / 아/어 빠졌다
낡다 → 낡아빠진 구두, 게으르다 → 게을러빠졌다
- Used mainly with words that already have a negative sense (낡다, 게으르다, 약하다, 썩다, 늙다, 닳다); with neutral or positive words like 예쁘다 it usually sounds wrong.
- 빠지다 is a verb, so the current state is expressed with the past/resultative form: 낡아빠진 + N, 낡아빠졌다 — not 낡아빠지는 or 낡아빠져요 for a present state.
- It is blunt and disparaging: fine in casual speech, criticism or self-mockery, but avoid it about superiors, customers or in polite formal writing.
- Many common combinations are dictionary words and are written together (낡아빠지다, 게을러빠지다, 썩어빠지다); other combinations are usually spaced (약해 빠지다).
Classic mistake
Wrong: 낡아빠지는 가방을 드디어 버렸어요.
Right: 낡아빠진 가방을 드디어 버렸어요.
빠지다 is a verb describing a resulting state, so the modifier must be -(으)ㄴ (낡아빠진), not the present -는.
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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'.