Korean This vs That Word Differences #5
Both of these have the meaning of ‘to do the laundry’ or ‘to wash clothes’ but there are some small differences. 세탁하다 has a Chinese root (洗濯) whereas 빨래하다 is a native Korean word - this is why you might hear people say 빨래하다 a lot more in colloquial speech. However, specifically, 세탁하다 refers to the washing of clothes using a machine (세탁기 is a washing machine), whereas 빨래하다 can be used when talking about washing clothes with a machine, but also for hand-washing clothes. 빨래하다 is a universal term for washing clothes, but 세탁하다 really only talks about using the washing machine.
만들다 is probably one of the earliest verbs that any of us learn when learning Korean - it means ‘to make’. But some of you may have come to a point where you have learned the verb 짓다 which conveys a similar meaning but is slightly more nuanced. 짓다 does indeed mean ‘to make’ but may also mean ‘to build’ - it is used in situations like making/building a house or building, giving something a title or name, or making a facial expression or smile. Comparatively, 만들다 is used more for making objects of a smaller scale.
When talking about ‘building something’, 짓다 is used to talk about referring to something of large scale, like a building or a house, but 만들다 is used to talk about building something like a doll’s house or a pet house (something small).
When talking about ‘making food’, both can be used, however 짓다 is specifically used for cooking/boiling plain rice, but 만들다 is used for making other foods with numerous ingredients.
When talking about ‘making a name’ or ‘giving something a name’, both 짓다 and 만들다 can be used. 짓다 sounds a little more formal, so it is a bit like ‘giving something a title’ or ‘giving a baby a name’, whereas 만들다 is a bit more like ‘giving something a nickname’.
When talking about ‘making a facial expression’ or ‘making a smile’, you can ONLY use 짓다 (표정을 짓다 = to make a face / to pull a face).
When talking about ‘making objects’ like ‘making clothes’, you can ONLY use 만들다 - the scale is not big enough for 짓다 (인형을 만들다 = to make a doll).
Some people may never have even heard the term 휴대폰, I only heard it because my Korean teacher uses it all the time instead of 핸드폰. Of course, both actually mean a cellphone / mobile phone and are completely interchangeable. 핸드폰 is a loan word from English (hand phone), meanwhile 휴대폰 originated from 휴대전화 - 휴대 (携帶) means ‘carry’ and 전화 (電話) means telephone. In recent times, the 전화 has been replaced with 폰 (the English loan word ‘phone’) for ease and is said as 휴대폰. No difference - just preference I guess, and mostly reflects a change in the times / generation thing. Most people call cellphones a 핸드폰 these days because 휴대전화 or 휴대폰 originated from the initial cordless home telephones.
I have noticed a lot of situations where people use the word 어렵다 when what they really mean to say is 힘들다 (myself included) - this is because in English, we refer to things being ‘difficult’ whether it’s talking about something being difficult to do (as in, not easy), or whether it’s difficult to do because you’re having a hard time. Tricky to conceptualise - here’s some easy examples.
시험이 어려워요 - The exam is difficult
제 일주일은 힘들었어요 - My week was difficult (tough)
한국어를 배우는 것은 어려워요 - Learning Korean is difficult (not easy)
한국어를 배우는 것은 힘들어요 - Learning Korean is tough (mentally difficult - you might not find Korean a particularly difficult language, but you might find it hard to do for whatever external reason)
You might be surprised but for the longest time I got these two words mixed up completely with each other. You know when people get startled by something and they say ‘깜짝이야’ (깜짝 = surprise, with a start) I actually thought they were saying 갑자기 which means ‘suddenly, abruptly’ - it sounded really similar to me at first - sometimes it’s a bit confusing because their uses can overlap but largely they are used in different circumstances.
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