Lesson 26: -으려고 해요, intend/plan/hope to (do something)
In this lesson we’re going to talk about how to express intention or future plan of doing something. There are several ways of doing this in Korean, and they all serve a specific purpose. -으려고 해요 just happens to be one of the first we’re going to look at. It also has a secondary meaning we will explore a bit as well.
-으려고 해요 is used with verbs.
If the verb stem ends in a consonant, -으려고 해요 is added.
If the verb stem ends in a vowel, -려고 해요 is added.
찾다 (to withdraw): 찾 + 으려고 해요 → 찾으려고 해요 → 은행에서 돈을 찾으려고 해요. I plan on withdrawing money at the bank.
가다 (to go): 가 + 려고 해요 → 가려고 해요 → 내일 극장에 가려고 해요. Tomorrow I intend to go to the theatre.
레오: 내일 뭐 할 거예요?
켄: 내일 찬구를 만나려고 해요. 레오 씨는요?
레오: 특별한 계획이 없어요.
Leo: What are you doing tomorrow?
Ken: Tomorrow I intend on meeting up with a friend. What about you?
Leo: I don’t have any special plans.
Now generally, this grammar point isn’t frequently used in the plain present tense like written above. You’re perfectly able to, and it’s grammatically correct to do so, however you come off kind of stuffy. It sounds like “text book” speaking. Here are a few more natural examples.
어제 친구를 만나려고 했어요. 하지만 못 만났어요. Yesterday I planned to meet my friend. But we couldn’t meet up.
가방을 사려고 했는데* 가방이 비싸서 안 샀어요. I was going to buy a bag, however the bag was expensive so I didn’t buy it. *This is a grammar point we’ve not looked at yet.
You can also use -으려고 on it’s own, without the 하다 final. You just have to make sure you create a new final clause to attach to the sentence to make it grammatically correct.
밖에 나가려고 점심을 빨리 먹었어요. I ate lunch quickly because I planned to go outside.
의사가 되려고 열심히 공부하고 있어요*. I am studying hard with the intention of becoming a doctor. *This is a grammar point we’ve not looked at yet.
-으려고 해요’s secondary meaning is one of supposition. We’ll take a quick look at it here but cover it more in depth in a later lesson with other supposition/guessing grammar points.
비가 오려고 해요. [Based on what I can see] It looks like it’s going to rain.
아이스크림이 녹으려고 해요. [Judging by the situation] The ice cream is going to melt.
With verbs that end in ㄷ, the ㄷ is changed to an ㄹ and then -으려고 해요 is added.
듣다 (to listen): 듣 → 들 + 으려고 해요 → 들으려고 해요
음악을 들으려고 해요. I plan on listening to music.
With verbs that end in ㄹ, they are treated as if they end in a vowel and -려고 해요 is used instead.
살다 (to live): 살 + 려고 해요 → 살려고 해요
부산에서 살려고 해요. I intend on living in Busan.
Any questions? Let me know!
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