대로

Build it

When to use it

With a noun it joins directly: 약속대로 (as promised), 계획대로 (as planned), 마음대로 (as you please).

With a modifier it takes a space, and the tense matters. 말한 대로 means “as I said” — the saying is finished. 말하는 대로 means “as I say” — ongoing, or a general rule.

One extra use of the -는 form is temporal: attached to a future action it means “as soon as.” 도착하는 대로 연락드릴게요. This reading appears with arrangements and promises, where -자마자 would feel too abrupt.

How to attach it

In use

1. 약속대로 여섯 시에 도착했어요.

   I arrived at six, as promised.

2. 제가 말한 대로 하세요.

   Do it the way I said.

3. 모든 게 계획대로 됐어요.

   Everything went according to plan.

4. 보는 대로 솔직하게 말해 주세요.

   Please tell me honestly, just as you see it.

5. 도착하는 대로 연락드릴게요.

   I’ll get in touch as soon as I arrive.

6. 마음대로 하세요.

   Do as you like.

Compared with

• 처럼

  처럼 says something resembles another; 대로 says it follows it as an instruction or a model. The difference is imitation versus compliance.

  가수처럼 노래해요. (sings like a singer)  /  배운 대로 노래해요. (sings as taught)

• -자마자

  In its “as soon as” sense, -는 대로 points forward and suits promises. -자마자 works freely with past events and stresses immediacy.

  도착하는 대로 연락할게요. (I’ll call on arrival)  /  도착하자마자 연락했어요. (I called the instant I arrived)

• Tense inside

  -(으)ㄴ 대로 reports what was already said or done; -는 대로 covers the ongoing or the general case. Choosing wrongly changes who is following whom, and when.

  말한 대로 (as I said)  /  말하는 대로 (as I say)

Watch out

• 제가 말한대로 하세요.

  제가 말한 대로 하세요.

  After a modifier, 대로 is a separate word. Only after a bare noun does it join: 약속대로.

• 어제 제가 말하는 대로 했어요.

  어제 제가 말한 대로 했어요.

  The instruction was already given, so the modifier is past. -는 대로 would describe an ongoing or general instruction.

• 저녁을 만들는 대로 부를게요.

  저녁을 만드는 대로 부를게요.

  Stems ending in ㄹ drop it before -는, as everywhere in the modifier system.

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