-다 못해
past the point of; so much that it became
Something reached its limit and tipped over into something else. Two readings share the form: reaching the end of endurance, and an intensity that overshoots.
Build it
Pick a word
When to use it
Attach -다 못해 to a stem — no vowel rule, ㄹ stays, no tense in front.
With a verb it means endurance ran out: 보다 못해 나섰다 — unable to watch any longer, he stepped in. The commonest are 참다, 보다, 듣다, 기다리다.
With an adjective it means the quality overshot into another: 하얗다 못해 푸르스름했다 — so white it was almost blue. This reading is a favourite in descriptive writing.
Note the spelling of 참다못해, which has fused into a single word and is written joined. The others take a space.
How to attach it
| Situation | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb — endurance | -다 못해 | 보다 → 보다 못해 |
| Adjective — overshoot | -다 못해 | 하얗다 → 하얗다 못해 |
| Fused word | 참다못해 — joined | 참다못해 소리쳤다 |
| ㄹ stems keep the ㄹ | -다 못해 | 만들다 못해 |
| Never takes tense | plain stem only | 참았다 못해 is wrong |
| Second clause | what it tipped into | 푸르스름했다 |
In use
참다못해 결국 한마디 하고 말았다.
Unable to bear it any longer, I ended up saying something.
보다 못해 제가 나섰습니다.
I couldn’t stand watching, so I stepped in.
눈이 하얗다 못해 푸르스름해 보였다.
The snow was so white it looked faintly blue.
기다리다 못해 먼저 자리를 떴어요.
Tired of waiting, I left ahead of the others.
국이 짜다 못해 쓸 지경이었다.
The soup was salty to the point of bitterness.
듣다 못해 한마디 거들었다.
Unable to listen any longer, I put in a word.
Compared with
-(으)ㄹ 지경이다
지경이다 describes the extreme state itself; -다 못해 describes crossing out of it into something else.
쓰러질 지경이었다. (about to collapse) / 짜다 못해 썼다. (salty past salt, into bitter)
-(으)ㄴ 나머지
나머지 says an extreme state produced an action; -다 못해 says the state itself tipped into another state.
놀란 나머지 말을 못 했다. (so startled that) / 하얗다 못해 푸르렀다. (white past white)
-(으)ㄹ 정도로
정도로 measures against a threshold; -다 못해 says the threshold was passed.
쓸 정도로 짰다. (salty enough to be bitter) / 짜다 못해 썼다. (salty beyond salt)
Watch out
참았다 못해 한마디 했다.
참다못해 한마디 했다.
-다 never carries tense here, and 참다못해 has fused into one word.
눈이 하얗다 못해 아름다웠다.
눈이 하얗다 못해 푸르스름했다.
The second clause has to name what the quality tipped into — a further point on the same scale, not an unrelated judgement.
보다못해 나섰습니다.
보다 못해 나섰습니다.
Only 참다못해 is written joined. The rest take a space.
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