-답시고
claiming to, on the pretext of
Quotes someone’s own justification and refuses it. The speaker is reporting what the person said they were doing — and making clear they don’t buy it.
Build it
Pick a form
When to use it
The ending is built on the quotative. Verbs take -(느)ㄴ답시고, adjectives -답시고, and nouns -(이)랍시고: 돕는답시고, 바쁘답시고, 전문가랍시고.
The first clause gives the actor’s stated reason; the second reports what actually came of it, and it is never good: 돕는답시고 나섰다가 일을 더 망쳤다.
The criticism is built into the ending. You cannot use it neutrally, and you cannot use it about a justification you accept.
Because it belittles, it is used about others — or self-deprecatingly about yourself, but never respectfully about a superior.
How to attach it
| Word type | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | -(느)ㄴ답시고 | 돕다 → 돕는답시고 |
| Verb, vowel stem | -ㄴ답시고 | 공부하다 → 공부한답시고 |
| Adjective | -답시고 | 바쁘다 → 바쁘답시고 |
| Noun | -(이)랍시고 | 전문가랍시고 |
| Second clause | a bad outcome | 일을 더 망쳤다 |
| Judgement | always critical | never neutral |
In use
돕는답시고 나섰다가 일을 더 망쳐 놓았다.
He waded in to help, as he put it, and made a worse mess of it.
공부한답시고 방에 들어가더니 게임만 했다.
He went off to his room to study, supposedly, and played games instead.
바쁘답시고 연락 한 번 없더군요.
Too busy, he claimed — and not a word from him.
전문가랍시고 나서서 엉뚱한 소리만 했다.
He put himself forward as an expert and talked nonsense.
직접 만든답시고 손댔다가 오히려 망가뜨렸어요.
He said he’d make it himself, got his hands on it, and broke it.
선물이랍시고 준 게 겨우 이거였다.
This was all he gave, by way of a present.
Compared with
-(으)ㄴ/는 척하다
척하다 says someone put on an act; 답시고 says they claimed a reason and the speaker rejects it. Pretence versus pretext.
돕는 척했어요. (pretended to help) / 돕는답시고 망쳤어요. (helping, so he said)
-(으)려고
-(으)려고 states a purpose neutrally; 답시고 quotes it with a sneer.
도우려고 나섰어요. (stepped in to help) / 돕는답시고 나섰어요. (stepped in to “help”)
-기로서니
Both carry reproach. 기로서니 grants a reason then says it doesn’t justify enough; 답시고 doesn’t grant it at all.
바쁘기로서니 연락도 못 하나? (busy, granted, but) / 바쁘답시고 연락도 없더라. (“busy,” he says)
Watch out
돕는답시고 나서서 큰 도움이 되었다.
돕는답시고 나섰다가 일을 더 망쳤다.
The ending rejects the stated reason. A good outcome contradicts it.
부장님께서 바쁘답시고 못 오셨습니다.
부장님께서 바쁘셔서 못 오셨습니다.
답시고 belittles the person’s own account. Applied to a superior it is disrespectful, honorifics or not.
전문가답시고 나섰다. — meaning “as befits an expert”
전문가답게 조언해 주었다.
-답게 means “as befits” and is complimentary. -(이)랍시고 is the sneering form and means something quite different.
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