-는 것

Build it

When to use it

것 is a noun meaning “thing.” Put a modifier in front of it and the whole clause becomes something you can attach particles to: 한국어를 배우는 것이 재미있어요.

Because it uses the modifier system, tense is available: 먹은 것 (what I ate), 먹는 것 (what I’m eating), 먹을 것 (what I’ll eat). Adjectives take -(으)ㄴ, and stems in ㄹ drop it before -는 and -(으)ㄴ.

In speech it contracts constantly, and recognising the short forms matters more than producing them: 것이 becomes 게, 것을 becomes 걸, 것은 becomes 건, 것이에요 becomes 거예요. 이게 제가 만든 거예요.

How to attach it

In use

1. 한국어를 배우는 것이 재미있어요.

   Learning Korean is fun.

2. 제가 어제 먹은 것은 비빔밥이에요.

   What I ate yesterday was bibimbap.

3. 이게 제가 만든 거예요.

   This is the one I made.

4. 주말에 할 것이 많아요.

   I have a lot to do this weekend.

5. 그 사람이 온 것을 몰랐어요.

   I didn’t know he had come.

6. 매운 걸 잘 못 먹어요.

   I can’t handle spicy things well.

Compared with

• -기

  -기 names an activity in the abstract and takes no tense; -는 것 refers to a specific instance and does. Several fixed patterns accept only one or the other.

  수영하기 쉬워요. (swimming is easy)  /  어제 수영한 것을 후회해요. (I regret swimming yesterday)

• Modifier + noun

  Same machinery, different noun. Replace 것 with a real noun and you have an ordinary relative clause.

  제가 만든 것 (the thing I made)  /  제가 만든 음식 (the food I made)

• -(으)ㄹ 것 같다

  One of many patterns built on this base. Knowing 것 well makes the whole family — 것 같다, 거예요, 것이다 — easier to unpack.

  비가 올 것 같아요.  /  비가 올 거예요.

Watch out

• 매운 것을 좋는 것을 몰랐어요.

  매운 것을 좋아하는 것을 몰랐어요.

  좋다 is an adjective meaning “is good.” To say someone likes something, the verb is 좋아하다, and it takes -는 것.

• 제가 만들는 것이에요.

  제가 만드는 것이에요.

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

• 한국에 가는 것 전에 공부했어요.

  한국에 가기 전에 공부했어요.

  전에 accepts only -기. Not every noun-like pattern takes 것.

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