어디 갔어요?
eodi gasseoyo?
In Korean, "where did you go?" is 어디 갔어요? (eodi gasseoyo?)
This phrase is used to ask someone about a location they visited or where they have been. While 어디 갔어요? focuses on the completed action of having gone somewhere, note that it is different from 어디 가요?, which asks where someone is currently going.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 어디 (where), 갔어요 (went, polite form) and an implied subject "you".
How does it change in a sentence?
To use the informal version 어디 갔어?, you simply drop the 요 suffix from the standard polite form. For the honorific version 어디 가셨어요?, the verb is modified to show higher respect to the subject.
How do you pronounce it?
eodi gasseoyo?
Did you know?
- In some contexts, 어디 is used to challenge someone, as in the phrase 어디 한번 해봐, which means 'Go ahead and try it' or 'I dare you'.
- In Korean, you can answer the question 어디 갔어요? by saying 다녀왔어요, which literally means 'I went and came back'.
- If you were searching for the famous Hungarian poet Endre Ady in a Korean text, you might see his name written using the same Hangul as the word 'where', which is 어디.
Examples in context
- 어제 어디 갔어요?Where did you go yesterday?
- 어디 갔어요?eodi gasseoyo?Where did you go?
- 어제 왜 안 왔어요? 어디 갔어요?eoje wae an wasseoyo? eodi gasseoyo?Why didn't you come yesterday? Where did you go?
- 아까 어디 갔어요?akka eodi gasseoyo?Where did you go just now?
Example conversation
Minjun asks Subin about her whereabouts after she returns home.
- 민준 Min-jun수빈 씨, 아까 어디 갔어요?Subin ssi, akka eodi gasseoyo?Subin, where did you go earlier?
- 수빈 Su-bin그냥 근처 카페에 갔어요.geunyang geuncheo kape-e gasseoyo.I just went to a nearby cafe.
- 민준 Min-jun혼자 갔어요?honja gasseoyo?Did you go alone?
- 수빈 Su-bin네, 혼자 갔어요.ne, honja gasseoyo.Yes, I went alone.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 어디, CC BY-SA 4.0.
