아까워요 Meaning in Korean

Hello guys, it’s your Korean teacher Jun. Have you ever heard native Koreans say ‘아깝다’ while you are watching Korean dramas or movies? I’m pretty sure you have because native Koreans use it really really often. But, you might notice 아깝다 is translated differently every time. It’s one of evil Korean vocabularies that confuse many students. But don’t worry! CONFUSION WILL BE EXTERMINATED NOW! Today, we are going to learn 아깝다 meaning in Korean and how to use it perfectly!

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Warm Up Your Brain

What do you think 아깝다 actually means? Can you guess the meaning?

아까워요 Meaning in Korean

아까워요

[akkawoyo]
???

Basic form : 아깝다
반말(informal non-honorific) form : 아까워
Negative form with 해요 speech style : 안아까워요

아깝다 is also a unique Korean expression that hardly can be translated to other languages. So, maybe it confuses many students. It looks similar to 아쉽다 and sounds similar and sometimes the meaning seems similar. However, the meaning of 아깝다 isn’t exactly same to 아쉽다.

아깝다 means 3 things generally. It’s mostly related to something you value or think is worthy
1st, it describes a feeling of sadness about something you valued but lost
2nd. it describes that you don’t want to give or throw away something you value
3nd. It describes a feeling of sadness about something worthy that isn’t used well or goes wasteful.
(to be honest, 1st and 2nd ones seem same to me but Korean dictionary defines them separately)

아깝다 As Exclamation

When native Koreans use 아깝다 alone as a basic form, it’s mostly used as an exclamation. In this case, you can use 아깝다 when you success something almost but didn’t make it or when you have to not take or use it because of some reason. It’s similar to English phrases, ‘It was so close’ or ‘what a waste’.

거의 다 됐는데 아깝네요
You succeed it almost, what a shame.

How To Use

A: 이거 샀는데 좀 돈 아깝네요
I bought this but I think it wasn’t worth its cost
B: 환불해요
Refund it

A: 아 아깝네요. 거의 다 됐는데!
Too bad. It was so close!
B: 다음에 다시 해보죠 뭐
Well, I can try it later again

A: 아깝네요. 돈이 살짝 모자라서 람보르기니를 못사요
Too bad. My money isn’t slightly enough to buy Lamborghini
B: 얼마 있는데요?
How much do you have?
A: 1만원이요
10,000 won (around $10)
B: 살짝…? 아까워…?
Slightly…? Almost…?

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Slang : 아깝 / 깝 / 까비

아깝 / 깝 / 까비 are slang versions of 아깝다. It’s really easy to find especially on internet or Korean webcomics. 깝 and 까비 sound a bit toooooo casual than 아깝. You can use them to your close Korean friends.

아깝
Too bad / It was so close / What a waste

Something Worthy

I really need to talk about something worthy though. It sounds like it must be something you can treasure right? Well… it really is not lol. It can be some food that you can’t eat all because you are full or some box you can use later. It can be something so so so meaningless, unuseful or silly. It’s more about wasting. Dictionaries always exaggerate everything lol.

그냥 버리려니까 아까워요
It’s too wasteful to just dump it

Vocabulary Note

이거 [igeo] : this
사다 [sada] : to buy
좀 [jom] : a little bit
돈 [don] : money
환불하다 [hwanbul-hada] : to refund
거의 [geoui] : almost
다 [da] : every
다음에 [daume] : next
다시 [dasi] : again
해보다 [beboda] : to try
살짝 [saljjak] : a little bit
모자르다 [mojareuda] : to be not enough
얼마 [eolma] : how much / how many
있다 [itdda] : to have / to be (place)