I Had A Dream in Korean

Hi guys, it’s your Korean teacher Jun! I’m pretty sure everybody has many dreams every night even though you really don’t remember. Sometimes it makes your morning feel so fresh and nice, sometimes it makes your day start ruined. Sometimes ‘a bad dream’ seem like a magic word to make people hug or cuddle each other lol. Anyway, then how do native Koreans say I had a dream in Korean? How do they say I dreamed something in Korean?

Warm Up Your Brain

What kind of dream did you have last night? Tell me!

How To Say I Had A Dream in Korean

꿈 꿨어요

[ggum ggwosseoyo]
I had a dream

Basic form : 꿈 꾸다
반말(informal non-honorific) form : 꿈 꿨어
Negative form with 해요 speech style : 꿈 안꿨어요

꿈 means ‘dream’ as a noun and 꾸다 means ‘dream’ as a verb. It seems 꾸다 can be used alone but native Koreans use them together in almost time. 꾸다 is not 100% natural sometimes to mean ‘to dream’.

꿈 = Dream

Very interestingly, 꿈 is really similar to an English word ‘dream’. It describes dream that you have while you are sleeping and also dream that you wish for your future. It seems like almost cultures consider ‘dream’ is something we imagine. I always found this word so romantic and poetic in a lot of languages.

제 꿈은 외국에서 사는거예요
My dream is living in a foreign country

How To Use

A: 어제 나쁜 꿈 꿨어요
I had a bad dream last night
B: 그냥 꿈이니까 신경쓰지 마세요
It’s just a dream, don’t mind it.

A: 기분 좋은 일 있어요?
Something good happened?
B: 되게 좋은 꿈 꿨어요
I had a great dream last night

A: 제 꿈은 돌이 되는거예요!
My dream is becoming a stone!
B: 멋진 꿈이네요!
That’s an amazing dream!

I Have A Dream

Korean language uses different verbs for ‘dream in sleep’ and ‘dream for future’. You just learned how to say ‘had a dream in sleep’. Then, how do native Koreans say ‘I have a dream for future’? Native Koreans use ‘있다 (to have)’ for that.

저는 꿈이 있어요
I have a dream (for future)

Dog Dream

Native Koreans almostly believe dreams have some meaning. Dragon, pig, accident in a dream, no matter what it is, Koreans sometimes look up the meaning of their dream. However, when your dream doesn’t really seem to mean something or it is just bizarre without a story, native Koreans call it 개꿈 which literally means ‘dog dream’ or ‘fake dream’.

용꿈인 줄 알았는데 개꿈이였다
I thought it was a lucky dream but turned out to be 개꿈

Vocabulary Note

외국 [oeguk] : foreign country
살다 [salda] : to live
어제 [eoje] : yesterday
나쁜 [nabbeun] : bad
그냥 [geunyang] : just
신경쓰다 [singyeong-sseuda] : to care / to mind
기분 [gibun] : feeling / one’s mood
좋다 [jota] : to be good
되게 [doege] : great / very
돌 [dol] : stone
되다 [doida] : to become
멋진 [meotjin] : to be amazing / great
알다 [alda] : to know