I’m Hungry in Korean

I always get hungry after midnight because Koreans have dinner at 6-8. But I’m hungry again even though today I had dinner at 9. Human body is such a mystery sometimes lol. I wonder if it happens to others too. Anyway that’s why we are going to learn how to say I’m hungry in Korean lol.

Warm Up Your Brain

Imagine something you really want to eat right now and gather your all energy for hunger and focus on it before you learn it.

How To Say I'm Hungry in Korean img

How To Say I’m Hungry in Korean

배고파요

[begopayo]
I’m hungry

 

The basic form of 배고파요 is 배고프다. 배고프다 is actually made of 2 words. 배 and 고프다. 배 means stomach and 고프다 means hungry (according to a Korean dictionary but it sounds like hungry for something, not only food). You can also say ‘배가 고파요’ which means ‘(my) stomach is hungry’.

 

Almost native Koreans don’t say ‘고프다’ although it means ‘hungry’ itself. 배고프다 is much common and natural in most situations.

Always With 은/는

Let’s say ‘I’m hungry’. What’s the subject in this sentence? Of course, you would say the answer is ‘I’. That’s very correct ‘in English’. In Korean language, The subject always is 배 which means ‘stomach’ when you say ‘I’m hungry’.

 

So, it would sound a bit weird and not natural if you say ‘I’m hungry’ with 이/가 except few situations. Use topic markers 은/는.

 

제가 배고파요 (Wrong)
I am hungry

 

저는 배고파요
I am hungry

How To Use

A: 저녁을 안먹어서 배고파요
I’m hungry because I didn’t have dinner
B: 과자 먹을래요?
Do you want some snack?

 

A: 준씨, 이거 먹어요
Jun, have some
B: 엄청 배고팠어요
I was very hungry

 

A: 저녁 먹을래요?
Do you want to have dinner?
B: 저는 아직 배 안고파요
I’m not hungry yet

Another Meaning of 배

All people need a shortcut right? We don’t need to spend much time to learn what we already know. You already learned stomach in Korean is 배(be) in this lesson. Yay! Aaaaaaand 배 also means ‘pear’ and ‘boat / ship’. Same spelling, different meaning.

Make It More Natural

When native Koreans say it, they almost always drop a subject or a subject marker.

 

너무 배고파요
(I’m) too hungry
= dropped subject

 

배고파요
I’m hungry
= dropped marker

Vocabulary Note

저녁 [jeonyeok] : dinner / evening
먹다 [meokda] : to eat
과자 [gwaja] : snack
이거 [igeo] : this [pronoun]
엄청 [eomcheong] : very
아직 [ajik] : yet
배 [be] : stomach / pear / ship / boat
너무 [neomu] : too many / too much

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