TTMIK Level 4 Lesson 29 - to gradually get to do something

In the previous lesson, we looked at how to say “to become + adjective” in Korean. Today, we are going to look at how to say “to gradually get to do something”, “to eventually find oneself doing something” or “to end up doing something”.

The structure that you can use to say these is:

-게 되다 [-ge doe-da]

But in order to understand how this works, you need to first break this down into two parts.

-게 [-ge] = in such a way that … / so that …
되다 [doe-da] = to become

Meanings of “-게 + 되다”
= things happen in a way that someone gets to do something
= to get into a state where someone does something

Conjugation
Verb stem + -게 되다

Example #1
하다 (= to do) + -게 되다
= 하게 되다

[present tense] 하게 돼요.
[past tense] 하게 됐어요.
[future tense] 하게 될 거예요.

Example #2
알다 (= to know) + -게 되다
= 알게 되다

[present tense] 알게 돼요.
[past tense] 알게 됐어요.
[future tense] 알게 될 거예요.

Usages of -게 되다
-게 되다 can be used in various usages.

1. When you don’t want to do something but you have to and you eventually end up doing something, you can use the -게 되다 structure.

안 먹고 싶어요. 그런데 먹게 돼요.
[an meok-go si-peo-yo. geu-reon-de meok-ge dwae-yo.]
= I don’t want to eat it, but I keep eating it anyway.

2. When you didn’t intend on doing or didn’t expect to do something but you got into a situation where you did it, you can use the -게 되다 structure.

지난 주에 영화를 보게 됐어요.
[ji-nan ju-e yeong-hwa-reul bo-ge dwae-sseo-yo.]
= I wasn’t planning to in the first place, but I got to see a movie last week.

3. When talking about the future, if you want to say that someone or you will eventually do something whether or not that person wants to, you can use the -게 되다 structure in the future tense.

그렇게 하게 될 거예요.
[geu-reo-ke ha-ge doel geo-ye-yo.]
= You will eventually end up doing it that way.

Sample sentences
1. 내일 알게 될 거예요.
[nae-il al-ge doel geo-ye-yo.]
= You will find out tomorrow.

2. 다 사게 됐어요.
[da sa-ge dwae-sseo-yo.]
= I ended up buying everything.

3. 다시 학교에 다니게 됐어요.
[da-si hak-gyo-e da-ni-ge dwae-sseo-yo.]
= (Things have happened so that) now I can go back to (going to) school.

4. 어떻게 여기에 오게 됐어요?
[eo-tteo-ke yeo-gi-e o-ge dwae-sseo-yo?]
= How did you get to come here?

5. 만나게 되면 말해 주세요.
[man-na-ge doe-myeon mal-hae ju-se-yo.]
= If you get to meet him, tell me.