TTMIK Level 5 Lesson 1 - almost did - -(으)ㄹ 뻔 했다

Welcome to Level 5!!! In the first lesson of Level 5, we are going to look at how to say that you “almost did” something or “nearly did” something. This is used both in situations where you “wanted” to do something (but only almost did it) and in situations where you “didn’t want” to do something and fortunately didn’t do it but almost did it.

Ex) I almost lost my keys.
Ex) I almost passed the exam!

Conjugation
Verb stem + -(으)ㄹ 뻔 했다

The word 뻔 is a noun that describes “nearly getting into a situation where something happens” and in order to use a verb with 뻔, you need to change the verb into the future tense conjugation and add 뻔 after that.

Examples
사다 [sa-da] = to buy
→ 살 뻔 했어요. [sal ppeon hae-sseo-yo.] = I almost bought it.

믿다 [mit-da] = to believe
→ 믿을 뻔 했어요. [mi-deul ppeon hae-sseo-yo.] = I almost believed it.

울다 [ul-da] = to cry
→ 울 뻔 했어요. [ul ppeon hae-sseo-yo.] = I almost cried.

Sample sentences
1. 무서워서 울 뻔 했어요. [mu-seo-wo-seo ul ppeon hae-sseo-yo.]
= It was scary so I almost cried.
= I almost cried because I was scared.

2. 무거워서 떨어뜨릴 뻔 했어요. [mu-geo-wo-seo tteo-rreo-tteu-ril ppeon hae-sseo-yo.]
= It was heavy and I almost dropped it.

3. 돈을 잃을 뻔 했어요. [do-neul i-reul ppeon hae-sseo-yo.]
= I almost lost money.

4. 죽을 뻔 했어요. [ju-geul ppeon hae-sseo-yo.]
= I almost died.

5. 갈 뻔 했는데, 안 갔어요. [gal ppeon haet-neun-de, an ga-sseo-yo.]
= I almost went there, but I didn’t go.