TTMIK Level 6 Lesson 3 - One of the most … / 가장 ~ 중의 하나

In this lesson, we are taking a look at how to say “one of the most …” in Korean. After studying with this lesson, you will be able to say things such as “He’s one of my closest friends.”, “It’s one of the most popular places in Seoul.”, etc.

Now before we talk about how to say this in Korean, we’d like to point out that this expression actually started being used as a result of many Korean people being exposed to the English language. At first there were some people who tried not to use this expression because it sounded too much like a “translated” sentence, but now it is so commonly used that not many people actually care.

One of the most … = 가장 ~ 중의 하나

First of all, let’s break down the phrase word by word.

1. one = 하나 [ha-na]
2. of = ~의 [-ui]
3. “The” is not translated into Korean in this case.
4. most + adjective + noun = 가장 + adjective + noun

** If you’d like to review on 가장 (= most), go back to Level 4 Lesson 18.

Word order difference between Korean and English around “-의 / of"

In Korean, -의 [-ui] is the particle that makes possession, belonging, origin or characteristics, and it basically means “of”. The word order, however, is very different around -의 or “of” in these two languages. If you say “A of B”, in Korean you need to switch it to “B의 A”. To make it simpler, you can just think of “-의" as <’s>, as in “my friend’s house”, “my teacher’s name”, etc.

So in English, the word “one” comes at the beginning of this expression, but 하나 (= one) comes at the end of it.

하나 can be replaced by other words

하나 is the most basic form of saying “one” but depending what you are counting, you can use different counting units. Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly used ones.

Person = 한 사람 [han sa-ram], 한 명 [han myeong], or 한 분 (honorific) [han bun]
Place = 한 곳 [han got], 한 군데 [han gun-de]
Thing, Kind, Type = 한 가지 [han ga-ji]

* Go back to Level 2 Lesson 9 to review a lesson on counters.

Using 가장 with adjectives or verbs

To understand how to use this, there are three lessons that you need to have studied.
- Level 4 Lesson 18 (on how to say “best” or “most” using the superlatives “가장" and “제일")
- Level 3 Lesson 13 + 14 (on how to make adjectives out of descriptive and action verbs in Korean)

Examples
가장 + 예쁘다 → 가장 예쁜
가장 + 좋다 → 가장 좋은
가장 + 괜찮다 → 가장 괜찮은

1. 가장 예쁜 친구
[ga-jang ye-ppeun chin-gu]
= the prettiest friend

2. 가장 좋은 책
[ga-jang jo-eun chaek]
= the best book

3. 가장 괜찮은 카페
[ga-jang gwaen-cha-neun ka-pe]
= the best cafe

How to use 중 as “among” or “of”
중 [jung] literally means “middle” or “center” but used after a noun and followed by -의 [-ui], it means “among” or “(one) of (the …)”.

→ Noun (plural or singular) + 중

Examples
1. 가장 예쁜 친구들 중(의)
= 가장 예쁜 친구 중(의)

2. 가장 좋은 방법들 중(의)
= 가장 좋은 방법 중(의)

가장 ~ 중의 하나
Now let us look at some examples of the entire structure.

1. 가장 좋은 방법들 중의 하나
= 가장 좋은 방법 중의 하나
= 가장 좋은 방법 중 하나
= one of the best methods

2. 가장 빠른 길들 중의 하나
= 가장 빠른 길 중의 하나
= 가장 빠른 길 중 하나
= one of the fastest ways/paths

3. 가장 자주 만나는 친구들 중의 한 명
= 가장 자주 만나는 친구 중의 한 명
= 가장 자주 만나는 친구 중 한 명
= one of the friends that I meet most often

Sample Sentences
1. 여기가 제가 제일 자주 오는 카페 중(의) 하나예요.
[yeo-gi-ga je-ga je-il ja-ju o-eun ka-pe jung(ui) ha-na-ye-yo.]
= This is one of the cafes that I visit most often.

2. 제가 가장 좋아하는 가수들 중(의) 한 명이에요.
[je-ga ga-jang jo-a-ha-neun ga-su-deul jung(ui) han myeong-i-e-yo.]
= He/she is one of my favorite singers.
= He/she is one of the singers I like the most.

3. 한국에서 가장 인기 있는 영화 중(의) 하나예요.
[han-gu-geo-seo ga-jang in-gi in-neun yeong-hwa jung(ui) ha-na-ye-yo]
= It’s one of the most popular movies in Korea.