# I thought I could fry soft tofu but it didn't fry well



## 82riceballs

How does one say the following in Korean?
"I thought I could fry soft tofu but it didn't fry well"

부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨지나 싶었는데 막상 튀겨 버니까 잘 튀겨지진 않았어.

??? 

(True story btw


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## dhchong

"부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨지나 싶었는데 막상 튀겨 버니까 잘 튀겨지진 않았어." seems natural to me, except one misspelling.


튀겨 버니까 -> 튀겨 보니까


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## Kross

I would say, "순두부 튀김 쉽게 할 수 있을것 같았는데 막상해보니 잘 안되더라." 

Good luck!!


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## dhchong

Kross, I think 순두부 is different from '부드러운 두부'.


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## 82riceballs

I see thanks!! I was also wondering how the following sound different?

1.부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨지나 싶었는데 막상 튀겨 보니까 잘 튀겨지진 않더라
2.부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨질 줄 알았는데 막상 튀겨 보니까 잘 튀겨지진 않더라


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> 1.부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨지나 싶었는데 막상 튀겨 보니까 잘 튀겨지진 않더라


This can be used when you thought, in the middle of frying soft tofu in the kitchen, it cooking well judging from smell, color, etc, but its outcome was not what you expected. 


82riceballs said:


> 2.부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨질 줄 알았는데 막상 튀겨 보니까 잘 튀겨지진 않더라


The second sentence can be used when you just thought that frying soft tofu would be a easy job to do (maybe after reading a cooking book at a bookstore or its recipes online), but its outcome was not what you expected. 

I wrote down what came to mind right after reading each of your examples. So people can picture different situations for each case.


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## 82riceballs

Ahh I see. I guess I should use 줄 알았는데 instead since I thought it would turn out well but in the middle of frying I realised it was not going to turn out well?


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## Rance

By soft tofu, you probably mean either 연두부 or 순두부.

And yes you are right.

부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨지나 싶었는데...
It looked like soft tofu was being fried fine....

It implies stuff looked fine while fying but after finishing you realized it didn't.

부드러운 두부가 잘 튀겨질 줄 알았는데
I thought frying soft tofu would be easy task...

It implies you thought it was easy task before starting, but it turns out to be quite the opposite once you started.

And you probably meant the latter.


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## frenglishguy

Easy-peasy. "부드러운 두부를 잘 튀길 수 있을 줄 알았는데, 잘 되지만은 않더라."


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## 82riceballs

Thanks! What is the meaning of 만 in this situation?


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> Thanks! What is the meaning of 만 in this situation?


 According to Joins, the pattern of 만은 actually consists of two 보조사s in a row. The first letter 만, when placed right after ~지, can be used to emphasize something. The following letter 은 is another 보조사 to also emphasize something. When the pattern 만은 is located after 종결어미 ~지, it(만은) almost always comes with the negative word, 않다 as in ~지만은 않더라(a variation of 않다). 

In short, 만은 here is used to highlight the fact that frying soft tofu ended up a failure. 

source: http://korean.joins.com/news/article/article.asp?total_id=2521152&ctg= // look at the fourth explanation from top, starting with ②에서 '만은'은 보조사(만/은)가~ if you would like to read the full explanation in Korean.


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## vientito

Kross said:


> According to Joins, the pattern of 만은 actually consists of two 보조사s in a row. The first letter 만, when placed right after ~지, can be used to emphasize something. The following letter 은 is another 보조사 to also emphasize something. When the pattern 만은 is located after 종결어미 ~지, it(만은) almost always comes with the negative word, 않다 as in ~지만은 않더라(a variation of 않다).
> 
> In short, 만은 here is used to highlight the fact that frying soft tofu ended up a failure.
> 
> source: http://korean.joins.com/news/article/article.asp?total_id=2521152&ctg= // look at the fourth explanation from top, starting with ②에서 '만은'은 보조사(만/은)가~ if you would like to read the full explanation in Korean.



One good way I always look at this is the equivalent of english way of saying ".. at all".  An emphasis of a negative statement


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## 82riceballs

Thanks for the great explanations!!!


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