# 하는가 하면



## idialegre

In the following sentence, I don't really understand the construction 쇼핑을 하는가 하면. Could someone explain it to me?


이상 기온에 뉴욕 시민들은 두툼한 겨울 코트 대신 반발 셔츠 등 가벼운 옷차림으로 막바지 연말 쇼핑을 하는가 하면 웃옷을 벗어 던진 채 운동하는 모습이 곳곳에서 눈에 띄었다.

Thanks!


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## elroy

I think the sentence means,

_*When*, during odd weather toward the very end of the year, New Yorkers *went shopping *in light attire such as short-sleeved shirts instead of thick winter coats, their fit physiques were obvious everywhere whenever they took off their jackets._

The part in bold corresponds to the structure you asked about.

(Maybe I misunderstood part of the sentence, because my translation seems odd, meaning-wise, but I'm fairly certain the part you asked about means "when...went shopping" regardless.)


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## idialegre

Thank you, elroy. That was pretty much what I was thinking. But I just found this:

| DiGiKorean

That would seem to suggest that the pattern 하는가 하면 has more of an "either this or that" meaning, i.e., the sentence in question would mean something more along the lines of , "In the unusual weather, one was struck by the sight of some New Yorkers doing their New Year's shopping while others were taking their jackets off and doing sports ..."

Any native speaker out there who can give a definitive answer? 부탁이에요...


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## Hit Girl

Hello,



idialegre said:


> an "either this or that" meaning,


You're right.
In this case "하는가 하면" is interchangeable with "하거나".
It could be also "on one hand ~ on the other hand~" 한편으로는 ~ 다른 한편으로는~

이상 기온에 뉴욕 시민들은 두툼한 겨울 코트 대신 반발 셔츠 등 가벼운 옷차림으로 막바지 연말 쇼핑을 하는가 하면 웃옷을 벗어 던진 채 운동하는 모습이 곳곳에서 눈에 띄었다.
(I found this sentence rather messy. It could've been edited. That may be why you didn't get its clear meaning.)

It's something like:

> In the unseasonable weather, you could see New Yorkers everywhere doing their last minute holiday shopping in short-sleeves instead of heavy winter coats or working out shirtless.

'either ~ or~' posits two options. I'd just like to point out that it's not necessarily so for "하는가 하면". There could be more than two things described.

The weather was unseasonably warm and everywhere in the city, you could spot people doing things in summery clothes: some doing shopping in t-shirts, some working out shirtless, some ~ , etc. etc.
Due to "하는가 하면", it's assumed that there were other lightly-clad people engaged in other types of outdoor activities. The writer is just talking about shoppers and exercisers as two examples to illustrate the atmosphere of a warm winter day in NY.

Hope it helps!


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## idialegre

Thank you, that helps!


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