# Trust me...



## idialegre

I was trying to figure out how to say, "Trust me!" in Korean.

According to the dictionary, "trust" is 믿다 ; the example given is
그녀는 그가 한 말을 믿는다.

My question is, why 믿는다 and not simply 믿다 ? (Or the appropriate form - 
믿어요, 믿습니다...)

So would one say to a good friend, 나를 믿어!, or something different?


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## kenjoluma

믿다 is an infinitive.
믿는다 is a present form.
믿어 is a '-아/-어' form, which has various meanings. One of them, as you already know, is an imperative.

So, yes. You can say '나를 믿어' or '날 믿어'.


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## idialegre

Kenjoluma, thank you  again for your help.

I sort of figured that 믿는다 was a present form, but I don't understand it.
I have looked all over the place, but I can't find a clear explanation of the  verb ending -는다/-은다. It's not in my textbook. I have learned the usage of -는다고 in indirect discourse, as in 그는 내가 너무 많이 먹는다고 했다, but that doesn't seem to apply here at all.

Any light you can shed on it is greatly appreciated!


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## kenjoluma

An infinitive verb always ends with -다.
'믿다', '가다', '살다'...

'-는' or '-ㄴ' (not 은), according to whether there is a final consonant or not, is applied before '-다' to make it a present form (or 'status form').

'믿는다', '간다', '산다' (살다 is a ㄹ irregularity)


먹는다고 is a result of this process: 먹다 -> 먹는다 -> 먹는다+고

It is not 'perfectly' relevant to this topic, but I explained somewhat similar before to you.
http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=10976538&postcount=6

(Note: This one is about "particle, or adjectified verb", so it is a bit different, but you can see this concept throughout the topic. -ㄴ or -는 indicates a "present status")


WARNNG: 
-ㄴ or -은 in "verb particle" indicates that this happened in the past! 
-는 in "verb particle" indicates that this is happening now.
-ㄴ or -는 in "verb" indicates this is happening now. (*Usually in "-ㄴ다" or "-는다" forms*)
Don't be confused! 

ex) 
가다 (infinitive)
간다 (present status-> it is happening right now)
간 사람 (a status already happened)
가는 사람 (it is happening)

먹다 (infinitive)
먹는다 (present status)
먹은 사람 (already happened)
먹는 사람 (it is happening)


The more I explain, the more you will be confused. It is best you learn by heart. Sorry I can't make it any simpler. It actually IS simpler than how I explained.


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## idialegre

Kenjoluma, thanks yet again for your trouble. 

I totally understand what you have written. I totally understand that the present participle (if that's the right term) of an adjective looks confusingly like the past participle of a verb. (My mistake in writing -은 instead of -ㄴ was due to the fact that the program I use to change my keyboard to the Korean font simply will not produce ㄴ alone with no vowel, so I can only write it by cutting and pasting from other posts, which is cumbersome.) What I don't understand is when forms like
 '믿는다', '간다', '산다'  would be used in everyday speech. 

Or to put it another way: as I wrote in my original post here, the WordReference dictionary gives the example

그녀는 그가 한 말을 믿는다.

Is this a sentence that you would actually say to someone? I think the answer is no, but if I'm wrong, then whom would you address this way? Younger people? Older people? Close friends? Or is it more likely to be written than spoken? This is what I am trying to find out.

Or could the example just as well have read as follows?

그녀는 그가 한 말을 믿다

Sorry if I'm getting on your nerves...


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## kenjoluma

'그녀는 그가 한 말을 믿는다'

A bit literary, but it is okay to say that.

Infinitive verbs such as 믿다, 가다, etc. are RARELY used in daily-life speech.


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