# 내가 제일 잘나가 선생님입니다?



## mikolo

Hello,
I ve been learning korean for a while now, but I am still on the basic concepts.
I would like to give a present to my teachers, our last class is this saturday and  I often do some T shirts and I want to write smth on them so I thought of this phrase. I thought it might be funny because of the song, but I don't know if it makes sense in korean.
So somebody, please let me know.
감사합니다


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## kornglish

I've been studying English as well, and I hope my English will be understood

내가 제일 잘나가 is one of korean memes. it was just a part of lyrics of a song when it born, but now it has become a famous meme. I guess you already know that means about 'I'm the best''. I can't find exact translation in English. 

First of all, the sentence has a grammatical error. it should be '내가 제일 잘나가'는' 선생님 입니다.' in addition, '~입니다.' is used in formal situation so '내가 제일 잘나가는 선생이야.' will be more natural.

내가 제일 잘나가는 선생이야 is quite good already if you want to refer the word '선생(님)'. and the phrase will be funny like what you wanted. and you can also use just 내가 제일 잘 나가. if i were you i'd choose the first. 

Ome thing you should remember is that the phrase is a bit cheeky and it's its identity. so you shouldn't use '~입니다.' '~에요' at end of sentence.


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## mikolo

Yes, i thought cuz of the rhyme, 입니다 provides the formality and the rhyme. Since I want to show the repsect for the teachers, I chose that form. 
So if i write it on the t shirt, should I add 는? Since, subject and object markers get left out often I thought I can leave it out...
Thank you for your reply. Your english is great


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## kornglish

mikolo said:


> Yes, i thought cuz of the rhyme, 입니다 provides the formality and the rhyme. Since I want to show the repsect for the teachers, I chose that form.
> So if i write it on the t shirt, should I add 는? Since, subject and object markers get left out often I thought I can leave it out...
> Thank you for your reply. Your english is great




If a word ended by '~ㄴ' or '는', generally the word is an adjective.

잘 나가다(usually 잘 나가 in daily conversation) - verb
잘 나가는 - adjective

You can skip '는' even if it used as adjective when the adjective doesn't decorate any other word.

So if I can translate '잘 나가' to the best in English, I can show you some examples

-내가 제일 잘 나가 > I'm the best.
-내가 제일 잘 나가'는' 선생이야. >I'm the best teacher.

그녀가 가장 아름다워  > she is the most beautiful
그녀가 가장 아름다운( 우 + ~ㄴ)여성이야 > she is the most beatiful woman



(But not always, '는' sometimes means 'be verb' with '이다.'. For example, If you translate 'I am a student' to korean, it will be 나'는' 한 학생'이다.' (한 in this sentence means 'a' but korean usually doesn't translate 'a'/'an') but '는' in here was used just like preposition in English, acctually it isn't 'pre'position...after-position??)

To sum up, you should put '는' or '~ㄴ' on after adjective word when it decorates a noun.

And you said you want to show your respect for teacher. but even if you write some cheeky slang with informal form on a present for teacher, it doesn't mean yourself is cheeky or rude. because you are not saying 'I am the best' to your teacher. I don't know how can i explain this exactly but i think, you don't have to be afraid that. if you said 내가 제일 잘나가 to your teacher(by your mouth), it will be a problem. but if you write it on a t shirt and you give it as a gift, it isn't problem. because you just give 'a t-shirt which written 내가 제일 잘 나가'. that's just a present, there is no your mind on the t shirt.

You don't have to worry about whether writing slang expression will be able to make you to look rude. If your teacher can accept slang.

If you want to write with formal form, you can write 제가 제일 잘 나갑니다. or 제가 제일 잘 나가는 선생 입니다. but it's a bit strange but it has another humor, this is a situation that 'use cocky expression in polite way'.

I still recommand you to use '내가 제일 잘 나가는 선생이야' or '내가 제일 잘 나가', but if you really want to use it in polite way and you feel like you must follow that, you can say '제가 제일 잘 나가는 선생입니다.'. but i doubt it will be good. i'm not saying it always be worse, but i'm not sure..


(You should not say 제가 제일 잘나가 and 내가 제일 잘 나갑니다. since '제' and '~합니다'/'~ㅂ니다' are polite expression, we use formal word and informal word in a sentence together hardly ever)


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## mikolo

Oh, yes I forgot about the 재 and 네 and 입니다....
Yes, it couldnt be offensive since it would be as if the techer is saying it for himself.
Ok I have till tomorrow to decide.
Thank you a lot for your help


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