# -(이)라  verb ending



## emaestro

I'm a level one Korean student.  I thought it might be interesting to try read the Bible in Korean.  
It is really confusing because there are many verb endings that don't appear in any verb chart I have ever seen.
Why is what you learn in the text book and what exists in real life so completely different?  ARGH!!!

What are they?

하나님의 아들 예수 그리스도 복음의 시작*이라 

*​온 유대 지방과 예루살렘 사람이 다 나아가 자기 죄를 자복하고 요단강에서 그에게 세례를 *받더라 

*곧 그물을 버려 두고 좇으*니라 


*


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## Kross

Hello, emaestro

We don't use those endings in everyday life. Even religious people don't. Those expressions are kind of exceptions, only found in religious books. For your information, there are other Korean editions of the Bible in the market that use more like everyday words.


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## emaestro

Kross said:


> Hello, emaestro
> 
> We don't use those endings in everyday life. Even religious people don't. Those expressions are kind of exceptions, only found in religious books.



Thank you.  But what DO they mean?  How would they translate into everyday speech, or don't they?  This is very confusing!


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## Kross

Just as there are many editions of the Bible written in English(e.g, NIV, KJV, NASB), so too many Korean editions of the Bible (e.g, 개역개정, 개역한글, 공동번역, 새번역, 현대인의성경). The distinction among them is mostly the level of the difficulty of Korean words. 

For example:
개역개정: 하나님의 아들 예수 그리스도의 복음의 시작이라
개역한글 하나님의 아들 예수 그리스도 복음의 시작이라
공동번역: 하느님의 아들 예수 그리스도에 관한 복음의 시작
새번역: 하나님의 아들 예수 그리스도의 복음의 시작은 이러하다
현대인의성경: 하나님의 아들 예수 그리스도의 대한 기쁜 소식의 시작이다. 

While 개역개정 edition is the most wide-spread one, 현대인의성경 is the easiest one to understand because they translate it closer to the way we speak in everyday life.


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## kenjoluma

IF you are a level one Korean student, the bible is the last thing you should be reading.
Just saying...

That book is drenched with old-fashioned archaic expressions, which you'll NEVER hear in daily conversation. As a native Korean, I can guarantee that. I don't even understand some of it, trust me. Maybe that's why I'm not an atheist, thanks god.

If you really want to understand...

~(이)라 (archaic) = ~(이)다 (modern)
~더라 (archaic) = ~(았/었)다 (modern)
~(느/니)라 (archaic) = ~(았/었)다 (modern)

Basically, ~라 form is used when describing something in a narrative sense. Just like... imagine troubadours and bards singing an epic poetry in the Middle Age. That's somewhat similar to what we Koreans feel about that ending ~라. 

Oh! Here cometh Mr God, Thy son shalt.... blah blah... 

Well, you get the idea.


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## emaestro

This was very helpful!  Thank you!


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