# 그렇다 vs. 그러다



## idialegre

Is there any difference between 그렇다 and 그러다?

Thanks for any help!


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## lkjhg811

They are different verbs.


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## idialegre

Thank you for answering. Could you perhaps explain the meaning and/or use of 그러다? I have looked in a few dictionaries, but I really can't find a cogent explanation.

Here's the passage that got me wondering about this. It's from "레몬" by 권여선.

형사는 소년에게...묻는 말에 잘... 대답하라고, 그러지 않으면 상황이 아주 불리하게 돌아갈 수도 있다고.

I don't understand why it's 그러지 않으면 and not 그렇지 않으면.


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## lkjhg811

English and Korean are totally different languages, so it is hard to explain it in English.

"그러다" could be short for "그리하다".
When "그러다" isn't short for "그리하다", it means "said previously".


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## idialegre

lkjhg811 said:


> English and Korean are totally different languages, so it is hard for me to explain it in English.
> 
> "그러다" could be short for "그러하다", which is short for "그렇다".
> "그러다" could also mean "said previously".


한국말로 설명해주실 수 있으면 좋겠네요...


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## lkjhg811

문맥이 단어의 뜻을 결정합니다.
어떤 문맥에서는 "그러다"가 "그러하다"의 줄임말로 쓰이기도 하고 또 어떤 문맥에서는 "그러다"가 "그러하다"의 줄임말이 아닙니다.
"그러다"가 "그러하다"의 줄임말이 아닐 때는 "그렇게 말하다"의 뜻으로 쓰입니다.


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## idialegre

lkjhg811 said:


> 문맥이 단어의 뜻을 결정합니다.
> 어떤 문맥에서는 "그러다"가 "그러하다"의 줄임말로 쓰이기도 하고 또 어떤 문맥에서는 "그러다"가 "그러하다"의 줄임말이 아닙니다.
> "그러다"가 "그러하다"의 줄임말로 쓰이지 않을 때는 "그렇게 말하다"의 뜻으로 쓰입니다.


감사합니다!


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## lkjhg811

idialegre said:


> Here's the passage that got me wondering about this. It's from "레몬" by 권여선.
> 
> 형사는 소년에게...묻는 말에 잘... 대답하라고, 그러지 않으면 상황이 아주 불리하게 돌아갈 수도 있다고.
> 
> I don't understand why it's 그러지 않으면 and not 그렇지 않으면.


"그러지 않으면" means "if 소년 don't do that". However, "그렇지 않으면" would mean "if the situation is not so".


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## SeasnailSalad

According to the National Institute of the Korean Language's definitions I found online, you say '그렇다' when you indicate an adjective you want to mention again while '그러다' is used for a verb in the same way.

형사는 소년에게...묻는 말에 잘... 대답하라고, 그러지 않으면 상황이 아주 불리하게 돌아갈 수도 있다고.
Since the writer of this you quoted seemed to indicate the verb 대답하다 and say 'otherwise' in the main clause, the correct one would be '그러지 않으면' like the writer did--so no error I found in this.

If translated into English, it may go like this below.
The detective said to the boy, "You should state your case properly; otherwise, the case will go against you."

The differences between '그렇다' and '그러다' are so subtle that native Koreans would get easily confused of them either.
So you seem to be already at a top notch when it comes to the fluency of the language. 
Don't worry about that even if you don't fully grasp it. 
If you happened to come across this again in the future, check and see if it refers to a verb or an adjective. 
I do the same and tend to assume they mean pretty much the same, so that's the only way I distinguish them from each other.


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## lkjhg811

SeasnailSalad said:


> According to the National Institute of the Korean Language's definitions I found online, you say '그렇다' when you indicate an adjective you want to mention again while '그러다' is used for a verb in the same way.


There is an exception to that rule. It's the verb _되다_, which disproves the rule.

Source: 국립국어원


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## SeasnailSalad

lkjhg811 said:


> There is an exception to that rule. It's the verb "되다", which disproves the rule.
> 
> Source: 국립국어원


Yes, since '되다' is a stative verb like 'become' in English that emphasizes more its following adjective than the verb itself, it could exceptionally go the other way around like the link described. My explanations also came from the same source, so it depends on the context given if strictly speaking.


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## idialegre

Thanks to everyone, this really helped!!


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## Tomato potato

"그렇다" is used to confirm or agree something. So it's translated as 'That's it' and 'Yes it is'. Roughly, it corresponds to 'BE' in English.
"그러다" is a changed form of "그렇게 하다" in most cases. "그렇게 하다" means "doing so".
 Typical examples of "그러다" are

"그러다 말겠지" => It means "(I guess/think) someone is doing something but/then he/she'll stop doing it." In this sentense,  '그러다' has a meaning of 'doing something in a certain way, and *then*'.
"그러다 큰일난다" => It means "If someone keeps doing it, she/he'll be in a big trouble. The opposite expression is "그러지 않으면 큰일난다". Contrary to 'then', "그러지 않으면" has the meaning of 'otherwise'. The example(그러지 않으면 상황이 아주 불리하게 ..) you quoted also falls into this case.


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## idialegre

Tomato potato said:


> "그렇다" is used to confirm or agree something. So it's translated as 'That's it' and 'Yes it is'. Roughly, it corresponds to 'BE' in English.
> "그러다" is a changed form of "그렇게 하다" in most cases. "그렇게 하다" means "doing so".
> Typical examples of "그러다" are
> 
> "그러다 말겠지" => It means "(I guess/think) someone is doing something but/then he/she'll stop doing it." In this sentense,  '그러다' has a meaning of 'doing something in a certain way, and *then*'.
> "그러다 큰일난다" => It means "If someone keeps doing it, she/he'll be in a big trouble. The opposite expression is "그러지 않으면 큰일난다". Contrary to 'then', "그러지 않으면" has the meaning of 'otherwise'. The example(그러지 않으면 상황이 아주 불리하게 ..) you quoted also falls into this case.


That's a great explanation, thank you very much!


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