# 들을 만해



## 82riceballs

Today my teacher played a listening passage for us, and asked us how it was.

들을 만해?

Usually 만하다  means "to be worth". But in this case does it mean "did you understand it?"


----------



## Kross

The meaning of the phrase can vary depending on when the question was spoken. If your teacher said that right after playing a full dialogue, it means, "did you understand most of it?" Or if your teacher said that right after playing any audio sources for a short period of time, for example,  for 10 secs before a listening comprehension test, your teacher wanted to make sure all students in the class had no problem with the listening stuff before he/she went on. Usually the volume and the noisiness from audio sources are checked out to be okay.


----------



## 82riceballs

Interesting- thank you! 
I find the Korean grammar 만하다 a little difficult to grasp because it seems to mean so many things in English. 

e.g. 
들을 만하다 "to be worth listening to" but also "to be understandable," which are totally different in English.
먹을 만하다 "to be worth eating" but also "to be edible," also different
믿을 만하다 is a case when the two in English translations happen to mean the same thing- reliable (sources, etc). "to be worth believing" and "believable"


----------



## vientito

If you think of all the -able that you can attach to any english verb then the structure you are referring to is very similar to that

ex.

Discoverable, hearable, visible, unthinkable ... you just have to find the equivalent verb in korean and attach that to the stem 을 만하다 and convert that into an adjective in front of a noun.


----------



## Rance

vientito said:


> If you think of all the -able that you can attach to any english verb then the structure you are referring to is very similar to that
> 
> ex.
> 
> Discoverable, hearable, visible, unthinkable ... you just have to find the equivalent verb in korean and attach that to the stem 을 만하다 and convert that into an adjective in front of a noun.




This seems only half true.



> *만-하다[발음 :     만하다]*
> 
> 
> *보조형용사*
> 
> (동사 뒤에서 ‘-을 만하다’ 구성으로 쓰여)
> _1 ._ *어떤 대상이 앞말이 뜻하는 행동을 할 타당한 이유를 가질 정도로 가치가 있음을 나타내는 말.*
> 
> 가 볼 *만한* 장소
> 세계에서 손꼽힐 *만한* 문화재
> 주목할 *만한* 성과                                                            예문보기
> 1년 동안 괄목할 *만한* 성장을 이루었다.
> 이건 믿을 *만한* 소식통이 들려준 거야.
> 이 음식은 정말 먹을 *만하다*.
> _2 ._ *앞말이 뜻하는 행동을 하는 것이 가능함을 나타내는 말.*
> 
> 그는 차를 살 *만한* 형편이 못 된다.
> 내겐 그를 저지할 *만한* 힘이 없다.
> 그런 것쯤은 참을 *만하다*.




The translation into -_able_ is only applicable when the expression is used to mean the second definition.


Anyhow to avoid confusion, people often use 주다 as 보조용언(~ 줄 만하다) when they meant to say the first definition.


----------



## 82riceballs

Thanks again for posting the dictionary definition! Now it is all clear!! I think I should get better at navigating the 국어사전...


----------

