# 요즘 들어



## ekdog2

Hello,

I am wondering how "들어" is used in the following sentenced. Is "들어" here being used similarly as "예를 들어" as in "for example"? What is the significance of adding "들어" into the sentence?

요즘 들어 밤 10시 이후 늦은 시간에 무언가를 하는 사람들이 부쩍 늘었다.

Thanks.


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## pcy0308

Hello ekdog2,
It is rather tricky to find a direct, equivalent expression in English for the particle, "들어". Of course, when you are translating both "예를 들어" and "요즘 들어" into English, "들어" is not translated separately but seen as a part of the whole expression: "for example" and "nowadays". If one must still insists on finding out its separate meaning and its function within the given expressions, personally, I'd suggest some of these following possibilities: "as for", "taking into consideration", "holding". "예를 들어" can therefore be interpreted as "as for the examples", "taking ... example into consideration", "holding ~ as an example", while "요즘 들어" can be understood as "as for recent years/time...".

As you may notice, however, all those separately translated alternatives sound unnatural, so I'd suggest understanding "들어" as more or less an integral part of the whole expression, "예를 들어", "요즘 들어". Hope this helps.


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## gkstnduwk95

Hello, ekdog2.
I would also like to add that '들어' in its verb form does indeed have various meaning. Actually, it has a ton of different meanings.
But the ones used in the sentence are as follows:

(from the *National Korean Language Standard Dictionary*)
국립국어원 표준국어대사전




In item "*들다*4: 
「2」 【…을 …으로】 설명하거나 증명하기 위하여 사실을 가져다 대다.* "*

The usage is explained as 
"bring facts to explain or prove" hence the usage in "*예를 들어*"





In Item "*들다*1 : 
[4] 어떤 때, 철이 되거나 돌아오다."
OR
[2] 「8」 ((주로 ‘…(에) 들어, 들자’ 꼴로 쓰여)) 어떠한 시기가 되다.

The usage is explained as 
"A season, time, or period has come or returned"
OR
"A certain period or time has arrived"  hence the usage in "*요즘 들어*"


But as mentioned above, I don't think Koreans actually consciously recognize that the word 들어 in 요즘 들어/예를 들어
has different meanings (well, at least I don't). Just like pcy0308 has said, it is more accepted as a phrase in general.

​


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