TeacherJoy

Today, let’s learn about the verb ending “-으려”.

The core function of “-으려” is to express “intention.” Since an intention is a plan for the future, it’s all about what you’re thinking of doing.

• 회사에 가려고 지하철 탔어요. – I took the subway to go to work.

Here, we see a big difference between Korean and English sentence structures.

In Korean, events are usually arranged in the order they happen. This includes your thoughts! First, you think about going to work, and then you take the subway. So, “to go to work” comes first in the sentence.

Now, you might notice it’s not just “-으려”, but “-으려고”. The “-고” at the end emphasizes that intention. It’s similar to “in order to” in English. While they aren’t identical, “-으려고” has become a fixed habit in modern Korean speech and is much more common than using just “-으려”.

Look at this short dialogue:

• A: 이거 왜 사셨어요? – Why did you buy this?
• B: 친구한테 선물하려고요. – To give it to a friend.

In B’s answer, the original full sentence was likely “이거 친구한테 선물하려고 샀어요” (I bought this to give to my friend). But in Korean, we drop anything that has already been mentioned. It’s an “unwritten grammar rule.”

This shortened usage eventually evolved into a fixed grammar pattern: “-으려고 하다”. We use this to show that an idea was in your mind right up until the moment of action. There is a perfect English equivalent for this.

Compare these two:

• 지금 숙제하려고 해요. – I’m going to do the homework now.
• 지금 숙제할게요. – I’ll do the homework now.

Do you see the difference? Just like “be going to” and “will” are different in English, these two Korean expressions carry different nuances of intention and timing.

Reference

• 송대헌(2022), 한국어 연결어미 ‘-려고’의 의미 기능 연구, 인문사회21, 제13권3호,2727-2740.