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Easy Korean Level 4 - Unit 30: On one's way / -는 길에

Congratulations on reaching the final lesson of Level 4!

In this lesson, we will learn how to say "on the way to (somewhere)" or "while I was on my way..."

The structure is: -는 길에 - "길" means road or path. - So literally, it means "on the road of [doing something]."

Conjugation Rules

This grammar point is almost exclusively used with verbs of movement (going, coming, returning, etc.).

Take the movement verb stem and attach -는 길에. - 가다 -> 가는 길에 (On the way / While going) - 오다 -> 오는 길에 (On the way here / While coming) - 돌아가다 -> 돌아가는 길에 (On the way back / While returning) - 퇴근하다 -> 퇴근하는 길에 (On the way home from work)

Usage

You use this when you are in the middle of a journey and you do a secondary action.

  1. 가는 길에 (On the way to somewhere)
  2. 집에 가는 길에 우유를 샀어요.

  3. On the way home, I bought milk. (Literally: On the path of going home...)

  4. 학교에 가는 길에 친구를 만났어요.

  5. On the way to school, I met a friend.

  6. 오는 길에 (On the way here)

  7. 여기에 오는 길에 비가 왔어요.

  8. On the way here, it rained.

  9. (On the phone) 지금 집에 오는 길이야?

  10. Are you on your way home right now?

  11. 퇴근하는 길에 (On the way off work)

  12. 퇴근하는 길에 저녁을 먹을 거예요.
  13. On my way home from work, I will eat dinner.

Without a destination

You can just say 가는 길이에요 or 오는 길이에요 to mean "I'm on my way." - 어디예요? (Where are you?) - 지금 가는 길이에요! (I'm on my way right now!)