Easy Korean Level 10 - Unit 6: Advanced Situational Expressions (Making Suggestions)

In this lesson, we will look at how native speakers make suggestions or give advice. While you could just use "-지 그래요?" (Why don't you...?), native speakers have many nuanced ways to pitch an idea gently or strongly.

1. Soft Suggestion: "How about doing this?"

Instead of a direct command, Koreans often use the grammar structure -는 게 어때요? (How about doing...?) to soften the suggestion. - 조금 쉬는 게 어때요? (How about resting a little bit?) - 다른 사람에게 물어보는 게 어떨까요? (How about asking someone else?) - 오늘은 배달 시켜 먹는 게 어때? (How about ordering delivery today?)

2. Stronger Advice: "It would be better if you..."

When you want to give a more direct piece of advice, you use -는 게 좋겠어요 (It would be good to...). - 빨리 병원에 가는 게 좋겠어요. (It would be better if you go to the hospital quickly.) - 이 부분은 다시 확인하는 게 좋겠습니다. (It would be best to check this part again.)

3. Casual/Friendly Suggestion: "Let's just..."

When talking with friends, if you want to suggest doing something easily rather than complicating things, use 그냥 -자. - 그냥 집에서 놀자. (Let's just hang out at home.) - 귀찮은데 그냥 대충 먹자. (It's a hassle, let's just eat roughly/whatever.)

4. Asking for their opinion first: "Shall we...?"

Before making your own suggestion, you can ask for the listener's input using -(으)ㄹ까요? - 우리 뭐 먹을까요? (What shall we eat?) - 어떻게 하는 게 좋을까요? (How do you think it would be best to do it?)

Example Dialogue

A: 주말에 비가 온다는데 어떡하죠? (They say it will rain this weekend, what should we do?) B: 그럼 등산 말고 그냥 집에서 쉬는 게 어때요? (Then instead of hiking, how about just resting at home?) A: 네, 감기 기운도 있는데 그렇게 하는 게 좋겠어요. (Yes, I feel a cold coming on, so it would be better to do that.)