Unit 28: To Do Completely (-아/어/여 버리다)

When an action is completed thoroughly and you want to express a feeling about it (either regret, sadness, or relief), you use -아/어/여 버리다 in Easy Korean. (버리다 literally means "to throw away.")

Structure

Verb Stem + -아/어/여 버리다 (Usually used in the past tense: -버렸어요)

• 잊다 (to forget) -> 잊어버렸어요 (I completely forgot [and I feel bad about it])
• 끝내다 (to finish) -> 끝내 버렸어요 (I completely finished it [and I feel relieved!])
• 가다 (to go) -> 가 버렸어요 (They completely left [and I am sad])

Emotion

It adds the nuance of "nothing is left" or "it's entirely done." It is highly emotional!

Examples

• 케이크를 혼자 다 먹어 버렸어요. (I ate the whole cake by myself [oops/regret].)
• 너무 화가 나서 편지를 찢어 버렸어요. (I was so angry I tore up the letter entirely.)
• 숙제를 다 해 버렸어요! (I finished all my homework! [relief])