Unit 27: To The Extreme Point Of (-다 못해)

When an action or state continues so much that it crosses a boundary and turns into an extreme state, you use -다 못해 in Easy Korean. It means "Unable to keep doing [A], it eventually became [B]."

Structure

Verb / Adjective Stem + -다 못해

• 보다 -> 보다 못해 (Unable to just keep watching [so I stepped in])
• 맵다 -> 맵다 못해 (It is spicy to the point where [it is bitter/painful])
• 기다리다 -> 기다리다 못해 (Unable to wait any longer [so I left])

Examples

• 친구가 거짓말하는 것을 보다 못해 제가 진실을 말했어요. (Unable to keep watching my friend lie, I told the truth.)
• 배가 고프다 못해 이제는 아파요. (I was so hungry, and now it crossed the line into hurting.)
• 그 영화는 슬프다 못해 끔찍했어요. (The movie was sad to the extreme point of being horrific.)