까먹었어요 [kkameogeotsseoyo]

This expression is interesting. It has totally different two meanings: one is ‘to peel and eat’, and the other one is ‘to forget’. 까먹었어요 comes from the basic form of ‘까먹다’. 까먹다 is a combination of 까다 which means ‘to peel’ and 먹다 which means ‘to eat’.

Therefore, “저는 땅콩을 까먹었어요” means “I peeled and ate peanuts”

Interestingly, Koreans use the idiomatic expression ‘~먹었다’ in many cases.

 

까-먹었어요 (I forgot.)

욕-먹었어요 (I was blamed/ I got blamed)

애-먹었어요 (I had a hard time/ I had trouble)

 

욕 means swear words. Literal meaning of 욕먹었어요 is “I ate swear words.”

애 is a kind of old fashioned words which means ‘hard work’, ‘bitter’, or ‘troubles’

 

The above examples are a little negative but Koreans use the expression in positive cases.

 

마음 먹었어요 (I decided.)

일등 먹었어요 (I won first place.)

 

마음 means ‘heart’ so 마음 먹었어요 can be “I ate my heart” 일등 indicates ‘first place’.

Like above examples, Koreans tend to use ‘~먹었어요’ in many negative and positive cases. I’ve heard that Eoryeong, Lee who is famous philosopher and was the Culture Ministry, explained the linguistic tendency in Korean: Koreans tend to enjoy eating many things in order to feel them deeply. Therefore, they would use 먹었다 in many ways. Regardless of whether or not his words are true, I thought his hypothesis is interesting but it can be sympathetic. In Azerbaidzhan, it is said that ‘love’ can be shown in sign language: ‘eat heart and digest it’. How languages are interesting in nations! Anyway, in Korean, we can use the expression, ‘~먹었어요.’ in many situations.

 

Mum         : 수학 숙제 했니?                 Did you finish your math homework?

Daughter: 앗! 까먹었어요.                Ooops, I forgot it.

지금 할게요.                        I’ll do it now.

 

Jenny : 이번 휴가 때 뭐 할거예요?                           What will you do this holiday?

Susan : 다이어트 하기로 마음 먹었어요.               I decided to go on a diet.

 

Sarah Yong (Korean teacher)