Korean grammar · Level 2 · 2급
-겠- (guess)
It looks like …, it must be …
-겠어요 on a stem is a guess from what you can see or hear: dark clouds → 비가 오겠어요, “it's going to rain”. You also use it to react to someone's news: 힘들겠어요 — “that must be hard”. A few set phrases use -겠- without guessing: 알겠어요, 모르겠어요.
| When | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a guess about now or later | -겠어요 | 비가 오겠어요 · 춥겠어요 |
| reacting to what you hear | -겠어요 | 맛있겠어요 · 힘들겠어요 |
| set phrases (not a guess) | -겠- | 알겠어요 · 모르겠어요 · 잘 먹겠습니다 |
Examples
오후에 비가 오겠어요.
It's going to rain this afternoon.
와, 맛있겠어요!
Wow, that looks delicious!
호야 씨는 여름이 힘들겠어요.
Summer must be hard for you, Hoya.
Practise it in context · Level 2, Unit 1
The weather is nice today
A dialogue with audio, practice that checks itself, Hoya’s mistakes, a reading and a writing task.
Open the unit →