How to Say "The bee is tired, but keeps walking" in Korean | -지만 Grammar

Quick Answer: "The bee is tired, but keeps walking" in Korean is "벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요." (beoleun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo.). It uses the -지만 grammar pattern (But/However (-지만)). Level: A2.

How would a Korean say "The bee is tired, but keeps walking"? Exactly like this: "벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요.". Notice the -지만 ending — once you recognize it, you will spot it everywhere.

Category: 감정

What does "The bee is tired, but keeps walking" mean in Korean?

The Korean sentence "벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요." translates to "The bee is tired, but keeps walking." in English. Korean learners love sentences like "벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요." because they are practical and memorable. Meaning "the bee is tired, but keeps walking", it teaches core vocabulary and grammar in a single, elegant package.

Pronunciation guide: beoleun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo.

Grammar Point: But/However (-지만)

The connective -지만 joins two contrasting clauses, similar to 'but' or 'however' in English. It attaches directly to the verb/adjective stem. This sentence also uses -아/어요.

Verb stem + 지만. For example: 작지만 (small but…), 춥지만 (cold but…).

Korean Sentence Structure Breakdown

Korean follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, which is different from English (SVO). In "벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 벌은 (beoleun) • 피곤하지만, (pigonhajiman,) • 끝까지 (kkeutkkaji) • 걸어요 (geoleoyo)

Korean uses postpositions (after the noun) instead of prepositions (before the noun). 'In the house' becomes '집에서' — house + at/in.

Why This Korean Expression Sounds Natural

The Korean phrasing sounds authentic because it avoids literal translation traps. Instead of mapping each English word to Korean, it repackages the meaning using Korean-native structures.

Cultural Insight

한국어는 감정을 직접 말하기보다 행동으로 보여주는 경우가 많아요. '사랑해'보다 '밥 먹었어?'가 더 큰 사랑의 표현일 수 있죠.

Examples

벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요. — beoleun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo. — The bee is tired, but keeps walking.

벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요? — beoleun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo? — Does the bee is tired, but keeps walking?

벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 안 걸어요. — beoleun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji an geoleoyo. — The bee is not tired, but keeps walking.

Common Mistakes

Incorrect: 작은지만 → Correct: 작지만. Do not add the modifier ending -은/-는 before -지만. Attach -지만 directly to the stem.

Incorrect: 먹아요 → Correct: 먹어요. The stem 먹- ends in a dark vowel (ㅓ), so it takes -어요 not -아요. Match the vowel harmony.

Quiz

How do you say "The bee is tired, but keeps walking" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요.". beoleun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo.

Fill in the blank: 벌은 피곤하지만, 끝까지 ___

The correct ending is "걸어요". The polite -요 form is essential for everyday Korean conversation.