How to Say "The king waits because it is hungry" in Korean | Korean Expression

Quick Answer: "The king waits because it is hungry" in Korean is "왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요." (wangeun baega gopaseo gidaryeoyo.). Level: A1.

Master the Korean expression "왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요." (The king waits because it is hungry). It is a frequently used pattern in everyday Korean.

Category: 감정

What does "The king waits because it is hungry" mean in Korean?

The Korean sentence "왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요." translates to "The king waits because it is hungry." in English. The sentence "왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요." is at the sweet spot for language learners: simple enough to parse, rich enough to be useful. It means "the king waits because it is hungry" and uses vocabulary you will encounter again and again.

Pronunciation guide: wangeun baega gopaseo gidaryeoyo.

Korean Sentence Structure Breakdown

Korean follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, which is different from English (SVO). In "왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 왕은 (wangeun) • 배가 (baega) • 고파서 (gopaseo) • 기다려요 (gidaryeoyo)

In Korean, the verb ending tells you everything: who is speaking, how polite they are, and what tense they mean. Pay close attention to the last syllable.

Why This Korean Expression Sounds Natural

The expression sounds genuinely Korean because it uses topic and subject markers correctly. These small particles (은/는, 이/가) are invisible in English but essential for natural Korean.

Cultural Insight

한국 동화 속 현명한 인물은 힘이 아닌 지혜로 문제를 해결해요. '꾀'를 부리는 것이 미덕으로 여겨지며, 이는 한국의 '슬기(지혜)' 문화를 반영합니다.

Examples

왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요. — wangeun baega gopaseo gidaryeoyo. — The king waits because it is hungry.

왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요? — wangeun baega gopaseo gidaryeoyo? — Does the king waits because it is hungry?

왕은 배가 고파서 안 기다려요. — wangeun baega gopaseo an gidaryeoyo. — The king waits because it is not hungry.

Common Mistakes

Incorrect: 기다려요 왕은 배가 고파서 → Correct: 왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요. Korean uses Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. The verb must come at the end of the sentence, unlike English where it comes after the subject.

Quiz

How do you say "The king waits because it is hungry" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "왕은 배가 고파서 기다려요.". wangeun baega gopaseo gidaryeoyo.

Fill in the blank: 왕은 배가 고파서 ___

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