How to Say "The sea is dark, but the moon is bright" in Korean | -지만 Grammar

Quick Answer: "The sea is dark, but the moon is bright" in Korean is "바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요." (badaneun eodupjiman, dali balkayo.). It uses the -지만 grammar pattern (But/However (-지만)). Level: A2.

Translate "The sea is dark, but the moon is bright" into Korean and you get "바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요.". The But/However (-지만) grammar point here is used in about 1 in 5 Korean sentences — truly essential.

Category: 빛

What does "The sea is dark, but the moon is bright" mean in Korean?

The Korean sentence "바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요." translates to "The sea is dark, but the moon is bright." in English. The beauty of "바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요." is in its simplicity. Korean lets you express "the sea is dark, but the moon is bright" in a compact, emotionally rich way. The "-요" suffix shows you are being considerate of your listener.

Pronunciation guide: badaneun eodupjiman, dali balkayo.

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 "바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 바다는 (badaneun) • 어둡지만, (eodupjiman,) • 달이 (dali) • 밝아요 (balkayo)

Korean sentences always end with the verb. Get comfortable putting the action word last — it is the most important difference from English.

Why This Korean Expression Sounds Natural

The expression sounds natural because Korean prefers compact, efficient phrasing — something English achieves with extra words like "really" or "actually".

Cultural Insight

한국 전통 이야기에서 산과 강은 단순한 배경이 아니라 살아있는 존재로 묘사되곤 해요. 자연을 의인화하는 전통이 강합니다.

Examples

바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요. — badaneun eodupjiman, dali balkayo. — The sea is dark, but the moon is bright.

바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요? — badaneun eodupjiman, dali balkayo? — Does the sea is dark, but the moon is bright?

바다는 어둡지만, 달이 안 밝아요. — badaneun eodupjiman, dali an balkayo. — The sea is not dark, but the moon is bright.

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 sea is dark, but the moon is bright" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "바다는 어둡지만, 달이 밝아요.". badaneun eodupjiman, dali balkayo.

Fill in the blank: 바다는 어둡지만, 달이 ___

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