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

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

Translate "The squirrel is tired, but keeps walking" into Korean and you get "다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요.". The But/However (-지만) grammar point here is used in about 1 in 5 Korean sentences — truly essential.

Category: 감정

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

The Korean sentence "다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요." translates to "The squirrel is tired, but keeps walking." in English. The beauty of "다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요." is in its simplicity. Korean lets you express "the squirrel is tired, but keeps walking" in a compact, emotionally rich way. The "-요" suffix shows you are being considerate of your listener.

Pronunciation guide: daramjwineun 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 "다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 다람쥐는 (daramjwineun) • 피곤하지만, (pigonhajiman,) • 끝까지 (kkeutkkaji) • 걸어요 (geoleoyo)

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 often softens emotional statements with gentle verb endings — something English achieves with extra words like "really" or "actually".

Cultural Insight

한국 문화에서는 '눈치'가 중요해요. 상대의 감정을 말 없이도 읽어내는 능력을 높이 평가합니다.

Examples

다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요. — daramjwineun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo. — The squirrel is tired, but keeps walking.

다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요? — daramjwineun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo? — Does the squirrel is tired, but keeps walking?

다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 안 걸어요. — daramjwineun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji an geoleoyo. — The squirrel 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 squirrel is tired, but keeps walking" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 걸어요.". daramjwineun pigonhajiman, kkeutkkaji geoleoyo.

Fill in the blank: 다람쥐는 피곤하지만, 끝까지 ___

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