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-게 되다

ge doeda

The current put you there: -게 되다

The picture You are not steering; the current has carried you and set you down over there. -게 되다 says the current set you down there; -기로 하다 says you decided it yourself and went.

Endings and forms

Where the picture shows up in -게 되다

  1. where the current left you

    이번에 부산으로 가게 됐어요.

    i-beo-ne bu-san-eu-ro ga-ge dwae-sseo-yo

    It turns out I'm moving to Busan.

    You never rowed, and yet the boat is resting against the dock at Busan

  2. news told modestly

    다음 달부터 여기서 일하게 됐습니다.

    da-eum dal-bu-teo yeo-gi-seo il-ha-ge dwaet-seum-ni-da

    I'll be working here starting next month.

    New business cards come back printed with another company's name, and you hold them out low with both hands

    일하기로 했습니다 credits your decision; 일하게 됐습니다 credits the flow — and in Korea the second sounds far more humble.

  3. something that became possible

    이제 한국말이 조금 들리게 됐어요.

    i-je han-gung-ma-ri jo-geum deul-li-ge dwae-sseo-yo

    I can catch a bit of Korean now.

    The radio you always kept by your ear turns, one day, from noise into words

  4. it ended that way, unwanted

    결국 그 일은 그만두게 됐어요.

    gyeol-guk geu i-reun geu-man-du-ge dwae-sseo-yo

    In the end I had to leave that job.

    You never wrote a resignation, and still the things from your desk are sitting in a box

  5. where time will take you

    살다 보면 알게 돼요.

    sal-da bo-myeon al-ge dwae-yo

    You'll come to understand as you live.

    Someone who has walked a long time looks down and finds a path under their feet

All of it in one picture

-게 되다 is the boat resting at the far dock although you never rowed. Touch the dock and you are moving to Busan; hold the new cards out low and the news arrives without boasting. The radio turning into words is an ability you did not build; your desk in a box is leaving a job you did not want to leave; a path appearing under long-walking feet is what time hands you. So -게 되다 keeps your own will out of the frame and credits the current with putting you here.

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