-(으)면서
-(eu)myeonseo
Two lines drawn at once: -(으)면서
The picture Holding two pens in one hand and drawing two parallel lines at the same time. -(으)면서 draws two lines at once, while -고 draws one line onward — 밥 먹으면서 얘기해요 is during the meal, 밥 먹고 얘기해요 is after it.
Where the picture shows up in -(으)면서
-
two lines side by side
밥 먹으면서 얘기해요.
bap meo-geu-myeon-seo yae-gi-hae-yo
Let's talk over the meal.
A table where the spoon keeps moving and the talking never stops.
-
two lines that must not run together
운전하면서 전화하지 마세요.
un-jeon-ha-myeon-seo jeon-hwa-ha-ji ma-se-yo
Don't make phone calls while driving.
One hand on the wheel, the other holding a phone to the ear — two lines overlapping dangerously.
-
two long parallel lines
저는 일하면서 공부해요.
jeo-neun il-ha-myeon-seo gong-bu-hae-yo
I work and study at the same time.
The same person at an office desk by day and at a desk with textbooks open by night.
-
face and motion together
웃으면서 들어왔어요.
u-seu-myeon-seo deu-reo-wa-sseo-yo
She came in smiling.
The smile stays on the face the whole time the door is being pushed open.
-
two lines that contradict
알면서 왜 물어봐요?
al-myeon-seo wae mu-reo-bwa-yo
You know it — so why are you asking?
Asking the question while holding a sheet with the answer already written on it.
The same person must be drawing both lines. 제가 밥 먹으면서 동생이 티브이를 봐요 is wrong.
All of it in one picture
-(으)면서 is drawing two parallel lines at once with two pens. Draw the spoon line and the talking line together and you get conversation at the table; run the steering line and the phone-call line side by side and it turns dangerous; draw the working line and the studying line together for years and you get one person's two lives. Let the smiling line and the walking-in line overlap in the same moment and the expression rides along with the motion; run the knowing line next to the asking line and it becomes a reproach for saying two things at once. So -(으)면서 does not put one thing after another — it stacks two lines on the same stretch of time.