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-군요

gun-yo

The click of a blank being filled: -군요

The picture A puzzle piece dropping into the empty slot that had been waiting for it. -군요 is a gap in your head closing; -네요 is your eyes landing on something this second.

Endings and forms

Where the picture shows up in -군요

  1. the 'why' slot fills

    아, 그래서 전화를 안 받으셨군요.

    a, geu-rae-seo jeon-hwa-reul an ba-deu-syeot-gun-yo

    Ah, so that's why you didn't pick up.

    The empty slot where 'why didn't they answer' sat, and the other person's explanation sliding right into it

  2. a fact you did not have

    여기서 일하신 지 오래되셨군요.

    yeo-gi-seo il-ha-sin ji o-rae-doe-syeot-gun-yo

    So you've worked here a long time.

    Behind a person you just met, long years lay themselves out in a line you only now see

  3. name meets object

    아, 이게 그 약이군요.

    a, i-ge geu ya-gi-gun-yo

    Ah, so this is that medicine.

    The name you had only heard and the bottle in your hand fusing into one thing

  4. finding the piece you forced in

    제가 잘못 알고 있었군요.

    je-ga jal-mot al-go i-sseot-gun-yo

    So I had it wrong.

    Pulling out the piece you had jammed into your head and setting the right one in its place

    -군요 lets you admit a mistake with no edge in your voice.

  5. two things heard, joined up

    그럼 내일은 쉬는 날이군요.

    geu-reom nae-i-reun swi-neun na-ri-gun-yo

    So tomorrow is a day off, then.

    You join two pieces of what was said and tomorrow's square on the calendar comes up empty

All of it in one picture

-군요 is the sound of one blank in your head being filled. Hear the other person's reason and the 'why' slot fills; hear about years you never knew and a new slot opens for them; let a name and an object meet and you get 이게 그거군요. The same sound comes when you pull out a piece you had wrong, and when you join two remarks into a conclusion. That is why -군요 makes the speaker feel their words actually landed.

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