— Overview
School grammar for a native speaker and grammar for a learner are not the same job. For a learner, a grammar item has to be described so that it can actually be used: not only what it means, but how it changes shape, what it may not combine with, and in what situation it is said. This account sets out those four kinds of information, and then works through -(으)ㄹ 테니까: the speaker's will or a conjecture in the first clause, a request or a suggestion in the second.
When the subject of the first clause is first person, the ending often marks will; when it is third person, it often marks a conjecture.
— Contents and key concepts
Four kinds of information, not only a gloss
Grammar written for a native speaker in school, this account says, is not the same as grammar written for a person learning Korean as a foreign language. The aim of the second is to give, without leaving gaps, the information a learner needs in order to understand an item and actually use it. So a description cannot stop at meaning. It has to include the forms the item takes, the constraints it meets in a sentence, and the situation in which it is said.
Morphosyntactic information covers allomorphs that change with a final consonant — 이 and 가, 으니까 and 니까 — whether the item attaches to a verb or an adjective, whether it can combine with a tense ending, and constraints on the subject or the predicate. If those limits are left out, a learner is likely to build a sentence that does not hold. Pragmatic information tells who the item is said to, and in what situation. -습니다 belongs in a formal setting; -한테 is used mainly in speech. Even when two expressions share a meaning, the situation may require one and not the other.
Will or a conjecture, and then a request
-(으)ㄹ 테니까 is described as placing the speaker's will or a conjecture in the first clause, and a request or a suggestion to the other person in the second. 제가 준비할 테니까 와 주세요 is the example given. The point to hold is the person of the subject: first person in the first clause often marks will; third person often marks a conjecture.
Near items are set beside one another so that a learner can see the difference. 에 and 으로 are distinguished as a point of arrival and a direction; 회사에 도착하면 알려 주십시오 is given for 에. -거든, unlike -(으)면, is limited to an imperative or a hortative: 비가 그치거든 출발합시다. -아/어 놓다 and -아/어 두다 are distinguished as the completion of an action and a preparation for what follows, as in 켜 놓다 and 미리 사 두다. The habit this account recommends is modest: when you describe an item, fill all four frames, so that a learner is not left with a meaning and no way to use it.
Sources
- an account of four kinds of information needed to describe a Korean grammar item for foreign learners — meaning, morphosyntax, pragmatics, and related grammar — with a worked description of -(으)ㄹ 테니까 and comparisons of 에 and 으로, -거든 and -(으)면, and -아/어 놓다 and -아/어 두다.
Last updated: 14 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
What four kinds of information are needed?
Meaning; morphosyntax, including allomorphs that change with a final consonant, such as 이 and 가, or 으니까 and 니까, whether the item attaches to a verb or an adjective, whether it can combine with a tense ending, and constraints on the subject or the predicate; pragmatics, which tells who the item is said to and in what situation, as when -습니다 belongs in a formal setting and -한테 is mainly colloquial; and related grammar, which sets the item beside a near one so that a learner can tell them apart.
How is -(으)ㄹ 테니까 described?
As an expression that places the speaker's will or a conjecture in the first clause, and a request or a suggestion to the other person in the second, as in 제가 준비할 테니까 와 주세요. The heart of the description is this: when the subject of the first clause is first person, the ending often marks will; when it is third person, it often marks a conjecture.
Which near items are compared?
에 and 으로, distinguished as a point of arrival and a direction, with 회사에 도착하면 알려 주십시오 as an example of 에. -거든 and -(으)면, with -거든 limited to an imperative or a hortative, as in 비가 그치거든 출발합시다. And -아/어 놓다 and -아/어 두다, distinguished as the completion of an action and a preparation for what comes after, as in 미리 사 두다 and 켜 놓다.
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