[KWotD] – What does 어차피 mean?

Korean Word of the Day: What does 어차피 mean?

Meaning of 어차피

어차피
Meaning: anyway, in any case, after all

Today’s Korean word of the day is 어차피 which means “anyway” or “in any case“. You have probably heard of this word if you have been exposed to a little bit of Korean as it is a rather frequently used word.

While the meaing is fairly easy to grasp, it can still be a tricky word because you can’t use it exactly like you would in English.

For example, you might be aware of the words 아무튼 (or 어쨌든, 하여튼…) which also means “anyway.” So what is the difference? The difference might be hard to grasp at first, but it gets more obvious as you encounter them more and more often.

  • 어차피 can be defined as “it doesn’t matter if you do this or that, if this happens or if that happens – the result or the situation is, after all, the same.” Also, 어차피 is usually used in negative sentences. For example, you can use it to say:

어차피 죽을 거야.

=I’m still gonna die anyway.

  • 아무튼 refers to the fact that no matter the condition, character or state of an opinion or situation, it is irrelevant or won’t change the fact at hand. For example, you can use it when you don’t remember something exactly and then just say “anyway.”

지난주던가, 지지난주던가 아무튼 며칠 전에 취직했다.

= was it last week or the week before that? Anyway, a few days ago I got a new job.

 

Please like or share if you found this useful! And if you have any questions or something else on your mind, please let us know in the comments below and we will do our best to help you out!

By: Kimchi Cloud