맞다 is a verb meaning "to be right" or "to be correct," among other things, so when you use it in a sentence, you must use inflection because Korean verbs are inflected in speech. In other words, you cannot use the word straight out of the dictionary. You must say 맞는다 or 맞아 when talking with friends, or 맞습니다 or 맞아요 when talking with others. By not using inflection with 맞다, people are treating it as if it were an adjective, which it is not. In Korea, adjectives can be used in their blunt forms without inflection. For example, if you want to comment with an uninflected word, then you could use the adjective 옳다, which means "right" or "correct." Consider the following examples:
A: 문제는 그가 허락없이 한 거야.
B: 맞아 (맞는다).
A: The problem is that he did it without permission.
B: That's right.
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A: 문제는 그가 허락없이 한 거야.
B: 네 말이 옳다.
A: The problem is that he did it without permission.
B: What you say is correct.
5 comments:
Gerry,
One of my trusted dictionaries, the New Korean-English Dictionary by Martin, Lee, and Chang (Minjungseogwan, 1968 & 1977), lists 맞다 as both an adjective and an intransitive verb. For the adjective, the English gloss is "is right, correct". For the verb, the English gloss is "tallies (with), squares (with)....".
(There is a separate entry for 맞다 as a transitive verb meaning "meets, greets ....")
The usage you have observed among Korean speakers suggests that 맞다 meaning "correct" is indeed an adjective.
To test this further, you'd have to observe whether the noun-modifying form of 맞다 is 맞은+N or 맞는+N. I'm pretty sure the former is correct, which again points to 맞다 being an adjective.
Do all of the dictionaries you usually consult identify 맞다 as only being a verb?
Lance,
맞다 is not an adjective. Your "trusted dictionary" must be dated because if 맞다 were once an adjective, it no longer is. You can check with some of the online dictionaries if you do not believe me. For example, check the 국립국어원 dictionary.
Also, the "맞는 + noun" construction is correct, and Koreans have no problem with that one. Their mistake is only when they use 맞다 for "That's right."
A: 문제는 그가 허락없이 한 거야.
B: 맞아 (맞는다).
Above B's reply has no problem and 맞다 is also correct.
맞다1[동사]
1 문제에 대한 답이 틀리지 아니하다.
2 말, 육감 따위가 틀림이 없다.
3 (앞 사람의 말에 동의하는 데 쓰여) ‘그렇다’ 또는 ‘옳다’의 뜻을 나타내는 말.
맞다 is an intransitive verb and the subject is 'what you said'.
맞다 is like "i see that that's right"
맞아 is "right, I agree"
I do use it the same way.:))Just how I use 좋다~! instead of 좋아~! ㅋ Actually I asked my KOrean friend about this before and she told me that using the base form usually conveys more emotion, sort of like the interjections in English~! ^^
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