You stole my… wait, what?

A pickup line. A very literal misunderstanding.

The first two lines are Min rehearsing. Then he approaches Jackie, says “Excuse me,” and starts again. Before he can get to the heart part, she returns the belongings she stole. He was flirting. She thought she’d been caught. Read the Korean first, then reveal each translation.

–잖아요: “You know…”

–잖아요 is hard to translate directly into English.

It translates loosely to "as you know" or "don't forget".

It's used when the listener is already aware of what you are saying. Essentially, you are asserting or reminding the listener by saying what they already (should) know.

Past: –았/었잖아요. Nouns: 학생이잖아요 (학생 + 이잖아요), 친구잖아요 (친구 + 잖아요). With close friends, you’ll use the casual form –잖아, without 요.

The line Min wanted to finish

제 마음 가져가셨잖아요.
Because (as you damn well know) you took my heart.

제 마음 = my heart / feelings. 가져가다 = take away. 가져가셨– adds respect for the person he’s addressing and past tense; –잖아요 presents it as something she should recognise.

How can you use it?

You can use this to remind the person you are talking to about something important that he or she has forgotten.

👹: 우리 내일 시간 없어요. 데이트 하잖아요...

We don't have time tomorrow. We have our date tomorrow (REMEMBER?!)...

Or to reinforce a reason for doing something! A reason that the listener should already know!

😬: 일찍 가야 돼요. 거기 항상 사람이 많잖아요!

We have to go early. (As you know) There's always a lot of people there!

Or to provide background information for a story that you're telling someone.

🤔: 제가 어제 아파서 출근 못 했잖아요? 근데 부장님이 전화했어요!

(You know) I was sick and so I couldn't come into work (right)? But the manager called me on my phone!

Or even to provide an explanation to someone clueless - even when it seems obvious to everyone else!

🙄: 재키씨가 왜 전화번호 안 줬냐고요? 민쌤이 못생겼잖아요...

Why didn't Jackie give you her phone number? (That's obviously because) You are ugly...

That's it for today's lesson. Do you have any questions? Want to practice this conjugation?

Join Mallo Off Script 🎬 now!

You know this one, right?

Two quick checks, then make a reminder of your own.

Try using ~잖아요 in your own sentence. Copy the sentence and send it in Mallo Off Script 🎬 chat. This is free practice; it isn’t automatically graded or submitted.