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- "남자는 키가 작습니다."
35 Comments
I've noticed that in subtitles on Korean videos, when they say his height is short. In English you just don't have to say height.
작은 (small) refers to both short stature or slight frame. Without referencing the height, the listener can easily misunderstand 작은 as either height or body type.
키가 basically means height. So another way to say this is "the man's height is small" that's how I think of it
I believe it can be read as a general statement about men since the topic (은/는) particle is used. However this sentence would more likely be said for a specific man than men in general.
No? If you were wondering how to say "The men are short", then the other user should be right in using '남자들" as a plural form
I guess a better question is, what does ki ga mean? Or what does it do for the sentence?
키 can mean "stature" so this is something like "The man's stature is small"
Because of 키 which means stature. So the size in this is directly related with the man's height.
So does kiga denote height? Or... What is it's purpose in the sentence??
키 means "height" in this case so the Korean more literally reads: "Regarding the man (남자는), the height (키가) is small (작습니다)" which essentially means in English "the man is short" not "the man is small" as in English there are men whose height may be short but they don't look small at all.
It reads "Regarding the man (남자는), the height (키가) is small (작습니다)" which essentially means "the man is short". The topic makes it clear who the subject is about.
In English, a lot of people use both small and short to refer to one's height.
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this is the exact sentence i typed when duolingo asked me to translate "the man is short", but it told me i was wrong and it should have been "그 남자는 키가 작습니다." and thats rly annoying so just fix it already
