"우리 엄마는 요리하며 책을 사용한다."
Translation:Our mom uses a book while cooking.
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Seems to be a lot of confusion about three conjunctive particles: ~(으)면 vs. ~(으)며 vs ~(으)면서.
The TL;DR is that ~(으)면 is used to say if/then, while ~(으)며 and ~(으)면서 are used to emphasize that two actions occur at the same time.
Basics
- Conjuctive particles are connected to the stems of verbs and adjectives to connect two sentences together.
- As with any Korean postposition particle, there are dual forms: one used when the previous syllable ends in a consonant and another used when the syllable ends in a vowel.
~(으)면
- This is used to express a conditional: When THIS, then THAT.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하면 책을 사용한다 = "When my mom cooks, she uses a book." (My mom cooks, and when she does, she uses a book.)
- This is used to express a hypothetical or uncertain statement: If THIS, then THAT.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하면 책을 사용한다 = "If my mom cooks, then she uses a book." (My mom doesn't cook often, but if she does, she uses a book.)
- This is used to express a habitual/repeated condition: Whenever THIS, then THAT.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하면 책을 사용한다 = "Whenever my mom cooks, she uses a book." (My mom cooks often and she uses a book everytime.)
~(으)며
- This is used to connect 2+ actions or states together.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하며 책을 사용한다 = "My mom cooks and she uses a book."
- Typically found in writing and other formal situations, as speakers prefer to use ~고 to the same effect.
- This is used when 2+ actions or states happen at the same time.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하며 책을 사용한다 = "My mom cooks and she uses a book at the same time."
- Often treated as synonymous with ~(으)면서.
- Sometimes interpreted as a loose connection, with no specific relationship between the two actions. Contrast this with ~(으)면서.
~(으)면서
- This is used when 2+ actions or states happen at the same time.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하면서 책을 사용한다 = "My mom cooks while uses a book." (My mom is using a book to help her cook.)
- Often interpreted as a stronger connection than ~(으)며, implying that a reason exists as to why these two actions are happening simultaneously. Contrast this with ~(으)며.
- This is used when 2+ actions or states are contradictory.
- 우리 엄마는 요리하면서 책을 사용한다 = "My mom cooks but she uses a book." (This translation is forced and unnatural as you would understand the sentence as the first use case than this one, but for parallelism I'll include it.)
- 잘 알지도 못하면서 아는 체하지 마 = "Don't pretend to know, when you know nothing."
861
As a native English speaker I don't find either way makes it sound like she's using a book to help her cook. Both sound quite awkward. But the "official" answer is closer despite that.
In Korean when I say 우리, I am underling the importance of the family relationship in whatever I'm going to reveal: my mom is not just my mom, but the mom of my whole family, even though none of my siblings is present in the current conversation. same with house, and other family centered words. so you should translate it as my.
1322
If she would be using it as a tool, it would have the -로 ending, so it would something like this: 우리 엄마는 책으로 요리해요
886
I feel "using the book" should be subordinate to cooking. "우리 엄마는 책을 사용하며 요리한다." And I feel instrumental "어서" would be more appropriate for the sense of "using the book for cooking"