![How to Say “What a Relief!” in Korean: 다행이다 [dahengida]](http://organickorean.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/how-to-say-what-a-relief-in-korean-.png)
How to Say “What a Relief!” in Korean: 다행이다 [dahengida]
As a Korean language teacher, I’ve seen many learners struggle to understand the meaning of 다행이다 [da-heng-i-da]. It expresses two mixed emotions—relief and happiness—which makes it difficult to translate correctly into English.
To be precise, 다행이다 is more about a feeling of relief. If there’s a possibility of something bad, and then it didn’t actually come to pass, we stop worrying: a feeling of “Thank goodness it didn’t happen.” That’s the case in which we can use 다행이다, which conveys the meaning “what a relief” or “thankfully.”
Be careful that you don’t use it to express only a happy or joyful mindset. Remember that it delivers a relieved feeling, dealing with situations.
Grammatically, Korean usually conjugates verbs or adjectives, adding the 아서 [aseo]/ 어서 [eoseo] meaning “because” to the stem, and then putting 다행이다 at the end of a sentence.
Now let’s get down to some examples, one by one. You’ll see 다행이다 is used in a variety of situations.
①
비가 안 와서 다행이에요.
[biga an waseo daheng-ieyo]
Thankfully it didn’t rain.
Word List | |||
---|---|---|---|
비 [bi] | rain | 안 [an] | not |
오다 [oda] | to come | 다행이다 [daheng-ida] | that's a relief |
②
호텔 방이 별로 안 더러워서 다행이에요.
[hotel bang-i byeollo an deoreoweoseo daheng-ieyo]
Thankfully the hotel room isn’t too dirty.
Word List | |||
---|---|---|---|
호텔 [hotel] | hotel | 방 [bang] | room |
별로 [byeollo] | not really, not particularly | 안 [an] | not |
더럽다 [deoreopda] | dirty | 다행이다 [daheng-ida] | that's a relief |
③
별로 안 비싸서 다행이에요.
[byeollo an bissaseo daheng-ieyo]
Thankfully it’s not too expensive.
Word List | |||
---|---|---|---|
별로 [byeollo] | not really, not particularly | 안 [an] | not |
비싸다 [bissada] | expensive | 다행이다 [daheng-ida] | that's a relief |
④
완전히 나아서 다행이에요.
[wanjeonhi na-aseo daheng-ieyo]
It’s a relief that you fully recovered from the injury.
Word List | |||
---|---|---|---|
완전히 [wanjeonhi] | fully, completely | 낫다 [natda] | to recover, to get well, to feel better |
다행이다 [daheng-ida] | that's a relief |
⑤
와! 그렇다니 정말 다행이에요.
[wa geureotdani jeongmal daheng-ieyo]
Wow! It’s such a relief to hear that.
Word List | |||
---|---|---|---|
정말 [jeongmal] | really, truly | 다행이다 [daheng-ida] | that's a relief |
⑥
A: 지갑 찾았어요!
[jigap chajatsseoyo]
I found my wallet!
B: 정말요? 휴, 다행이에요!
[jeongmal-yo hyu daheng-ieyo]
Really? Phew, what a relief!
Word List | |||
---|---|---|---|
지갑 [jigap] | wallet | 찾다 [chatda] | to find, to look for |
정말 [jeongmal] | really, truly | 다행이다 [daheng-ida] | that's a relief |