내가 더 고맙지
Someone asked me a question about ‘내가 더 고맙지’ through e-mail.
And we had problem with encoding and decoding.
so I’ll just put my answer here.
To understand this expression fully, you need the context.
예를 들면, 제가 여러분들에게 설문에 참여해달라고 부탁드렸습니다.
만약, 알란씨가 제 친구이고 이 설문에 참여해주었다고 해봅시다.
알란: 이런 설문을 만들어 학습자에게 도움을 주려고 해서 고마워.
혜영: 아니야, 설문에 참여해 주어서 내가 더 고마워.(내가 더 고맙지)
For example, I asked you to take part in my survey.
Let’s say you are my friend and you took part in the survey.
Alan: Thank you for doing this survey to help Korean learners out there.
me: No, I’m the one who needs to say thank YOU for taking part in my survey.
Two people are arguing in a good way about who should be more thankful to whom.
‘지’ here can mean many different thing.
I’m not sure but 자신의 이야기를 상대방에게 다정하게 말할 때 쓸 수 있고
또, 제 생각으로는 서로 대조되는 사실을 이어 줄 때 쓰는 말인데, 이 경우에는
내가 더 고맙지, 뒷 부분에 니가 고맙다는 건 말도 안 돼, 니가 고마울 것이 뭐가 있느냐 등의 내용이 생략되었다고 볼 수도 있을 것 같아요.
Maybe I myself need further study on this.
Thanks a lot for you explanation! (The Korean text is way over my head however. I’ll come back in a year to read it again.)
Comment by Jesse — June 1, 2007 @ 12:11 am
Welcome, Jesse.
The Korean text in the example was translated right after.
The Korean text at the end is
One usage of ‘지’ is to say your story, situation, feeling to someone in a friendly way.
I think it’s used here to link two contrasting facts.
I can assume ‘It’s nonsense that you thank me’ or ‘What should you be thankful for?’ are omitted after 내가 더 고맙지.
Comment by dreamer — June 2, 2007 @ 5:18 am
It’s just 내가 더 고마워… it’s like NO, thank *YOU*
the 지 is nothing to do with that, it’s the ending that means just we’re on familiar terms, right?
Comment by joseph — June 5, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
“지” is certainly what you would use when you’re familiar with the the person, but it’s not simply for that reason. You use it to emphasize the “of course” nature of the statement.
As if saying, “OF COURSE I’m more thankful.”
Comment by joon — May 1, 2008 @ 6:12 am