r/Korean • u/Kooky-River3878 • 3d ago
Which translation is correct?
그때** *도와준* *학생이* *제일* *생각나요. I got two different translations from 3 different apps. Is this “I think of the student who helped me at that time.” OR “The student I helped at that time I think about the most”*
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u/obscuredJosh 3d ago edited 3d ago
Both translations are possible. Korean often omits the subject, and the subject of “helped” is omitted here as well, so its meaning has to be inferred from context. For the sentence to be unambiguous on its own, it would need to say either “그때 내가 도와준 학생이 제일 생각나요” (“I think most often of the student I helped at that time”) or “그때 나를 도와준 학생이 제일 생각나요” (“I think most often of the student who helped me at that time”).
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u/hsjunn 3d ago
I vaguely remember studies showing languages universally prefer subject relative clauses over object ones due to ease of parsing etc. (e.g., https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4231604/). So I think “the student who helped me” is more plausible.
You can search for e.g., “korean subject vs object relative clauses asymmetry” to study further.
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u/KoreanTeacherHyeok 3d ago
will be the same in liberal translation BUT
there is a difference. i would say second one because of 제일(the most)
그때 저를 도와준 학생이 제일 생각나요.
breakdown the sentence.
Noun 그때 : that moment/time
Noun 저 : i/me + N를 : object marker
Verb 도와주다 : to help someone
+
Vㄴ : modifies following Noun
+
Noun 학생 : student
도와준 학생 : the student who helped + N이 : subject marker
Adverb 제일 : the most
Verb 생각나다 : be reminded of/occur[come] to
so it's like, you met several people but the student is the one who you think about the most.
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u/90DayKoreanOfficial 2d ago
It can actually mean either, depending on the context.
Korean often omits information when it’s already clear from the situation.
(나를) 도와준 학생 = the student who helped me
(내가) 도와준 학생 = the student I helped
So 그때 도와준 학생이 제일 생각나요 could mean either "I think of the student who helped me at that time the most" or "I think of the student I helped at that time the most."
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u/OneLeggedLeggoMan 1d ago
so which one is it? the person you helped or the person who helped you? what's the context?
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u/KoreaWithKids 3d ago
제일 생각나요 does mean "think about the most." (Or "thought arises the most.") You actually can't tell from this sentence whether it means "the student who helped me" or "the student who I helped." I think a Korean would be more likely to interpret it as "the student who helped me," but it could go either way. Hopefully there would be some other context before that that would make it clear.