Korean discourse markers

The following is an incomplete list of common Korean discourse markers. Discourse markers (담화표지, 담화표지어) are expressions that do not fit into normal grammatical categories (like nouns, verbs, and such), as they can consist of various types of words and even whole expressions, and their function is to manage and express politeness in conversation, social status, speaker attitudes, or the flow of the conversation itself. They can include adverbials, verb endings, transitionals or connectors (관계 표현), discourse particles (담화입자), and even comment clauses. Connectors are standard transitional terms, such as for example, first, last, therefore, but, and many others. Discourse particles (as used by some linguists) includes minor light words that are not part of the regular sentence syntax, and whose function is purely pragmatic, such as managing conversation and politeness considerations; these include words like well, okay, uh. Comment clauses are whole expressions that have been reduced, stripped of their original meaning, and used as discourse markers. English examples include phrases like you know, I mean, I think.

A single discourse marker can have multiple functions, but due to the complexity in their usage, only the most basic function of each one is identified below. The following abbreviations are used.

add.	additive, sequential		org.	discourse organizational marker, sequence, ordinal
affect	affective expression, exclamation		repair	repair, or repair + face-politeness
col.	colloquial		pause	pause, hesitation
con.	concessive or contrastive		persu.	persuasion
comp.	comparison		pol.	face politeness
emph.	emphatic		result	result, reason, cause
ex.	example or evidential		sent.	sentence adv.
fb	feedback, backchannel		sum.	summary
hedge	hedge, softener		opic	topic management & topic shift

1 General discourse markers

Marker	English	type
-겠네요	I guess	hedge
-는	in any way, as for, as regards	topic
-에 관하여	regarding	topic
-에 관하여	with reference to (very formal; business writing style)	topic
-에 관한 한	as far as ... is concerned	topic
-에 대하여 말하자면	as for... (indifferent or non-committal)	topic
-에 반해서	whereas	con.
-와 관련하여	as regards	topic
-을 제외하고	apart from, except for	comp.
-있잖아	You know, don’t you know?	persu.
(지금) 보니까	Now I see..., Now that I’m thinking about it...	topic
같은 식으로	in the same way	comp.
게다가	furthermore, additionally, besides, moreover, what is more... (formal)	add.
결과적으로	as a result	result
결국	at last, eventually, ultimately	org.
결론적으로	in conclusion	org.
경우에(는)	in case (of), as for	topic
그건 그렇고	by the way, incidentally, anyway, enough about that...	sent.
그나마	and for all that...	add.
그동안	Meanwhile, during that time	con.
그래	Yeah, that's right	fb
그래 가지고	so, therefore, as such (=그래서)	result
그래도	nevertheless, still, even though, regardless, even so, in spite of that (informal)	con.
그래서	so, therefore, as such (col.: 그래 가지고)	result
그래서 그런지	maybe that's why	hedge
그래서요	that's why, for that reason	result
그랬더니	so then (past/personal experience)	result
그러고 나서	after that	add.
그러나	but, however (formal)	con.
그러네요	That's how it is, I see	persu.
그러니	so, therefore	result
그러니까	so, because of that, that is to say, I mean, you know	result
그러다(가)	it continued that way until...	add.
그러면	If so, in that case	ex.
그러면 (그럼)	if so, so, then	result
그러면서	in the process	org.
그러므로	therefore (formal or literary)	result
그러자	thereupon	result
그런	such, like that	comp.
그런 것 같은	kind of, sort of	hedge
그런가요	Is that so?	pol.
그런건 있어요...	The thing is...	repair
그런데	but, however, by the way (for topic shifts, or to provide relevant background information prior to following clause)	topic
그런데	by the way, incidentally	sent.
그런데도	in spite of that (more casual)	con.
그런데요	well, by the way	topical
그런식으로	In that manner, like that	comp.
그럼	well, then	topic
그럼에도 (불구하고)	nevertheless, although, in spite of that (formal)	con.
그럼에도 불구하고	still	con.
그럼에도 불구하고	nevertheless (formal)	con.
그럼요	of course, sure	pol.
그렇게	like that, in that way	comp.
그렇기 때문에	because of that, therefore	result
그렇기는 하지만	nevertheless	con.
그렇다 하더라도	even so	con.
그렇다고 (+ neg. clause)	just because that's true (it doesn't mean that X is also true).	con.
그렇다면	then, if that is the case (more hypothetical than 그러면)	con.
그렇더라도	nonetheless	con.
그렇지 않아도/안 그래도	as it happens; even if you hadn't mentioned that	topic
그렇지 않으면	otherwise, or else	con.
그렇지만	but, however, yet (formal)	con.
그리고	And, in addition (informal)a	add.
그리고 나서	then, and then	add.
그만	Stop, stop it, enough	pol.
그뿐 아니라	as well as that	add.
그저	Just, simply	persu.
그치	Right?, Isn't it?	persu.
근데	But, however, by the way (informal; generally for topic shifts)	con.
글쎄	well	hedge
글쎄(요)	Well.... (e.g., to preface a negative response, or as a pause filler)	topic
꼭 ~인 것처럼	just as	comp.
나 좀 봐	look here	emph.
내 느낌에는	I feel	hedge
내 말은	I mean	repair
내 생각에는	I think	hedge
내 생각에는(비격식)	I reckon	hedge
내 의견으로는(격식)	in my opinion (view)	hedge
내 짐작에는(비격식)	I guess	hedge
누구더라	Who was it?	topic
다른 말로 하면	in other words	repair
다른 한편으로는	on the other hand	con.
다시 말해서	that is to say	repair
다음은 (비격식)	for another thing	org.
당연한	granted	con.
당연히	Of course, naturally	sent.
대부분은, 크게	to a great extent	hedge
대신(에)	instead (of)	repair
대체로	by and large, broadly speaking, in general	hedge
더구나	in addition	add.
더하여(비격식)	on top of that	add.
덧붙이자면	Additionally, in addition to that, plus	add.
두 번째로	second(ly)	org.
등등 [等等), 등(이)	etc., and so on	add.
따라서	so, thus, therefore, consequently, accordingly, in accordance with (formal)	result
때문에	because	result
또 하나는(비격식)	another thing is	add.
또는	or (e.g., for expressing preference with nouns: X 또는 Y)	comp.
또한	also	add.
마지막으로	lastly, finally	org.
마찬가지로	similarly, likewise	comp.
말이 나왔으니 말인데	talking / speaking of/about	topic
말이지	I mean, you know	repair
말하자면	so to speak	hedge
먼저	first(ly), earlier, beforehand, first of all	org.
모든 경우에	in all (most, many, some) cases	ex.
무슨 말인가 하면	I mean	repair
물론	certainly, of course	emph.
뭐더리	What’s the matter?	topic
뭐더리/뭐지	What do I want to say?, What is it?	pause
뭐라고 하든	after all	emph.
뭐지	What is it?	topic
미리	beforehand, in advance ahead of time	add.
미안하지만	I'm afraid	hedge
바꿔 말하면	that is to say	repair
반대로, 그러기는 커녕	on the contrary	con.
반면에	on the other hand, while	con.
뿐만 아니라	not only that, furthermore, moreover, besides, also	add.
사실	actually, really, in fact	emph.
사실은	actually	emph.
사실은, 실은	in fact	persu.
사실이지만	it is true	con.
세 번째로	third(ly)	org.
솔직히 말하면	to tell the truth	emph.
실은	actually, in fact, as a matter of fact	persu.
실제로	actually	emph.
아 / 어	“oh” or “ah” (for surprise, realization, or embarrassment)	affect
아까도 말했듯이 (informal)	as I was saying	topic
아니라고	not true, not the case	con.
아니면	or else	con.
아마도	apparently	hedge
아무리	no matter how, even if, however much, however + ADJ	emph.
아무튼	anyway, in any case	topic
어느 정도(비격식)	sort of, kind of	hedge
어느 정도는	to some extent	hedge
어디 보자	let's see, let me see	pause
어디더라	Where was it?	topic
어쨌든	anyway, anyhow, at any rate, in any case	topic
어쨌든	after all	emph.
언제나	whenever	pol.
언제더라	When was it?	topic
얼마간, 대략	more or less	hedge
여기요	Here, over here	topic
역시	all the same	comp.
예를 들면	for example, for instance, e.g.	ex.
오히려	or rather	con.
왜냐하면 (왜냐면)	Because, it’s because (sentence initial; col.: 왜냐면)b	result
요컨대	to sum up	org.
우선	to start with	org.
우선 [于先₩]	first (of all); for now	org.
우선, 맨 먼저	to begin with	org.
우선, 무엇보다도	first of all	org.
음	well, um	pause
이것에도 불구하고	in spite of this / that	con.
이기 때문에	because	result
이봐	look	emph.
이어서	following	add.
이전으로 돌아가면 (formal)	to return to the previous point	topic
인 때에는	in case of	ex.
자,	right; all right; now; OK	fb
잘 모르겠지만	I don't know	pol.
저 / 자	“um” (pause marker)	pause
저기 / 저기요	there, over there	topic
적어도	at least	hedge
전체적으로	on the whole	sum.
정반대로	quite the opposite	con.
제 말은	I mean..., what I want to say is...	repair
제가 하고싶은 말은	What I want to say is...	repair
좀	a bit, a little	hedge
종합헤보면	in summary, altogether	sum.
좋아요	right; all right; now; okay	fb
짐작컨대	I suppose	hedge
짧게 말하면	briefly, in short	org.
처음	at the beginning, start	org.
첫째로	in the first place	org.
특히	in particular	ex.
하게	In a way, so that	result
하나는 (비격식)	for one thing	org.
하여튼	anyway, anyhow, in any case (also 하여간	topic
하지만	but, however	con.
한편으로는 : 격식체	on the one hand	con.
할말이 있는데...	I have something to say...	topic

2 Sentence adverbs

Below are some more expressions that are used as sentence adverbs (문장부사). These adverbials modify an entire sentence and indicate the speaker's attitude or stance toward what is said.

Korean Sentence adverbial	English
가끔	Sometimes, occasionally
간단하게	Simply, briefly
간단히	Briefly, concisely
거의	Almost, nearly
게다가	Furthermore, additionally
결국	Eventually, ultimately
결코	Never, by no means
계속	Continuously, constantly
과연	Indeed, sure enough
그래도	Nevertheless, still
그래서	Therefore, so
그리고	In addition (informal)
끝내	Finally, ultimately
다른	Other, different
다소	Somewhat, to some extent
당연히	Of course, naturally
대개	Generally, mostly
대충	Roughly, approximately
덧붙이자면	Additionally, if you add to that, plus
딱	Exactly, precisely
또한	Also, furthermore
마지막으로	Lastly
마찬가지로	Simiarly, likewise
말하면	Honestly, frankly
매우	Very, extremely
모두	All, everything
무척	Very, extremely
바로	Right away, immediately
반면에	On the other hand, while
뿐만 아니라	Not only that, furthermore, moreover, besides, also
사실	In fact
솔직히	Honestly
솔직히 말하면	To tell the truth
실은	Actually, in fact, as a matter of fact
실제로	Actually , in reality
아마도	Perhaps, maybe
아무리	No matter how, even if
아무튼	Anyway, anyhow
아직	Yet, still
어쩌면	Maybe, possibly
언제까지나	Always, forever
언제나	Always, at all times
여전히	Still, as always
역시	As expected, still
예상대로	As expected, as predicted
왜냐하면 (col. 왜냐면)	Because, it’s because (sentence initial; col.: 왜냐면)
이제	Now, at this point
전혀	Not at all, completely
정말	Really, truly
직접	Directly, personally
특별히	Especially, particularly
특히	Especially, particularly
틀림없이	No doubt
한동안	For a while, some time