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Grammar Advanced TOPIK II · Level 5–6 Advanced Korean 2 · expression

-기 짝이 없다

-기 짝이 없다: Extremely… — No Comparison

Expression: extremely… — so much there is no comparison.

Before this, make sure you know: -기 , -아요 / -어요

How to form it

When Form Example
Adjective / descriptive -기 + 짝이 없다 -기 짝이 없다 부끄럽기 짝이 없다 / 한심하기 짝이 없다
With polite ending -기 짝이 없어요 답답하기 짝이 없어요

-기 짝이 없다 intensifies to no comparison — extremely….

Not mild 아주. Extreme degree package with -기.

Why this is hard

Degree words look interchangeable. 짝이 없다 is a fixed extreme idiom: there is no peer. It needs the -기 seat — learners invent 부끄럽다 짝이 없다 and miss the package.

What it does

부끄럽기 짝이 없어요.
한심하기 짝이 없어요.
답답하기 짝이 없어요.
미안하기 짝이 없어요.

The speaker maxes the degree — often with complaint or shame colour.

Forms

Descriptive stem + -기 짝이 없다.

부끄럽다 → 부끄럽기 짝이 없다
한심하다 → 한심하기 짝이 없다
답답하다 → 답답하기 짝이 없다

When not to use it

Do not use it as mild very — 아주 / 정말.

Do not drop 짝이 없다 onto a bare adjective without -기.

Do not force it into cheerful praise by default — tone is often heavy.

Neighbours — and why they differ

FormWhy it is not this slot
아주 / 정말Milder intensifiers.
도Also / even — different job.

Ask: am I maxing degree with ‘no match’? If yes, -기 짝이 없다. If soft very, stay lighter.

If English wants unbelievably / beyond comparison, you are closer to this page than to 아주.

Do not confuse it with

도

also, too — and the particle it quietly replaces

Taught alongside this

On the jabi learning path, this appears in 표현 (expression) — Advanced Korean 2, Unit 4, on the theme of expression. These come with it:

-기 일쑤이다 always ends up… — what commonly / habitually happens (-기(가) 일쑤이다) 는 마당에 in a situation where… — given this awkward context -는 한이 있어도 even if it kills me… — willing to pay any cost -을 바에 given you are (doing) that — the situation of that act (often with a better alternative) -으려도 even if one tries to… — attempt that still fails or contrasts -으리라는 the idea that one will… — naming a future claim 를 막론하고 regardless of — without picking and choosing among that set -어 치우다 get it done fast — finishing off, often roughly -는다는 the… that says / that will — framing a quoted claim as a noun 이라고는 as for… (only) — singled out under emphasis, usually before scarce/negative (이라고는) -는다던가1 is that the order…? — checking what you were told to do -으래서야 how can you only now…? — challenging the late order or claim -으리라고 that one will… — quoting a future claim -자면2 how about… / let's say… — suggesting a course

Words used above

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짝이 없다jjagi eopdathere is no match / comparison
-기 짝이 없다-gi jjagi eopdaextremely…
극단geukdanextreme
정도jeongdodegree
아주ajuvery — milder neighbour

Quick check

No sign-up, no score saved — just see if it stuck.

1. The embarrassment is past comparing, in the 짝이 없다 frame, not the 이를 데 twin and not a mild adverb.

2. The frustration is past comparing. You want 짝이 없다, not a mild adverb and not the twin extreme.

3. You are calling it pathetic to an extreme, not mildly, and not merely only pathetic.

Common questions

Job?

Intensify to ‘so much there is no comparison’.

Tone?

Often critical or strongly emotional — embarrassment, frustration.

Café soft very?

아주 / 정말 usually. Save this for extreme colour.

Form?

-기 짝이 없다 after descriptive stems.