Grammar Advanced TOPIK II · Level 5–6 Advanced Korean 1 · expression

-기가 쉽다

-기가 쉽다: Easy To / Prone To — Natural Tendency

Pattern 쉽다 「003」 in -기(가) 쉽다: high chance / easy tendency for the event.

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

How to form it

When	Form	Example
Verb / adjective + -기가 쉽다	-기가 쉽다	실수하기가 쉽다 / 잊기가 쉽다
Without 가	-기 쉽다	실수하기 쉽다 / 잊기 쉽다

-기가 쉽다 means easy to… / prone to… — a tendency that comes naturally (often a risk).

Why this is hard

English easy to sounds helpful; Korean -기가 쉽다 often warns: easy to catch a cold, easy to misunderstand. Learners miss the caution colour.

What it does

You mark a likely tendency, frequently unwanted.

감기에 걸리기가 쉬워요.
오해가 생기기가 쉬워요.
포기하기가 쉬워요.
길을 잃기가 쉬워요.

Forms

Verb + -기가 쉽다.

When not to use it

Do not use it only as cheerful ‘easy skill praise’ without checking tone. Do not confuse it with -을 수 있다 ability. Do not treat it as a command to make something easy.

Neighbours — and why they differ

Form	Why it is not this slot
-을 수 있다	Ability / possibility — can, not prone to.
-기만 하다	Only does that — limitation, not tendency.
-는 법이다	Natural rule — near, different noun frame.

Caution readings dominate classroom examples: colds, mistakes, misunderstandings. Praise readings (“easy to learn”) exist, but check whether you are warning or encouraging before you paste the pattern. Ability -을 수 있다 answers “can I?”; this answers “what tends to happen?”

If a sentence only needs permission or skill, stay with ability grammar and leave this pattern for tendencies.

Ask: am I saying this tends to happen (often as a caution)? If yes, -기가 쉽다. If you mean ability, use -을 수 있다.

Do not confuse it with

-게 마련이다

bound to be — naturally so (-기/게 마련이다)

-을 수 있다

can, cannot — ability and possibility

-을까 보다

thinking I might — a plan you are still weighing

Taught alongside this

On the jabi learning path, this appears in 표현 (expression) — Advanced Korean 1, Unit 4, on the theme of expression. These come with it:

-는다니1 what are they telling me to…? — asking what the order was -었던 that had been… — past modifier with a lingering sense 에 관하여 regarding, about — the written 에 관하여 / 관한 -자기에 because one decides to… — contracted -자고 하기에 (청유 인용 + 이유), pair of -는다기에 -게 마련이다 bound to be — naturally so (-기/게 마련이다) -게 생겼다 have ended up (badly)… — negative predicament with -게 생기다 -기 나름이다 depends on how you… — the outcome varies with the method -기가 바쁘게 as soon as — barely finishing one thing before the next -기만 하다 only does… — limiting the action to just that -기에 따라 depending on… — outcomes that change with the condition -기에 앞서(서) before doing… — prior to the step you name -은 나머지 as a result of… — the outcome that follows from that act -는 데다가 and on top of that — stacking one fact onto another -는 동시에 at the same time as — two things in the same moment -는 듯하다 seems to… — a soft guess from appearance -는 법이다 it is natural that… — a general rule of how things go -는 이상 now that / given that — already being in that state -은 채로 while still… — leaving it in the state it already has -는 척하다 pretend to… — acting as if -는 가운데 in the midst of — while that situation continues 는 말할 것도 없고 not to mention — A goes without saying, and B too (는/은 말할 것도 없고) -을 만하다 worth doing / decent enough — worth the effort or acceptable -을 법하다 likely to… — a reasonable prediction -을 테다 will (for sure) — a strong expectation about what follows -을 테면 if you are going to… — setting a condition for a plan -을 테지만 will, but… — expecting one thing and contrasting another -으려나 보다 I guess they mean to… — reading someone's likely intention 를 가지고 with, using — taking that as the means or topic -으면 몰라도 only if… — the following holds only under that (unreal / opposite) condition 에도 불구하고 despite — in spite of that noun situation -는데도 even though — contrast after a clause, softer than 지만 -어 내다 manage to… — pushing through until it is done -는다기에 because they say… — the reported claim is the reason -는다는 것이 meant to…, but — intention (-는다고 하는 것이) whose result diverged -는데도 불구하고 even so — despite the whole preceding clause

Words used above

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-기가 쉽다-giga swipdaeasy / prone to…

-기 쉽다-gi swipdashort form

실수silsumistake

잊다itdato forget

감기gamgicold (illness)

Quick check

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

1. You are cautioning a trainee that people slip into mistakes here without much push — a natural tendency, not a claim they are able to err. Which line carries that colour?

2. Passwords vanish from your head unless you write them down. Which line uses the short -기 쉽다 shape on 잊다 from the forms table?

3. Rushing this step makes a slip feel almost certain nine times out of ten — that is -기 십상이다. You only meant ‘easy to slip,’ not near-certainty odds. Which line keeps the softer tendency?

Common questions

Dictionary?

우리말샘 쉽다 「003」: in -기(가) 쉽다 — high possibility. 「001」 is plain ‘not hard’.

Easy task vs prone?

Both appear. Context tells: 풀기가 쉽다 (easy to solve) vs 감기에 걸리기 쉽다 (prone to catch a cold).

Vs -을 수 있다?

-(으)ㄹ 수 있다 is ability/possibility. -기가 쉽다 leans tendency / ease.

Vs -기 마련이다?

마련이다 feels inevitable truth; 쉽다 feels likely / easy to slip into.