-는 줄
-는 줄: I Thought That — Belief That Missed
Thinking / believing that… — dependent noun 줄, typically with 알다 or 모르다.
How to form it
| When | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb present | -는 줄 | 가는 줄 / 있는 줄 |
| Verb past / adjective | -(으)ㄴ 줄 | 온 줄 / 좋은 줄 |
| Noun + 이다 (ida, ‘to be’) | -인 줄 | 학생인 줄 |
-는 줄 (with 알다 / 모르다) packages what you took to be a fact.
Gloss: thinking that — usually a belief that turned out wrong. 우리말샘 줄 「015」 (의존 명사): a method, fact, calculation, and similar. Courses drill 관형형 + 줄 + 알다/모르다.
Belief on the record
이미 보낸 줄 알았어요.
오늘인 줄 몰랐어요.
닫은 줄 알았는데 열려 있었어요.
잔고가 있는 줄 알았어요.
학생이 아닌 줄 알았어요.Often the next beat is correction: you believed X; reality was not X. 몰랐다 flips polarity — you did not know the fact (discovery).
Forms
| Host | Shape |
|---|---|
| Verb (ongoing) | -는 줄 |
| Verb past / adjective | -(으)ㄴ 줄 |
| 이다 | -인 줄 |
Match the modifier to the time of the believed situation: 온 줄 알았다 (I thought they had come).
Guess tools vs belief tools
| Form | Lean |
|---|---|
| -는 줄 알다 | held belief (often mistaken) |
| -을 것 같다 | soft guess |
| -나 보다 | inference from signs |
| -는 것 | general nominaliser |
바쁜 것 같아요. soft guess
바쁜 줄 알았어요. I had it as a fact (and may be correcting it)Polarity trap
보낸 줄 알았다 ≠ 보낸 줄 몰랐다. Flip the knowing verb and the story flips with it. Learners mix these under English I thought / I didn’t know.
Practice: if the line is “I had it wrong” or “I only learned later,” check 줄 + 알다/모르다 before defaulting to 것 같다.
Do not confuse it with
Taught alongside this
On the jabi learning path, this appears in 은행에서 통장을 만들 때 신분증을 가져가야 해요 (You must bring your ID when opening a bank account at the bank.) — Intermediate Korean 2, Unit 11, on the theme of bank. These come with it:
Words used above
Quick check
No sign-up, no score saved — just see if it stuck.
1. 이미 보낸 줄 알았어요 is closest to…
2. 알았다 vs 몰랐다 polarity?
3. vs -는 것 같다?
Common questions
Dictionary 줄?
우리말샘 줄 「015」 (의존 명사): marks a method, fact, calculation, etc. Grammar drills centre on -는 줄 알다/모르다.
Only 알다/모르다?
Those two are the classroom core. Other hosts exist in the wild — learn them from input.
How-to -을 줄 알다?
A related ‘know how to’ reading with -을 줄. Keep it separate from this ‘I thought that’ slot until you meet clear examples.
Bank tip?
잔고가 있는 줄 알았어요 — I thought there was a balance (but…).