#-게 되다하고 -게 하다 차이

[studykorean101]

What is the difference between -게 하다 and -게 되다?

Great question! First, we need to understand that 하다 is active whereas 되다 is passive! Your next question might be, “but omg, SK101, I’m not good at English grammar, too; what the hell is passive and active?”

Another great question! 

The active voice is when the speaker/subject performs the action or is described directly–they did it, caused it, performed it; you’re gonna see people commonly use these ways to explain the active voice. In English, the active voice can look something like this:

I studied Korean; (저는) 한국어를 공부했어요 

As you can see, I (the subject) am the one that studied Korean of my own volition. I caused the “Korean studying.” 

The passive voice is when the speaker/subject does not perform/cause/do the action. Instead, the subject is affected by the action/performance. I understand this may be difficult to understand, so I’ll spend more time on this. 

When can you use the passive voice?

When we have more interest in the object that experiences the action

When we don’t know (or don’t want to express) who performed the action (this is an academic loophole when we didn't do the proper research to support a claim)

When we want to emphasize the action!

The passive voice is not grammatically incorrect (take it from a linguist and someone who minored in creative writing). You will hear people say that the passive voice is not good or is ungrammatical (some bs like that). Even in Korean, the passive voice is entirely natural and used in everyday contexts. 

The passive voice in Korean may look like this:

한국어가 (저에게) 공부됐어요; Korean was studied (by me)

The prepositional phrase “by me; 저에게” shows that we know who studied Korean. This may still be confusing, so let me give you another example:

부엌을 청소했어요; I cleaned the kitchen.

부엌이 청소됐어요; The kitchen has been cleaned.

Let’s add more context to the sentence to understand the situation better. 

집에 도착했을 때 부엌을 청소했어요; When I got home, I cleaned the kitchen (meaning, I saw the dirty kitchen and cleaned it)

집에 도착했을 때 부엌이 청소됐어요; When I got home, the kitchen was cleaned (meaning, someone (unknown or otherwise) cleaned the kitchen when I was out)

*gasp!* Yes, by now, you've noticed that 이/가 goes with passive!

Now, onto your question: what's the difference between -게 하다 and -게 되다?

-게 하다: causative

The causative aspect shows that A causes B to happen. Pretend you have a younger sibling–here are some examples:

동생은 저를 늦게 했어요; My sibling made me late

저는 동생이 문제를 이해하게 했어요; I made them understand the problem

저를 귀찮게 했어요; You (the sibling) bothered me! 

(저는) 동생을 화장품으로 예쁘게 했어요; I made my sibling pretty with makeup

A (동생/저) causes B to happen. B does not mean the recipient (저/동생) of the action – B represents the action. 

-게 되다; to become (passive)

This grammar point shows that B changes A! Let’s use the examples from above. 

동생이 화장품으로 예쁘게 됐어요; my sibling became pretty with makeup

동생 때문에 제가 귀찮게 되었어요; my sibling has been bothering me

문제가 동생에게 이해하게 되었어요; my sibling came to understand the problem [more literally; the problem was understood by my sibling]

동생 때문에 제가 늦게 되었어요; I became late because of my sibling

Now, I'm sure you've noticed that there are two spellings of a conjugated '되다'. The only difference between '되었어요' and '됐어요' is that '됐어요' is a contraction of '되었어요'. You may have other Korean learners attempt to tell you that you write one [되었어요] and speak the other [됐어요]. This isn't not true; it's just not a rule written in stone. You are very much able to write the contracted '됐어요' instead of the regular '되었어요'. In fact, native Korean speakers do this all the time. It would be like saying we shouldn't write any English contractions because it's not grammatically correct--it's just wrong. The rules of '되다' are more complex than just written and spoken, but that's a blog for another day.

I hope this helped answer your question! If you're still confused, don't hesitate to send me another ask or pm me! I'm always open to clearing up any confusion or directing you to a source that may help!

Happy Learning :)

~ SK101