A/V (으)ㄴ/는지 — Vague reasoning

-(으)ㄴ/는지 is a connective ending used when connecting a clause requiring additional information to the following verb.

It corresponds to 'who/what/where/when/how/whether + Clause' in English.

It generally precedes one of the following verbs: 알다 (to know), 모르다 (not to know, be unaware of), 궁금하다 (to be anxious or curious about), 질문하다 (to ask a question, to inquire), 조사하다 (to investigate), 알아보다 (to look into, to recognize), 생각나다 (to recall, to remember), 말하다 (to speak, to say), and 가르치다 (to teach).

Details

내일 날씨가 좋아요, 나빠요? + 알아요?

Will tomorrow's weather be good or bad? + Do you know?

명동에 어떻게 가요? + 가르쳐 주세요.

How do you get to Myeongdong? + Please tell me.

For present tense adjectives, when the stem ends in a vowel or ㄹ, -ㄴ지 is added, and when it ends in a consonant. -은지 is added. For present tense verbs, -는지 is added to the stem. For past tense adjectives and verbs, -았/었는지 is added while for future tense verbs, -(으)ㄹ 건지 is added.

Note: -는지 is used in the following forms.

1. Interrogative + Verb-(으)ㄴ /는지

우리 아이가 방에서 무엇을 하는지 모르겠어요.

I don't know what our son/daughter is doing in his/her room.

그 사람이 어느 나라 사람인지 알아요?

Do you know what country that person is from?

2. Verb 1-(으)ㄴ/는지 Verb 2-(으)ㄴ/는지

우리 아이가 방에서 자는지 공부하는지 모르겠어요.

I don't know if our son/daughter is sleeping or studying in his/her room.

그 사람이 일본 사람인지 중국 사람인지 알아요?

Do you know if that person is Japanese or Chinese?

3. Verb 1 -(으)ㄴ/는지 안 Verb 1-(으)ㄴ/는지

우리 아이가 공부를 하는지 안 하는지 모르겠어요.

I don't know if our son/daughter is studying (or not).

그 사람이 일본 사람인지 아닌지 모르겠어요.

I don't know whether that person is Japanese (or not).

Kimchi Reader

Indicate an ambiguous, uncertain reason or judgment about the following statement. Can also indicate a vague doubt.