My parents wanted me to be a doctor in Korean 🇰🇷

Sentence info.

The sentence is broken down as follows:

1. 부모님은 (bumonim-eun)
  • 부모님 means “parents” and the particle 은 indicates the topic.
  Tip: Use 은/는 after the noun that sets the topic of the sentence.

2. 그것이의사가 (geugeos-i uisaga)
  • In the standard meaning of “my parents wanted me to be a doctor,” what you really want is to express “me” rather than “it.” But in this construction, the idea is to show what the parents hoped to become “a doctor.”
  • 의사 means “doctor” and the subject particle 가 is attached to indicate the complement.
  Tip: Remember that when making a clause that fulfills “want someone to be…” you attach the subject particle to the complement noun.

3. 되기를 (doegileul)
  • Derived from 되다 (“to become”) plus 기를. Here, -기 is added to the verb stem to form a nominalized verb clause that expresses “the act of becoming.”
  • The ending -를 is the object marker, indicating that the entire clause “becoming a doctor” is the desired outcome.
  Tip: When expressing wishes with verbs in a noun clause, attach -기 to the verb stem, then the appropriate object marker, e.g., -를 before verbs like 원하다.

4. 원했습니다 (wonhaetseumnida)
  • This is the past, formal polite form of 원하다 (“to want”).
  Tip: If you want to talk about desires in the past instead of the present, use the past ending -었습니다.

Alternate ways to express “My parents wanted me to be a doctor” include:

• 부모님은 제가 의사가 되기를 원하셨어요.
  Romanized: Bumonim-eun jega uisaga doegireul wonhasyeosseoyo.
  • Here, 제가 (jega) means “I” with a humble marker.

• 부모님께서는 내가 의사가 되길 원하셨어요.
  Romanized: Bumonim-kkeseoneun naega uisaga doegil wonhasyeosseoyo.
  • In this version, 부모님께서는 (bumonim-kkeseoneun) uses the honorific particle 께서, and 되길 is a contracted form of 되기를.

By keeping the structure in mind—topic marking for the subject, the clause formation of the desired state using the nominalizer -기 along with the object marker, and then the verb at the end—you can form similar sentences in Korean.

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