I didn’t imagine that I would like it in Korean 🇰🇷

Sentence info.

저는 (jeoneun) – “I” with the topic marker. It sets the subject/topic of the sentence.
제가 (jega) – “I” with the subject marker. Here it emphasizes the doer of the action in the subordinate clause.
그걸 (geugeol) – “that” with the object marker “-을”. It refers to “that thing.”
좋아할 (joahal) – The future/infinitive form of 좋아하다 (“to like”). It functions as a modifier for the following noun phrase.
줄은 (jureun) – “줄” comes from 줄, meaning “the way/extent” or “the idea that…” combined with 은 which is a topic marker for that phrase.
상상도 (sangsangdo) – “상상” means “imagination” and 도 means “even”; thus “not even imagination.”
못 했어요 (mot haesseoyo) – “못” means “could not” (indicating inability) and “했어요” is the past tense of 하다 (“to do”), meaning “did not do.”

Combined, the sentence literally conveys:
“As for me, the idea that I would like that was not even imagined.”
In natural English: “I never imagined that I would like it.”

Tips to remember:
• Notice how Korean often uses both topic (저는) and subject markers (제가) to emphasize different roles in the sentence – one for setting the context and one for specifying who is doing the action in a subordinate clause.
• The pattern “좋아할 줄은 상상도 못 했어요” is a common structure to express “not expecting” or “never imagining” something. When you see “-줄은” (the idea/extent that…) followed by “상상도 못 했어요,” you can remember it as “I never imagined that…”
• The use of “도” after “상상” emphasizes “even imagination” reinforcing the unexpected nature of the result.

Alternate ways to say “I didn't imagine that I would like it”:
• 난 (nan) 그걸 좋아할 줄은 상상도 못 했어.
(A casual version using “난” instead of “저는” and “했어” instead of “했어요.”)
• 내가 그걸 좋아할 거라고는 꿈도 꾸지 못했어.
(Literally: “I couldn’t even dream that I would like it.” Here, “꿈도 꾸지 못했어”—“couldn’t even dream” is used instead of “상상도 못 했어.”)

Each alternative maintains the same meaning while varying formality and choice of expressions.

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