Korean Phrases for Moving Day in Korea
이사 (isa) day in Korea is loud, fast and over before lunch. A crew arrives, and within a few hours everything you own has been carried out of one apartment and into another by people who need you to make decisions at the speed they are working. Two patterns from the SULSUL workbook are what let you keep up. Pattern 33 — the noun modifier — is how you point at a thing and say which one it is: 이건 가져갈 물건이에요 (igeon gajyeogal mulgeonieyo), "This is the stuff that's going with me." Pattern 77 — -는 동안 — is how you split the day between two people: 짐 옮기는 동안 저는 여기 있을게요 (jim omgineun dongan jeoneun yeogi isseulgeyo), "While you move the boxes, I'll be here."
- Point at what goes: 이건 가져갈 물건이에요 (igeon gajyeogal mulgeonieyo), "This is the stuff that's going with me."
- Point at what stays: 저건 안 가져갈 짐이에요 (jeogeon an gajyeogal jimieyo), "That's the load I'm not taking."
- Flag the fragile box: 깨지는 물건이 들어 있어요 (kkaejineun mulgeoni deureo isseoyo), "There are things that break inside."
- Say where you will be: 짐 옮기는 동안 저는 여기 있을게요 (jim omgineun dongan jeoneun yeogi isseulgeyo), "While you move the boxes, I'll be here."
- Ask about the lift: 이사하는 동안 엘리베이터 써도 돼요? (isahaneun dongan ellibeiteo sseodo dwaeyo?), "Can we use the elevator while we move?"
What do you say to the movers when they arrive?
Most people here book a 포장이사 (pojang isa), the full-service move where the crew from the 이삿짐센터 (isatjim senteo, moving company) packs, carries and unpacks. That means they are handling your things without knowing what any of them are, so the morning is one long round of pointing and naming.
Them: 이거 가져가세요? — igeo gajyeogaseyo? — "Are you taking this?"
You: 네, 그건 가져갈 물건이에요. — ne, geugeon gajyeogal mulgeonieyo. — "Yes, that's something that's going."
Them: 이 상자는 어디에 놓을까요? — i sangjaneun eodie noeulkkayo? — "Where should I put this box?"
You: 제가 쓰는 책상 옆에 놔 주세요. — jega sseuneun chaeksang yeope nwa juseyo. — "Next to the desk I use, please."
Pattern 33 is the piece that makes those answers possible, and it is simpler than the English it replaces. Add -는 to a verb stem for something happening now (제가 쓰는 책상, "the desk I use"), -ㄴ/은 for something already done (어제 산 의자, "the chair I bought yesterday"), and -ㄹ/을 for something not yet done (버릴 물건, beoril mulgeon, "things to throw out"). On moving day the future one does most of the work, because the whole day is a sort between 가져갈 짐 and 버릴 물건. The rooms themselves are worth knowing by name too — 안방 (anbang) is the main bedroom, 베란다 (beranda) the balcony — so 이건 안방에 놔 주세요 (igeon anbange nwa juseyo) lands the box in the right place the first time.
| Situation | Say this |
|---|---|
| Point at what goes | 이건 가져갈 물건이에요 (igeon gajyeogal mulgeonieyo) |
| Point at what stays | 저건 안 가져갈 짐이에요 (jeogeon an gajyeogal jimieyo) |
| Flag the fragile box | 깨지는 물건이 들어 있어요 (kkaejineun mulgeoni deureo isseoyo) |
| Say where you will be | 짐 옮기는 동안 저는 여기 있을게요 (jim omgineun dongan jeoneun yeogi isseulgeyo) |
| Ask about the lift | 이사하는 동안 엘리베이터 써도 돼요? (isahaneun dongan ellibeiteo sseodo dwaeyo?) |
Practice this out loud with SULSUL — the app says it, you repeat it →
How do you say what happens while the move is going on?
A move is two places at once — a crew emptying one apartment while someone waits at the other — and Pattern 77 is built for exactly that overlap. Attach -는 동안 to a verb stem, or put plain 동안 after a noun, and the useful part is that the two halves can have different subjects: you do this, I'll do that.
You: 짐 싣는 동안 저는 먼저 새집에 가 있을게요. — jim sinneun dongan jeoneun meonjeo saejibe ga isseulgeyo. — "While you load up, I'll go ahead to the new place."
Them: 네, 도착하기 전에 전화드릴게요. — ne, dochakhagi jeone jeonhwadeurilgeyo. — "Sure, we'll call before we arrive."
You: 정리하는 동안 커피 사 올게요. — jeongnihaneun dongan keopi sa olgeyo. — "I'll go get coffee while you're sorting things out."
-는 동안 is a stretch of time, a line rather than a dot — that is what separates it from -ㄹ 때 (-l ttae), "at the moment when." After a noun it needs nothing extra: 이사 동안 (isa dongan), 하루 동안 (haru dongan), "for one day." The sentence that saves the most trouble on the day is about the building, not the boxes: 이사하는 동안 엘리베이터 써도 돼요? — most Korean apartment buildings want the lift booked with the management office in advance, and that desk is covered in Korean phrases at the apartment management office in Korea.
What usually goes wrong on moving day in Korea?
The first thing is the building, not the move. A 사다리차 (sadaricha), the ladder lift that runs furniture through an upper-floor window, needs somewhere to park, and the lift inside needs a booking — both are arranged with the 관리사무소 (gwallisamuso) days ahead, not on the morning. Ask the company early: 사다리차 필요해요? (sadaricha piryohaeyo?), "Do we need a ladder truck?" and 견적 좀 봐 주시겠어요? (gyeonjeok jom bwa jusigesseoyo?), "Could you come and give me an estimate?" Dates matter too — 손 없는 날 (son eomneun nal), the traditionally lucky moving days, book out first, so being flexible about the date is the easiest thing you can offer.
The second is everything you are not taking. Large furniture cannot go out with the household rubbish: a 대형폐기물 (daehyeong pyegimul) sticker has to be bought and stuck on it before collection, which is a separate errand from the move itself and one you cannot do at the last minute. 이거 버리려면 어떻게 해야 해요? (igeo beoriryeomyeon eotteoke haeya haeyo?), "What do I have to do to throw this away?" is the question to ask before the crew is standing over it, and the rest of that system is in Korean phrases for taking out the trash in Korea.
The third is the paperwork that follows you. 전입신고 (jeonipsingo), the move-in report, is done at the community service center and it is what protects your deposit, so it happens in the first days and not the first month — Korean phrases for the community service center in Korea is that counter. On a residence card the same move starts a second clock at Korean phrases for the immigration office in Korea. Then change the address everywhere a box might arrive, or it will keep arriving at the old door — Korean phrases for parcel delivery in Korea is the one that bites first. Most of this gets typed rather than spoken, in the tone laid out in Korean phrases for texting on KakaoTalk, and the neighbours are a single sentence: 옆집에 이사 온 사람이에요 (yeopjibe isa on saramieyo), "I'm the one who moved in next door."
Say it out loud, not just in your head
이건 가져갈 물건이에요 is a sentence you cannot look up mid-sentence — someone is already lifting the box, and the truck is running downstairs.
SULSUL is a speaking gym for exactly that moment: pick a survival pattern, say it out loud, get an instant fix from the AI pronunciation coach, then run the real situation as a mission. The 100-pattern PDF workbook comes along as a bonus.
