Korean Phrases for Buying Secondhand in Korea
중고거래 (junggogeorae), buying and selling used things, is an ordinary part of living in Korea rather than a hobby for bargain hunters — a neighbourhood's worth of desks, air purifiers and rice cookers moves from door to door through an app called 당근마켓 (danggeunmaket), and almost every trade ends the same way: two strangers meeting at an apartment gate for about ninety seconds. The talking happens twice, once in chat and once in person, and two patterns from the SULSUL workbook carry both halves. Pattern 52 — -ㄴ/은/는 것 같아요 — is how you give an opinion without announcing it as a fact: 상태가 괜찮은 것 같아요 (sangtaega gwaenchaneun geot gatayo), "I think the condition is fine." Pattern 43 — -으면/면 — is how you put a condition on the table instead of a demand: 시간 되시면 오늘 저녁에 갈게요 (sigan doesimyeon oneul jeonyeoge galgeyo), "If you have time, I'll come this evening."
- Check it is still up: 이거 아직 판매 중이세요? (igeo ajik panmae jungiseyo?), "Is this still for sale?"
- Propose a time: 시간 되시면 오늘 저녁에 갈게요 (sigan doesimyeon oneul jeonyeoge galgeyo), "If you have time, I'll come this evening."
- Offer a condition: 조금만 깎아 주시면 바로 살게요 (jogeumman kkakka jusimyeon baro salgeyo), "If you take a little off, I'll buy it right away."
- Say what you think of it: 상태가 괜찮은 것 같아요 (sangtaega gwaenchaneun geot gatayo), "I think the condition is fine."
- Raise a flaw gently: 여기 흠집이 있는 것 같아요 (yeogi heumjibi inneun geot gatayo), "It looks like there's a mark here."
What do you write to the seller before you meet?
Nothing about this trade is arranged out loud. You tap a listing, a chat window opens, and the whole meeting — what, where, when, and whether the thing is even still there — is settled in short typed lines before either of you leaves the house. Sellers are answering several people at once, so the message that gets a reply is the one that offers something rather than asks for everything.
You: 이거 아직 판매 중이세요? — igeo ajik panmae jungiseyo? — "Is this still for sale?"
Them: 네, 아직 있어요. — ne, ajik isseoyo. — "Yes, it's still here."
You: 시간 되시면 오늘 저녁에 갈게요. — sigan doesimyeon oneul jeonyeoge galgeyo. — "If you have time, I'll come this evening."
Them: 네, 그럼 아파트 정문에서 봬요. — ne, geureom apateu jeongmuneseo bwaeyo. — "Sure, see you at the main gate then."
Pattern 43 is the shape doing the work there, and the rule is one line: if the stem has a batchim, add -으면; if it does not, or it ends in ㄹ, add -면. 가면 (if I go), 오면 (if you come), 좋으면 (if it's good), 비싸면 (if it's expensive). It covers both "if" and "when" in English, which is why it fits a negotiation so well — 조금만 깎아 주시면 바로 살게요 is not haggling, it is naming the condition under which you stop shopping, and 오늘 안 되면 내일 가도 될까요? (oneul an doemyeon naeil gado doelkkayo?), "If today doesn't work, could I come tomorrow?" keeps a slot open instead of losing it. Put 만약 (manyak) at the front of the sentence when you want the "what if" to land harder.
| Situation | Say this |
|---|---|
| Check it is still up | 이거 아직 판매 중이세요? (igeo ajik panmae jungiseyo?) |
| Propose a time | 시간 되시면 오늘 저녁에 갈게요 (sigan doesimyeon oneul jeonyeoge galgeyo) |
| Offer a condition | 조금만 깎아 주시면 바로 살게요 (jogeumman kkakka jusimyeon baro salgeyo) |
| Say what you think of it | 상태가 괜찮은 것 같아요 (sangtaega gwaenchaneun geot gatayo) |
| Raise a flaw gently | 여기 흠집이 있는 것 같아요 (yeogi heumjibi inneun geot gatayo) |
Practice this out loud with SULSUL — the app says it, you repeat it →
How do you say what you think of the item without sounding blunt?
Then you are standing in front of it, holding someone's old thing while they watch you decide. Korean has a built-in cushion for exactly this, and it is Pattern 52: end the sentence with -ㄴ/은/는 것 같아요 and a verdict becomes an impression. 비싼 것 같아요 is not "this is overpriced," it is "it seems a bit expensive to me" — and the person hearing it can adjust without having been argued with.
You: 직접 보고 결정해도 돼요? — jikjeop bogo gyeoljeonghaedo dwaeyo? — "Can I decide after seeing it in person?"
Them: 그럼요, 보고 결정하세요. — geureomyo, bogo gyeoljeonghaseyo. — "Of course, take a look and decide."
You: 사진보다 상태가 좋은 것 같아요. — sajinboda sangtaega joeun geot gatayo. — "The condition looks better than in the photos."
Them: 거의 안 썼어요. — geoui an sseosseoyo. — "I barely used it."
The endings follow the noun-modifier rules from Pattern 33: adjectives take -ㄴ 것 같아요 with no batchim and -은 것 같아요 with one (괜찮은, 좋은), verbs take -는 것 같아요 in the present and -ㄴ/은 것 같아요 in the past (벌써 판 것 같아요, beolsseo pan geot gatayo, "I think it's already sold"), and anything built on 있다/없다 takes -는 even though it feels like an adjective — 흠집이 있는 것 같아요, never 있은. That last one is the sentence worth practising, because pointing at a scratch is the moment a friendly trade can turn awkward, and the soft form keeps it from doing so. When you want to walk away, 조금 더 생각해 볼게요 (jogeum deo saenggakhae bolgeyo), "I'll think about it a bit more," ends it without anyone losing face, and when you want it, 감사합니다, 잘 쓸게요 (gamsahamnida, jal sseulgeyo), "Thank you, I'll use it well," is what Koreans actually say as they pick the thing up.
What usually goes wrong with a secondhand trade in Korea?
The first thing is the meeting itself. 직거래 (jikgeorae), handing it over face to face, is the default, and it happens at a landmark rather than an address — an apartment's 정문 (jeongmun, main gate), a subway exit, the front of a convenience store. Two strangers standing near each other both holding phones is a normal sight, and the line that sorts it out is genuinely just 당근이세요? (danggeuniseyo?), "Are you the Danggeun person?" Reply 네, 맞아요 (ne, majayo) and the trade starts. If a listing says 예약 (yeyak) someone else is already in line for it; 판매 완료 (panmae wallyo) means it is gone.
The second is money, and the rule is simple: you pay when you are standing in front of the item, not before. A seller who wants a 계좌이체 (gyejwaiche, bank transfer) to hold something they have not shown you is the one pattern worth backing away from, and 직접 보고 결정할게요 (jikjeop bogo gyeoljeonghalgeyo), "I'll decide after seeing it," is a complete and polite refusal. Cash and an on-the-spot transfer are both normal at the gate. Asking about 네고 (nego, from "negotiation") is normal too, though not on something already marked cheap, and the counting that goes with it is in Korean numbers for paying and counting in Korea. For the market-stall version of the same conversation, see how to bargain at Korean markets.
The third is distance. These apps are tied to a verified 동네 (dongne, neighbourhood), so what you see is mostly what is within walking distance of you — which is why 택배거래 (taekbaegeorae), shipping it instead, comes up for anything small, and that hand-off is Korean phrases for parcel delivery in Korea. The other half of the app is 나눔 (nanum), giving something away for nothing, which is how a lot of people furnish a first apartment and how a lot of people empty one — the day that ends in is Korean phrases for moving day in Korea. All of it is typed in the same casual register as Korean phrases for texting on KakaoTalk, and when a reply comes back faster than you can read it, what to say when Korean is too fast buys you the sentence again.
Say it out loud, not just in your head
여기 흠집이 있는 것 같아요 is a sentence you cannot look up mid-sentence — the seller is holding the thing out to you, their car is double-parked, and the whole trade is over in a minute.
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.
