-듯이

deusi

Grammar · 1 sense

like, as if

Examples

왜 이렇게 싸우듯이 마시나요?

Why are you drinking like you're fighting?

가수는 노래를 부르듯이 말했다.

The singer spoke as if singing.

When you'd hear it

-듯이 appears in both conversation and writing, especially in descriptive narration, commentary, and dramatic dialogue. It can sound more literary or vivid than a plain everyday comparison, but forms such as 싸우듯이 are still natural in speech.

What learners get wrong

Learners often treat -듯이 as interchangeable with -처럼, but -듯이 usually follows a verb or adjective stem to describe an action or manner, while -처럼 commonly follows a noun. It can also frame an imagined manner without claiming that the comparison is literally true.

You looked up -듯이 — Ipsae makes sure you still know it in three weeks.

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