Korean grammar patterns › Level 5
-아/어서야
only when/after …; (with a question) how could … if …
Level 5 · TOPIK II · advanced
How to use it
1) Clause 2 happens only at that late point (= not until). 2) With a rhetorical question or -겠어요, it criticizes: 'if you do it like this, how could …?'.
Forming it
| 넘다 | → 넘어서야 |
| 오다 | → 와서야 |
| 하다 | → 해서야 |
| 듣다 | → 들어서야 |
No -았/었- before -아/어서야.
Examples
밤 열두 시가 넘어서야 집에 들어왔어요.
I didn't get home until after midnight.
이렇게 늦게 와서야 어떻게 일을 끝내겠어요?
If you come this late, how can you finish the work?
Compared with similar patterns
-고서야 is for actions only; -아/어서야 also works with time, adjectives and states. -아/어야 is a condition ('only if'), not a time point that already happened.