(으)려고 meaning — the Korean ending for what you were trying to do (34 real examples)

(으)려고 marks intention, and it is one of the few Korean endings that is easier than its English translation.

"In order to", "trying to", "planning to", "about to" — English needs a different phrase for each shade. Korean uses one ending and lets the sentence around it do the rest.

What makes it worth a page is the version that ends the sentence: 려고요. Dropped at the end with nothing after it, it announces a plan without stating it outright, and it is one of the softest things you can say in Korean. 저희 좀 천천히 먹으려고요 is "we were thinking of eating slowly" — a decision presented as a leaning.

That softness is completely invisible in translation, which usually renders it as a flat "we are going to".

Every example below came from clips we transcribed for our shadowing library.

려고 or 으려고 — and the 으 that vanishes in speech

The 으 appears only after a consonant, purely to join the sounds: 먹으려고 but 하려고.

What the rule does not tell you is that in fast speech the 으 is barely there. 먹으려고 comes out closer to 머그려고, and if you are listening for a clean 으 you will not find one.

There is a second and larger simplification: many speakers say 을려고 or drop to 을라고 in casual talk. It is not standard, it is extremely common, and pretending otherwise leaves you unable to parse half of what you hear.

The entries below keep whatever the speaker actually said. Where a form looks wrong against the textbook, that is the point — it is what came out of a real mouth.

려고요 at the end of a sentence

This is the form worth memorising as a unit rather than deriving.

Grammatically the sentence is unfinished. 려고 sets up an intention and expects a main clause — "in order to X, I did Y" — and then the Y never arrives. The speaker stops.

That truncation is doing the politeness work. By not stating the main clause, you avoid asserting anything, and what would be a plan becomes an inclination.

Compare: 천천히 먹을 거예요 states a fact about the future. 천천히 먹으려고요 says you are leaning that way and leaves room for the other person to have an opinion.

Korean does this often — deliberate incompleteness as politeness. 는데요 works the same way, and so does trailing off after 아서. Once you notice the pattern you will hear unfinished sentences everywhere, and they are not people losing their thread.

Stating an intention — casual

The base use: what someone was aiming at, followed by what they did about it.

Read these for the main clause as much as the ending. The intention is the setup; the sentence usually has a payoff after it that is the part actually being reported.

Notice how often the aim and the outcome do not match. That gap is exactly what this ending is for.

• 진짜 살려고 발버둥 친 거면 (sallyeogo) — If you were really fighting for your life just now.
• 어쨌든 시민이 우승을 하려고 (haryeogo) — in order for the civilians to win.
• 퀴즈를 곁들여 보려고 합니다 (boryeogo) — We are going to have a quiz with it.
• 저는 조금 독해지려고 하는데 (dokaejiryeogo) — I'm trying to be tough. Literally: 독해지려고 is said 도캐지려고.
• 선배로서 약간 제대로 보려고 (boryeogo) — I wanted to watch over her properly, as a senior.
• 필요한 거만 꺼내려고 했는데 (kkeonaeryeogo) — to grab something I needed.
• 제가 대신 돌려주려고 찾는데 (dollyeojuryeogo) — So I was thinking of washing it again.
• 이렇게 던지려고 하는 거야 (deonjiryeogo) — He was trying to throw it like this.
• 그래서 한 바퀴 이렇게 돌려고 (dollyeogo) — So, I'll take a lap here.
• 그 무슨 말 하려고 그랬는데. (haryeogo) — I was going to say something.
• 예 오늘 딱 하려고 했는데 (haryeogo) — Yes, I was going to start today.
• 근데 제가 타려고 서있는데 (taryeogo) — I was waiting in line to get on.

Asking about an intention — casual

Asking what someone was trying to do, which is a softer question than asking what they did.

It grants that there was a plan, and invites the other person to explain it rather than to justify a result.

These are useful frames for conversation, because they let you ask about something that visibly went wrong without pointing at the wrongness.

• 너 선크림 나중에 바르려고? (bareuryeogo) — Are you going to apply sunscreen later on?
• 왜 안 들어오려고 하는 거야? (deureooryeogo) — Why doesn't he want to come in? Literally: 들어오려고 is said 드러오려고.
• 어떤 이야기 하려고 나왔는데? (haryeogo) — What were you going to talk about?
• 바닥에 붙이려고 산 거 뭐야? (buchiryeogo) — so... what was that thing you bought to stick on the floor? Literally: 붙이려고 is said 부치려고.
• 경찰을 매수하려고 하신 거예요? (maesuharyeogo) — You tried to bribe the policeman?
• 야동 찾으려고 그러죠? (chajeuryeogo) — You're trying to find porn, aren't you? Literally: 찾으려고 is said 차즈려고.
• 고기 가져가려고 그러는 거 아냐? (gajeogaryeogo) — You're just trying to take the meat! Literally: 가져가려고 is said 가저가려고.
• 원래 레드볼 하려고 했어 승관이는? (haryeogo) — SEUNGKWAN, were you going to pick the red ball?
• 형도 뭘로 바꾸려고 하지 않았어요? (bakkuryeogo) — Did you change name into something?
• '너 나중에 뭐가 되려고 그러니?!' (doeryeogo) — You'll be nothing in the future if you keep this up!
• 제가 이걸 챙겨온 거잖아요? 꼬시려고? (kkosiryeogo) — I brought these to look attractive on a blind date?

Announcing a plan politely — 려고요

The sentence-final form, and the reason this ending is worth a page of its own.

Grammatically these sentences stop early — the main clause never arrives — and that deliberate incompleteness is what makes them polite.

These are the entries to memorise whole. They are immediately usable and they make an ordinary statement sound considerate without adding a single word of hedging.

• 저희 좀 천천히 먹으려고요. (meogeuryeogoyo) — We're going to eat slowly. Literally: 먹으려고요 is said 머그려고요.
• 2층 갔다가 점점 올라오려고요 (ollaoryeogoyo) — I'm going to start on the second floor then make my way up.
• 그다음에 밥 먹으러 나가려고요 (nagaryeogoyo) — and then head out to eat.
• 아 가방을 좀 볼려고요. (bollyeogoyo) — Oh, I just want to see your bag.
• 나는 대회 에 나가려고요 (nagaryeogoyo) — I'm actually going to enter a tournament.
• 없던 일로 하려고...요 (haryeogoyo) — Never happened...
• 맥주 한 잔 하려고요 (haryeogoyo) — I'll have some beer.
• 저도 사직서 내려고요 (naeryeogoyo) — I’m planning to hand in my resignation as well.
• 불고기를 먹으려고요 (meogeuryeogoyo) — I'm gonna eat some bulgogi. Literally: 먹으려고요 is said 머그려고요.
• 매력 어필 하려고요 (haryeogoyo) — To look appealing.
• 저는 저런 추리로 한번 들어가 보려고요 (boryeogoyo) — I'm going with that deduction.

Intention, not future

The common mistake is treating this as a future tense. It is not, and the difference shows up as soon as the plan fails.

살려고 발버둥 쳤어 is "he struggled in order to live" — and the sentence says nothing about whether he did. The intention is the subject; the outcome is elsewhere.

That is why so many of the entries below sit next to verbs of effort and failure. An intention is most worth mentioning when it is not simply an event: you tried, you were about to, you meant to.

(으)ㄹ 거예요 is the actual future. If the speaker is stating what will happen rather than what they are aiming at, that is the form you want.

The subject rule that catches people out

The intention has to belong to whoever performs the main clause. Korean will not let you use this ending to explain someone else's purpose for your action.

동생이 먹으려고 제가 요리했어요 — "I cooked in order for my brother to eat" — does not work. The one intending and the one acting have to be the same person.

For that meaning Korean uses 도록 or restructures the sentence entirely.

This is a rule you will almost never break by accident while listening, and will break constantly while speaking, because English has no such constraint. "I did it so you could rest" is an ordinary English sentence and its direct translation is not an ordinary Korean one.

The entries below are all single-subject for that reason, which is worth noticing as a pattern rather than reading past.

Where it sits against 러 and 려면

Two neighbours are close enough to confuse, and separating them once is worth the minute.

(으)러 also means "in order to", but it only attaches to verbs of going and coming. 밥 먹으러 가 — "going to eat". If the main verb is not 가다, 오다, or a relative of theirs, this is not the form.

(으)려면 is the conditional version: "if you intend to". 잘하려면 연습해야 해 — "if you want to do well, you have to practise". It is this ending plus 면, and it means exactly what that sum suggests.

(으)려고 is the general one. It takes any verb and states an aim, and it is the only one of the three that can end a sentence on its own.

The distinction that actually costs learners points is 러 versus 려고, because the meanings overlap almost completely and only the main verb decides which is legal.

How to practise this one

Start with the 려고요 entries and say them as answers. Someone asks what you are doing; you reply with a leaning rather than a plan. That is the register this form lives in, and it transfers to almost any verb.

Then take the longer sentences and locate the main clause — the part that actually happened. The ending tells you what was being aimed at; the clause after it tells you what was done. Learners routinely stop at the first half and miss the second.

For listening, the thing to catch is that the sentence may simply end. If a line finishes on 려고요 with a falling tone and no main clause, nothing was cut off — that was the whole utterance, and the incompleteness was intentional.

FAQ

What does (으)려고 mean? It marks intention — what someone was trying, planning, or about to do. English splits this across "in order to", "trying to", and "about to"; Korean uses one ending.

What does 려고요 mean at the end of a sentence? It announces a plan softly. The sentence is deliberately left unfinished, which turns a statement of fact into a leaning — one of the gentlest ways to say what you intend to do.

Is (으)려고 the future tense? No. It marks what was aimed at, not what will happen — which is why it often appears with efforts that failed. For the plain future Korean uses (으)ㄹ 거예요.

Why do I hear 을라고 instead? It is a very common casual simplification. Not standard, but frequent enough that you need to recognise it or you will miss a large share of real uses.

Where did these examples come from? From Korean idol and variety clips we transcribed for our shadowing library, kept in whatever form the speaker actually used.