Folk Songs & Old Tales: 을랑, -거들랑, -으려도
Read Korea's folk register through Arirang and old tales.
Published:
Written by Alvin Lim Certified Korean Language Teacher (Level 2)
Korea’s folk voice — the voice of 아리랑 and the old tales children grow up on — runs on a handful of colloquial forms you will not find in a science paper. 을랑 is an old topic-or-object marker (걱정을랑 마세요 — as for worries, don’t), -거들랑 is a folksy ‘if/when you do’ (오거들랑 연락하오 — when you come, get in touch), and -으려도 means ‘even trying to’ (가려도 못 간다 — even trying to go, I can’t). These are recognition forms: you read them in songs and 전래동화 and feel their warm, oral, slightly old-fashioned color.
This is the storytelling register, the sound of grandmother’s voice and the village square.
After the formal speech levels of the last two lessons — the 하오체 in fiction — we drop into something looser and older: the rhythm of folk song and fireside tale. Start with the words that fill this world.
Ten words from songs and tales
As for X: 을랑 / 일랑
을랑 (after a consonant) and 일랑 (after a vowel) are an old, colloquial particle marking a topic or object — close to 은/는 (‘as for’) and 을/를 (object marker), but with a folk-song ring. You recognize it; you do not need to use it.
걱정을랑 마세요 = as for worries, don’t (worry) (modern: 걱정은 하지 마세요) 나를랑 잊어 주오 = as for me, please forget me (modern: 나는 잊어 줘요) 슬픔일랑 강물에 띄워 보내라 = as for sorrow, set it adrift on the river 지난 일일랑 묻지 마라 = as for the past, do not ask
The flavor is a gentle, emphatic “as for X — leave it / let it be.” It carries the cadence of song, which is why it survives in lyrics and old tales long after everyday speech moved to plain 은/는.
If/when you do: -거들랑
-거들랑 is a folksy conditional meaning ‘if/when (you) do X’ — the storytelling sibling of -거든 and -으면. It is at home in 전래동화 dialogue and proverbs.
떡 하나 주거들랑 안 잡아먹지 = if you give me one rice cake, I won’t eat you (modern: 주거든 / 주면) 봄이 오거들랑 다시 만나세 = when spring comes, let us meet again 그가 묻거들랑 모른다고 하게 = if he asks, say you don’t know 배가 고프거들랑 이걸 먹어라 = if you are hungry, eat this
Map -거들랑 onto modern -거든 or -으면 and the meaning is plain: ‘when/if you do.’ The -들랑 tail simply tells you the text is leaning into a traditional, oral voice — exactly the texture of an old tale.
Even trying to: -으려도
-으려도 is short for -으려고 (해)도, ‘even if one tries to.’ It frames an intention that hits a wall — the engine of every song about parting.
가려도 못 가는 길 = a road I cannot take even if I try to go (= 가려고 해도) 잊으려도 잊을 수 없다 = even trying to forget, I cannot 참으려도 눈물이 난다 = even trying to hold it in, the tears come 자려도 잠이 안 온다 = even trying to sleep, sleep won’t come
The mood is always “I want to, but I cannot.” That thwarted longing is the heart of folk song — which is why -으려도, and its close relative 가려야 갈 수 없다, ring through Arirang and its many regional cousins.
Arirang: the most famous folk song
Here are the best-known lines of the standard Arirang — public-domain, sung for generations. Read the refrain as music, and the verse for its ache of parting:
아리랑 아리랑 아라리요 아리랑 고개로 넘어간다 나를 버리고 가시는 임은 십리도 못 가서 발병 난다
Arirang, Arirang, arariyo (refrain) — Over the Arirang hill (you) go. The love who leaves and abandons me — won’t get even ten li before their feet ache.
The first two lines are the refrain — euphonic, carried for feeling more than literal sense. The last two are the verse: 가시는 임 (‘the beloved who goes’) and 발병 난다 (‘feet will ache’) deliver the song’s mix of longing and gentle reproach.
Notice the 하오체-flavored 가시는 (with honorific -시-) — even folk song reaches for dignity when it speaks of a lost love.
An old tale, told aloud
전래동화 (Korean folk tales) open with a fixed formula and lean on the folksy forms above. Here is a retold tiger-and-rice-cake opening — a paraphrase of the well-known tale type, not a quotation — so you can hear the register:
Hear how 주거들랑 and 오거들랑 set up folksy conditions, 도망가려도 frames the thwarted escape, and 걱정을랑 marks the topic with that old, soothing lilt. Read together, these forms are a genre signal: you are in the world of song and tale, and you read it not by translating word for word but by feeling its warm, traditional voice.
⚡ 2-Minute Check
Q 1 / 8Frequently asked questions
Is 을랑 still used in modern Korean, or only in folk songs?
을랑 (and its vowel-stem partner 일랑, plus the longer 을랑은/일랑은) is essentially archaic and folksy today. It is an old topic-or-object particle that overlaps with 은/는 ('as for') and 을/를 (object): 걱정을랑 마세요 = as for worries, don't (worry); 나를랑 잊어 주오 = as for me, please forget me.
You will meet it mostly in Arirang and other 민요, in old tales, and in deliberately old-fashioned or poetic writing. In ordinary modern speech people simply say 걱정은 하지 마세요 or 걱정하지 마세요.
So treat 을랑 as a recognition item: when it appears, read it as a slightly emphatic 'as for X,' and enjoy the folk-song color it carries.
How is -거들랑 different from plain -거든?
Meaning-wise they are very close: both set up a condition, 'if/when (you) do X. ' 오거든 연락해 and 오거들랑 연락해 both mean 'contact me when you come.
' The difference is register and era. -거든 is normal, current Korean — you can say it today without sounding odd.
-거들랑 adds a folksy, old, storytelling tail (-들랑), so it lives mostly in 전래동화 dialogue, proverbs, and song. A classic tiger-and-rice-cake tale line, 떡 하나 주거들랑 안 잡아먹지 ('if you give me a rice cake, I won't eat you'), shows the flavor perfectly.
Read -거들랑 as 'if/when you do,' and let the tail tell you the text is leaning into a traditional, oral voice.
What exactly does -으려도 mean, and how does it relate to -으려고?
-으려도 is a contraction of -으려고 (해)도, 'even if one tries to. ' It frames an intention that runs into a wall: 가려도 못 간다 = even trying to go, I can't; 잊으려도 잊을 수 없다 = even trying to forget, I cannot.
The base form -으려고 means 'intending to / in order to,' and adding 도 ('even') turns it into a thwarted attempt. In folk songs of parting and longing this form is everywhere, because the whole mood is 'I want to, but I cannot.
' Modern speakers more often say the full 가려고 해도 or 가려야 갈 수 없다, but the compressed -으려도 is exactly the kind of lyrical shorthand that gives folk lyrics their ache. Recognize it as 'even trying to —' and the line opens up.