Folk Songs & Old Tales: 을랑, -거들랑, -으려도
Read Korea's folk register through Arirang and old tales. 을랑 is an old topic-or-object marker (걱정을랑 마세요 — as for worries, don't), -거들랑 is a colloquial 'if/when you do' (오거들랑 — when you come), and -으려도 means 'even trying to' (가려도 못 간다 — even trying to go, can't), all flavored with the oral, storytelling voice of 민요 and 전래동화.
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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.
FAQ
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.
Next: advanced idioms II — -기 짝이 없다, -어 치우다, 이라고는. Previous: 하오체 in fiction — -으오, -소, -구려. Full path: curriculum hub.