Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vox]

Kajang joahaneun eumshik - (my) most favorite food

jeil mashidthneun eumshik - (the) most delicious food

And yet one is an adverb and the other an adjective.

Can a fluent English speaker please explain?

- A very grateful foreigner in Korea

[out of context]

They're both adverbs. Basically, the only real difference when used as an adverb is that 제일 (jeil) comes from Chinese, literally meaning "#1", while 가장 (gajang) is pure Korean. Other than that, they can be used interchangeably as adverbs.

Another difference is that 제일 is also a noun, while 가장 is never a noun. So you can say things like 건강이 제일이다 ("Health is the most important thing"), but never 건강이 가장이다.

[vox]

awesome, thanks!