준비나하세요

[Pavel Bond]

준비나 하세요

I understand that it means "Get ready", but what is the meaning of 나?

 

[Yeji Kim]

"Get ready" means 준비 해라/ 준비하세요.
"Get ready without doing something else or saying useless things." means 준비나 하세요.

 

[zhoumoro]

There are lots of grammar principles of -나.
Could you tell us which usage is it in this case?

"Get ready" means 준비 해라/ 준비하세요.
"Get ready without doing something else or saying useless things." means 준비나 하세요.

 

[Pavel Bond]

Thank you!

 

[Avant Gardener]

There are lots of grammar principles of -나.
Could you tell us which usage is it in this case?

I'm not a native speaker, but I will try to answer your question. If I make a misstep here I hope others will correct me, but here is my sense.

(이)나 has a couple affective qualities depending on how it is being used. When used in a suggesting sentence, it tends to sound friendly or casual (e.g. '맥주나 한잔 할까' - here the addition of -나 doesn't just mean 'or something,' it also has the effect of softening the tone of the sentence).

When used in a command sentence, (이)나 has the opposite effect, and tends to add a sense of anger or pique. Frequently this usage emphasizes that the listener should do the suggested action in contrast to whatever they are doing now. We see this in idiomatic phrases such as '너나 잘해' (meaning mind your own business, more awkwardly translatable in a literal sense as do you, not me). Note that in these cases (이)나 does not literally mean 'or' in the English sense but more communicates frustration or impatience.

This phrasing can be interpreted as rude (when used in combination with insulting or aggressive language it can even carry the nuance of "Shut up and...") and it should be used with caution. That being said, it's a very common grammar pattern in Korean.

 

[ezfeel]

I'm not a native speaker, but I will try to answer your question. If I make a misstep here I hope others will correct me, but here is my sense.

(이)나 has a couple affective qualities depending on how it is being used. When used in a suggesting sentence, it tends to sound friendly or casual (e.g. '맥주나 한잔 할까' - here the addition of -나 doesn't just mean 'or something,' it also has the effect of softening the tone of the sentence).

When used in a command sentence, (이)나 has the opposite effect, and tends to add a sense of anger or pique. Frequently this usage emphasizes that the listener should do the suggested action in contrast to whatever they are doing now. We see this in idiomatic phrases such as '너나 잘해' (meaning mind your own business, more awkwardly translatable in a literal sense as do you, not me). Note that in these cases (이)나 does not literally mean 'or' in the English sense but more communicates frustration or impatience.

This phrasing can be interpreted as rude (when used in combination with insulting or aggressive language it can even carry the nuance of "Shut up and...") and it should be used with caution. That being said, it's a very common grammar pattern in Korean.

Avant Gardener, you nailed it
You seem to have a even deeper understanding on Korean than native korean speakers.
'준비(나) 하세요' sounds rude because of '나' implying that you should just get ready without doing any shitty things'.

 

[Pavel Bond]

Thanks to all, very helpful.