할듯 말듯

I

idialegre

Senior Member
Hamburg, Germany
USA English
Hi Everybody. In the novel 레몬 by 권여선, a young man is being interrogated by a detective. This sentence appears:

소년은 윗입술을 실룩거리며 무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다.

I think I understand the basic idea of the sentence: The young man's upper lip twitched, and he stuttered (mumbled? half-spoke?), asking what the detective meant.

But I would appreciate it if someone could tell me more precisely exactly what it means.

Thanks for any help!
 
    • idialegre said:
    소년은 윗입술을 실룩거리며 무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다.

    I think I understand the basic idea of the sentence: The young man's upper lip twitched, and he stuttered (mumbled? half-spoke?), asking what the detective meant.

    But I would appreciate it if someone could tell me more precisely exactly what it means.
    Click to expand...

    The "윗입술을 실룩거리며" means roughly "the upper lip twitched, and at the same time".
    The "무슨 말인가를 할 듯 말 듯 했다." means roughly "he looked as if he was about to say something but stopped".
     
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    idialegre said:
    Hi Everybody. In the novel 레몬 by 권여선, a young man is being interrogated by a detective. This sentence appears:

    소년은 윗입술을 실룩거리며 무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다.

    I think I understand the basic idea of the sentence: The young man's upper lip twitched, and he stuttered (mumbled? half-spoke?), asking what the detective meant.

    But I would appreciate it if someone could tell me more precisely exactly what it means.

    Thanks for any help!
    Click to expand...
    Does the words 'stutter, mumble, half-spoke' make some sort of muffled sound while trying to say something, right?
    The expression '무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다' gives me an impression/image that the boy was torn between saying something or staying quiet. So he didn't even make a sound while thinking about these two options. Also, I don't think the sentence implies 'he asked what the detective meant' within the context. More precise ones would be as follows.

    소년은 윗입술을 실룩거리며 무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다.
    His upper lip twitched as he seemed to try to say something.
    He appeared to be trying to say something as his upper lip twitched
    He twitched his upper lip as if trying to say something.

    I hope this helps!
     
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    To be a little analytic, '듯' corresponds to 'just like' or 'seem to be', '할' is a conjugation of '하다' as '말' is '말다'.
    Similaly, they say '갈듯 말듯', '먹을듯 말듯', '잘듯 말듯', '될듯 말듯'.
    Another example can be '무슨 말인지 알듯 말듯 한가요?'
     
    Thank you, Tomato. How would you translate '무슨 말인지 알듯 말듯 한가요?'
    I would think it means, "Do you or don't you know what was said?", but I'm not sure.
     
    ~듯 ...듯 can be understood in the way 'getting so close to a certain state,' I can tell.
    Think of it as you wanted to say like "Oh, it's on the tip of my tongue, but I'm not sure what to tell/do!" in your mind.
    It's similar to the situations that make you feel torn between A and B like the one I explained above.

    The literal translations would be as follows, but they could be understood accordingly by the context given.
    알듯 말듯: getting so close to a state of knowing(figuring out) something or not
    갈듯 말듯: getting so close to a state of going somewhere or not
    먹을듯 말듯: getting so close to a state of eating something or not
    잘듯 말듯: getting so close to a state of falling asleep or not
    될듯 말듯: getting so close to a state of becoming something or not

    무슨 말인지 알듯 말듯 한가요? would be like "Are you like 'Oh, now I got it clearly' or 'Umm... what?'"
    그는 약속한 장소로 갈듯 말듯 했다 would be like "He was torn whether going to the meeting place or not."
    그녀는 점심을 먹을듯 말듯 하다 would be like "She is about to have her lunch or maybe not just yet."
    아기가 침대에서 잘듯 말듯 하다 would be like "The baby appears to be trying to sleep in the bed"
    내 생각엔 배고프게 될듯 말듯 한데 would be like "I think I'm getting hungry or maybe not just yet"
     
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    Thank you all for the very clear explanations. I'm wondering, though, if there is an appreciable difference between 무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다 and, for example, 뭔가를 할듯 말듯 했다.
     
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    he is hesitating to say something. that's why his upper lip twitched. 무슨 말인가 할듯 말듯, 뭔가를 할 듯 말 듯 : hesitating to say something/ hesitating to do something. 할듯 말듯 is more literature expression. hesitate 주저하다 is to explain an action.
     
    idialegre said:
    I'm wondering, though, if there is an appreciable difference between 무슨 말인가를 할듯 말듯 했다 and, for example, 뭔가를 할듯 말듯 했다.
    Click to expand...
    No, they have similar meanings.
    The "무슨 말인가" means "something I'm not sure about".
    The "무슨 말" in "무슨 말인가" means "something".
    The "인가" in "무슨 말인가" means "I'm not sure about".
     
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