Learn Korean: 잘못 + Verb

Let's take a look at the Korean sentence pattern 잘못 + Verb. The word 잘못 means mistake, fault or error. We place it before a verb to express that an action is done wrongly or mistakenly.

For example, someone called this morning to ask about a job posting she saw online. I don't own a company so I told her that she dialed the wrong number. It was a mistake. The main verb is 걸다 (to call or dial). Its past tense form is 걸었다. 잘못 comes before it. The actual sentence is 잘못 걸었어요.

Here’s another example. I was at the coffee shop when a guy introduced himself as Jaehee Kim. I was confused because I wasn’t meeting anyone. He apologized for being late. Perhaps, he was on a blind date or something. I told him You are mistaken. I am not the person you are looking for. He saw the wrong person and that was the mistake. The main verb is 사람을 보다 (to see a person). Its past tense form is 봤다. The actual sentence is 사람 잘못 봤어요.

주소를 잘못 썼네.

You wrote down the wrong address.

잘못 들었어요.

I heard it incorrectly.

잘못했어요.

I was wrong. What I did was wrong.