-아/어 버리다: Korean Completion and Emotion

-아/어 버리다 says that an action is completed, often with attitude attached. That attitude might be regret, frustration, relief, surprise, or decisiveness.

잊어버렸어요. → I forgot it.
다 먹어 버렸어요. → I ate it all up.
가 버렸어요. → They left / went away.

Chamelingo has a dedicated -아/어 버리다 reference.

Formation

Attach -아/어 버리다 to a verb stem using the usual 아/어 pattern.

먹다 → 먹어 버리다
가다 → 가 버리다
하다 → 해 버리다
잊다 → 잊어버리다

Then conjugate 버리다 for tense and politeness:

먹어 버려요. → eat it all / finish it
먹어 버렸어요. → ate it all / ended up eating it

Completion is the core meaning

Compare:

숙제를 했어요. → I did the homework.
숙제를 해 버렸어요. → I finished/got the homework done, with an added sense of completion.

The second sentence does more than report an event. It frames the action as done and over with.

Emotional nuance

Regret or frustration

지갑을 잃어버렸어요. → I lost my wallet.
약속을 잊어버렸어요. → I forgot the appointment.

Relief or decisiveness

일을 다 끝내 버렸어요. → I finished all the work.
그냥 말해 버렸어요. → I just went ahead and said it.

The grammar itself does not force one emotion. The verb, situation, and tone supply it.

Why learners overtranslate it

If you translate 버리다 literally every time, Korean becomes strange. In this auxiliary use, the best English translation might be “completely,” “all up,” “went ahead and,” “ended up,” or nothing explicit at all.

Focus on the speaker’s view of the action as completed and no longer reversible.

Common mistake

Do not add -아/어 버리다 to every completed past action. Plain past tense already expresses that something happened.

Use this pattern when the completion itself or the speaker’s reaction matters.

Review the past-tense reference for the neutral form.

Mini practice

What nuance do you hear?

케이크를 다 먹어 버렸어요. → The cake got completely eaten / I ate it all.
이름을 잊어버렸어요. → I forgot the name.
그냥 사 버렸어요. → I just went ahead and bought it.
친구가 가 버렸어요. → My friend left/went away.

Continue learning

Once you notice the emotional layer, this form stops looking like a random extra verb and starts sounding like real spoken Korean.

Frequently asked questions

What does -아/어 버리다 mean?

It marks an action as completed or done away with and often adds the speaker’s emotional attitude, such as regret, relief, frustration, or decisiveness.

Is 버리다 always translated as throw away?

No. As an auxiliary grammar pattern after -아/어, it often expresses completion rather than literal throwing away.

What does 잊어버렸어요 mean?

It means I forgot, often with a sense that the forgetting happened completely or unfortunately.

Is -아/어 버리다 always negative?

No. It can express relief or decisive completion as well as regret or frustration. Context and tone determine the feeling.

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