~기 십상이다
It is easy to
Connotes that something happens easily, quickly, or naturally. Grammatically close to ~기 쉽다, but in practice strongly biased toward warnings and negative outcomes.
Use & Meaning
This pattern connotes that the state of affairs in question comes about easily, quickly, or naturally. The textbook citation form is ~기 십상이- (the nominalizer ~기 + the noun 십상 + the copula -이-). The form learners encounter in finished sentences is ~기 십상이다 / ~기 십상이에요.
Etymology note: 십상 originally means “the right thing (for)” as a noun, or “right, exactly, perfectly” as an adverb. 십상 can also stand alone in other sentences with the meaning “made for / perfect for”:
- 하이킹 날씨로는 십상이에요. (This weather is made for hiking.)
- 네게는 그 모자가 십상이다. (That hat was made for you.)
These standalone uses share the same root noun but are not the ~기 십상이다 pattern.
Practical bias toward negative outcomes: Although the pattern is framed neutrally as connoting “ease,” every example in §2.2.4.6 describes a negative consequence — harming health, fish going bad, getting ripped off, being criticized. In real usage, ~기 십상이다 has a strong tendency toward warnings: “if you do X, you’ll easily end up with bad outcome Y.” Korean speakers rarely use it for positive outcomes (행복해지기 십상이에요 sounds off). Treat it as a cautionary frame.
How to attach it:
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Verb stem + ~기 십상이다
- 해치다 → 해치기 십상이다
- 상하다 → 상하기 십상이다
- 바가지 쓰다 → 바가지 쓰기 십상이다
- 욕먹다 → 욕먹기 십상이다 (to be criticized)
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Past tense: the pattern itself stays in present form. Any tense information is carried by the surrounding clauses.
Polite form: ~기 십상이에요 / ~기 십상입니다 / ~기 십상이지요
Compared to ~기 쉽다: ~기 십상이- can often be replaced by ~기 쉽- with little change in meaning. Grammatically the two are close. In practice, ~기 쉽다 is genuinely neutral — it describes ease for positive, neutral, or negative outcomes (이 단어는 외우기 쉬워요 — “this word is easy to memorize”). ~기 십상이다 has the strong warning bias above. The substitution works asymmetrically: ~기 십상이다 → ~기 쉽다 almost always reads naturally; ~기 쉽다 → ~기 십상이다 only reads naturally when the outcome is negative.
Tip: The pattern thrives in safety warnings, parenting advice, health columns, travel guides, and any “be careful, this will backfire” framing. The first clause typically describes the unsafe condition; the second describes the bad outcome. A useful hedge: 자칫 ~기 십상이다 (“easy to slip into X”) and 잘못 ~기 십상이다 (“easy to do X wrong”) are common reinforcements.