사과하기는커녕 얼굴도 안 보여줘 — Far from apologizing, he won't even show his face

Word by word

The line, explained

Everyone has used a two-step complaint: he didn't do the big thing, and he didn't even do the small thing. English needs 'far from' and 'let alone' to pull it off. Korean does it with one tidy particle, -는커녕, and today's line is the kind of sentence you hear in every friendship scene where someone is being talked out of forgiving a man who does not deserve it. Learn the shape and you will start hearing it constantly.

사과하기는커녕 begins with 사과하다, 'to apologize', which, for the record, is the same 사과 as the word for apple, a coincidence Koreans joke about by handing over actual apples. To hang -는커녕 on a verb you first turn it into a noun with -기: 사과하기, 'apologizing'. Then -는커녕 means 'far from, to say nothing of'. In fast speech this contracts to 사과하긴커녕. The ㅋ in 커녕 is aspirated; listeners will notice if you soften it.

얼굴도 is 얼굴, 'face', with 도, 'even, also'. 도 is almost compulsory in the second half of a -는커녕 sentence, because that half names the bare minimum that also did not happen. 안 보여줘 is the short negative 안 plus 보여주다, 'to show', built from 보이다 (to be seen) and 주다 (to give): to make something visible for someone. 얼굴을 보여주다 is a set phrase meaning to show up, to make an appearance, so 얼굴도 안 보여줘 means 'he won't even show up'.

The logic of -는커녕 is a staircase going down. Step one is what you reasonably expected: an apology. Step two is something far smaller: just appearing. The construction says he failed at step two, which makes step one laughable. This is why it only works for disappointment. 합격하기는커녕 일등을 했어 (far from passing, I came first) is grammatical nonsense; the particle needs a letdown. For the positive version Koreans would say 합격은 물론 일등까지 했어.

Change the first verb and the drama rewrites itself. 전화하기는커녕 (far from calling), 설명하기는커녕 (far from explaining), 인사하기는커녕 (far from so much as greeting me). The second half, 얼굴도 안 보여줘, stays as the floor he cannot reach. Pair this with a sigh and a stirred iced americano and you have a complete scene. When you next hear a character say -는커녕 in a drama, pause and find the two steps; the subtitle usually flattens them into one.

Grammar · -기는커녕

“far from…, (not) even…” — the double disappointment

-는커녕 attaches to a noun (밥은커녕), or to a verb through the nominaliser -기 (사과하기는커녕). It means 'far from X, let alone X', and the second clause states something even more basic that also fails to happen, almost always with 도 (even) and a negative: 사과하기는커녕 연락도 없어 (far from apologizing, there's not even a message). Spoken Korean often shortens -기는커녕 to -긴커녕. The whole construction is a complaint; you cannot use it for a happy surprise. Note it is 커녕 with ㅋ, not 거녕.

쉬기는커녕 밤새 일했어.Far from resting, I worked all night.
고맙다는 말은커녕 인사도 안 해.Let alone a thank-you, he doesn't even say hello.
돈을 벌기는커녕 다 잃었어.Far from making money, I lost it all.

Why it hits

In Korean dramas the fight happens off-screen; what we see is the heroine venting across a café table, and this is the grammar she uses. 얼굴도 안 보여줘, 'he won't even show his face', is a real idiom for someone avoiding you, so the line stacks a real complaint on top of an imagined one.

Practice

Make it yours

Swap one word and the line becomes your own.

사과하기는커녕 얼굴도 안 보여줘

Far from apologizing, he won't even show his face

Quick check

Which sentence uses -는커녕 correctly?