-느라(고) in Korean: “because I was busy doing”

-느라(고) (-neura(go)) means "because I was busy doing" something. You use it to explain that one activity took up your time or energy, so something else didn't happen or turned out badly.

How to form it

How to use it

-느라(고) links an activity to its usually negative result: "I was busy doing A, so I couldn't do B" or "so I'm tired". It is very common in excuses and apologies.

The person doing both parts is the same, and the first part has to be an activity that takes some time. It works only with verbs, never with adjectives.

Never put past tense on -느라(고) itself. The tense goes on the last verb: 보느라고 못 했어요 (I couldn't do it because I was watching).

고 is often dropped in speech, so 느라 and 느라고 mean the same thing. You can use it in casual or polite speech; the ending of the sentence sets the politeness.

Examples

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Don’t mix it up with

-는 바람에: Gives an unexpected cause, often something that just happened (an alarm not going off). -느라(고) gives your own time-consuming activity.

-아서/어서: A general "because" that works with any verb or adjective. -느라(고) adds the feeling of "I was tied up doing this".

Common mistakes

Putting past tense on it: 봤느라고 is wrong. Say 보느라고 and put the past tense at the end.

Using it with an adjective or with two different people: 날씨가 춥느라고 is wrong. Use 추워서.