Core Grammar Rule: ~마다
The particle ~마다 is attached to nouns to mean "every" or "each," indicating that an action or state repeats at regular intervals or for every instance of that noun.
Meaning & Usage
Meaning: It translates to "every" or "each." It emphasizes the repetitive nature of an event or the individuality of items in a group.
When to use: Use it with nouns related to time (day, week, month, year), recurring events (vacation, class), or groups of people/things (person, place) to show a consistent pattern. For example, 아침마다 means "every morning," and 사람마다 means "each person."
Conjugation Rules
Rule: Simply attach ~마다 directly to the end of a noun. It doesn't matter if the noun ends in a vowel or a consonant.
Noun + 마다
Common Combinations
~마다 is frequently paired with specific nouns to create set phrases that describe routines and frequencies.
Time-based Nouns
Context: This is the most common usage. It's used to describe how often something happens over a period of time. Many of these have synonyms using '매' (每).
Example: 날마다 (every day) is the same as 매일. 해마다 (every year) is the same as 매년. You can also say 10분마다 (every 10 minutes) or 두 시간마다 (every two hours).
Situation-based Nouns
Context: You can also attach ~마다 to nouns that describe a situation or event, often combined with ~ㄹ/을 때 (when). This expresses that something happens every time that situation occurs.
Example: 시험 볼 때마다 긴장돼요. (I get nervous every time I take a test.)
`시간 명사` + 마다 = Routine / `~ㄹ/을 때` + 마다 = Every time
Nuance: ~마다 vs. 매~
Both ~마다 and the prefix 매~ (every) are used to express frequency, but they have different grammatical functions and common pairings.
Interchangeable Cases
For common time units, they are often interchangeable. ~마다 is a particle attached after a noun, while 매~ is a prefix attached before.