Can I get an explanation of the patterns or idioms in 비가 올까 봐 걱정이다.?
"비가 올까 봐 걱정이다." means "I'm afraid it will rain." How does the "—ㄹ까" work on 오다 here, isn't it normally a question-asking suffix, whereas this is a statement? And I don't understand the "봐" at all. Is it actually the stem of 보다 followed by 아 걱정이다, and if so, what does that pattern mean?

Thanks for any help!
Cheers,
John.

Question

Can I get an explanation of the patterns or idioms in 비가 올까 봐 걱정이다.?
"비가 올까 봐 걱정이다." means "I'm afraid it will rain."  How does the "—ㄹ까" work on 오다 here, isn't it normally a question-asking suffix, whereas this is a statement?  And I don't understand the "봐" at all.   Is it actually the stem of 보다 followed by 아 걱정이다, and if so, what does that pattern mean?

Thanks for any help!
Cheers,
John.

Answer

Questions endings like -ㄹ까, -나, -ㄴ/는가 can also create a questioning phrase in the middle of a sentence. 
e.g. 너랑 나랑 누가 잘하나/잘하는가 보자 = 누가 잘하는지 보자 = Let's see who does better between us.

-ㄹ까 봐 (from -ㄹ까 보다) is an idiom "for fear that ...", "lest (it/I/they) should ...", or "in case ...".  The '-ㄹ' form of a verb creates the sense of a possibility or future, so it fits this type of a feared situation very well. You might think of it as:  seeing/foreseeing (봐) that it might (-ㄹ까) rain (비가 오다).

Examples:
- 주위 사람에게 방해될까 봐 밖에 나와서 전화했다 = I got out to make a call in case I might bother other people. 
- 큰 시험이 있는 내일 늦잠 잘까 봐 일찍 잘 거다 = I'll go to bed early in case I get up late for tomorrow's big test.

Answers · 1

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