Korean -(으)ㄴ/는 김에: "While I'm At It" in Your Diary

You went downtown to return a package, and while you were there you also bought groceries. You were cleaning the kitchen, so you wiped the windows too. English says "while I'm at it" or "since I was already there." Korean has a handy ending for exactly this, -(으)ㄴ/는 김에, and it gives diary sentences a relaxed, practical tone.

How to form it

Attach it to a verb stem. The ending changes with the tense of the first action.

Form	Used when	Example
-는 김에	The first action is happening or about to happen	청소하는 김에 창문도 닦았다. — While cleaning, I wiped the windows too.
-(으)ㄴ 김에	The first action has already happened	시내에 나간 김에 쇼핑도 했다. — Since I had gone downtown, I did some shopping too.

For -(으)ㄴ 김에, use -ㄴ after a vowel and -은 after a consonant.

Verb	-는 김에	-(으)ㄴ 김에
가다 (go)	가는 김에	간 김에
먹다 (eat)	먹는 김에	먹은 김에
하다 (do)	하는 김에	한 김에
만들다 (make)	만드는 김에	만든 김에

Verbs ending in ㄹ, like 만들다, drop the ㄹ before both endings: 만드는 김에, 만든 김에.

What it means: using one occasion for a second thing

-(으)ㄴ/는 김에 links two actions. You were doing (or had done) the first one, and that gave you the chance to do a second one as well. The pattern is "A-(으)ㄴ/는 김에 B": B is the extra thing you did while taking advantage of A.

• 시내에 나간 김에 책도 샀다. — Since I was downtown, I bought a book too.
• 청소하는 김에 창문도 닦았다. — While I was cleaning, I wiped the windows too.
• 친구와 여행 얘기를 하다가 말이 나온 김에 바로 날짜를 정했다. — We were talking about a trip, and since it came up, we set the date right away.
• 라면을 끓이는 김에 계란도 하나 삶았다. — While making ramen, I boiled an egg too.

The second action is usually something you didn't plan in advance, and it often comes with 도 ("too, also"). 말이 나온 김에 is a set phrase meaning "since the subject came up."

-는 김에 vs -(으)ㄴ 김에

The difference is the state of the first action.

• -는 김에: you are in the middle of A, or about to do it. The extra action is something you do alongside it. It is also natural when you offer or ask for something: 슈퍼에 가는 김에 우유도 사 올게요. — Since I'm going to the supermarket, I'll pick up some milk too.
• -(으)ㄴ 김에: A is already done, and now that you are there (or have finished), you do B. 시내에 나간 김에 쇼핑도 했다. — Since I had gone downtown, I did some shopping too.

In a past-tense diary, both can describe the same day, because the tense of the whole sentence is shown by the last verb (했다, 샀다). Choose -는 김에 when you want to stress "while doing A," and -(으)ㄴ 김에 when you want to stress "now that A was done."

-는 김에 vs -는 길에

Both can look like "while" in English, but they are not interchangeable.

Pattern	Feeling	Example
-(으)ㄴ/는 김에	Taking advantage of an occasion	서점에 간 김에 노트도 샀다. — Since I went to the bookstore, I bought a notebook too.
-는 길에	On the way, while moving somewhere	집에 오는 길에 편의점에 들렀다. — On my way home, I stopped by a convenience store.

-는 길에 is about traveling: it goes with movement verbs such as 가다, 오다, and 나가다, and it describes what you did along the route. -는 김에 is about an opportunity, so it also works with actions that have no movement at all, like 청소하다 or 끓이다.

청소하는 길에 창문도 닦았다. ✗ 청소하는 김에 창문도 닦았다. ✓

Cleaning is not a trip, so 길에 does not fit here.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Fix	Why
청소했는 김에 ✗	청소하는 김에 / 청소한 김에 ✓	No -았/었- before 김에. Choose -는 or -(으)ㄴ to show the tense.
가은 김에 ✗	간 김에 ✓	After a vowel stem, use -ㄴ, not -은.
만들는 김에 ✗	만드는 김에 ✓	Verbs ending in ㄹ drop the ㄹ.
청소하는 길에 ✗	청소하는 김에 ✓	-는 길에 is for movement along a route.

Try it in tonight's entry

Think of a moment today when one errand gave you the chance for another:

• 은행에 간 김에 환전도 했다.
• 설거지하는 김에 냉장고도 정리했다.
• 친구를 만난 김에 빌렸던 책을 돌려줬다.
• 커피를 사러 나온 김에 산책도 했다.

Little extras make good diary lines because they show how your day really unfolded. Want to check that your -(으)ㄴ/는 김에 sentences sound natural? Write your diary at kdiaryai.com and get instant corrections.