Please remember that I am not fluent and this is just my understanding. Let me know if there’s mistakes!
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을/를 뻔하다
->Almost verbed, but didn’t
->Indicates relief that the action didn’t occur
-when deciding how to add ㄹ follow normal future tense rules
->Used with past tense “if” statements to say “If this didn’t happen, I would have~”
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거의
I personally think of it as “to a degree” such as “almost all” “almost a year” “to the point of laughing” (these will make sense in the examples ill give)
-> When paired with 뻔하다 it means “I almost did to the point of” so it best translates as “came close to verbing”
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하마터면
Often paired with 뻔하다 to add emphasis. It goes before the clause to give a heads up that it’s an almost statement. The best explanation I can think of is “the test I failed…. almost” vs “the test I almost failed” (there’s other patterns too that use adverbs for emphasis/to give a heads up. Examples are: 만약~으면 and 마치~처럼/같다)
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한국어 공부한지 거의 1년 됐어요
I’ve been studying korean for almost a year
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어비스라는 시리즈를 거의 다 봤어요
I’m almost finished watching abyss (I watched almost all of abyss)
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거의 웃을 뻔했어요
I came close to laughing (i almost did to the point of laughing)
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저는 시험에 떨어질 뻔했어요
I almost failed the test (I the test failed, almost)
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저는 시험에 하마터면 떨어질 뻔했어요
I almost failed the test ( I the test, almost failed)
(notice how in the previous sentence it sounded like I failed the test? You didn’t know it was “almost” until the end. But in the next sentence you know that it was “almost” before you even knew I was talking about “failing”)
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하마터면 기차를 놓칠 뻔했어요
My older brother almost missed the train
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우리 오빠는 늦게 일어나서 하마터면 기차를 놓칠 뻔했어요
Older bro almost missed the train because he woke up late
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네가 전화하지 않았더라면 약속을 까먹을 뻔했어!
I would have forgotten the appointment if you didnt call me
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Satyanghae Korean 