Doing something immediately (-자마자)

-자마자 is a Korean connective ending used to express that the second action or event occurs immediately after the completion of the first action or event. It signifies a direct, swift, and often instantaneous temporal sequence between two clauses. The linguistic function of -자마자 is to bind these two actions so closely in time that the completion of the preceding action serves as the immediate trigger or condition for the subsequent action.

This pattern is highly prevalent in spoken Korean across various formality levels, making it essential for intermediate learners to master. It highlights not merely a sequence (like ‘and then’) but the temporal adjacency and lack of intervening time. You'll encounter it describing everything from daily routines to sudden occurrences, providing a natural flow to narratives where one event rapidly follows another.

For example, 집에 오자마자 잠들었어요. (I fell asleep as soon as I came home.) indicates that the act of falling asleep followed without delay upon arriving home. Similarly, 문을 열자마자 고양이가 뛰어 들어왔어요. (As soon as I opened the door, the cat darted in.) depicts an immediate reaction.