결혼하다

When discussing marriage in Korean, 결혼하다 (gyeolhonhada) is the fundamental verb meaning 'to marry.' It is often used with the particle ~와/과 (~wa/gwa) to indicate 'with whom' one is marrying. For example, '저는 제 남자친구와 결혼할 거예요' means 'I will marry my boyfriend.'

While 결혼하다 is straightforward, you might also encounter the noun form 결혼 (gyeolhon), which means 'marriage.' This can be combined with other verbs to express related concepts, such as 결혼 생활 (gyeolhon saenghwal) for 'married life' or 결혼식 (gyeolhonsik) for 'wedding ceremony.'

For more nuanced expressions, you could use 혼인하다 (honinhada), which also means 'to marry,' but it carries a slightly more formal or legalistic tone, often appearing in official documents. Additionally, terms like 결혼에 골인하다 (gyeolhone gorinhada), literally 'to score a goal in marriage,' are colloquial ways of saying 'to finally get married' or 'to successfully marry someone.'

Another interesting expression is 장가가다 (janggaga-da) for a man 'to get married' (specifically, to marry into the wife's family, though now often used generally) and 시집가다 (sijipgada) for a woman 'to get married' (specifically, to marry into the husband's family). These reflect traditional family structures but are still commonly used in everyday conversation, adding a layer of cultural context to the act of marriage in Korean.