Grammar
N에 이르다
Meaning
ExpertN e ireuda
N에 이르다 means 'to reach' or 'to amount to N,' used mainly in formal and news writing to state that a quantity, number, or level has climbed to or arrived at a certain point. N is usually a number or amount, though it can also mark an abstract state or point in time finally reached after a process.
Form
Attach 에 directly to the noun stating the amount, number, or point reached, then add 이르다: 1,499억 달러에 이르다 (amounts to $149.9 billion), 100만 명에 이르다 (reaches 1 million people). 이르다 here is a 러-irregular verb: its past tense is 이르렀다 (not 이르었다), and its connective form is 이르러(서), not 일러(서).
Examples
누적 흑자는 1,499억 달러에 이른다.
The cumulative surplus amounts to $149.9 billion.
관람객 수는 100만 명에 이르렀다.
The number of visitors reached 1 million.
이 문제는 심각한 수준에 이르렀다.
This problem has reached a serious level.
회담은 새벽에 이르러서야 끝났다.
The talks didn't end until dawn.
Common mistakes & nuance
Don't confuse this 이르다 ('to reach/arrive at,' 러-irregular: 이르러, 이르렀다) with the different word 이르다 meaning 'to be early,' which is 르-irregular and conjugates differently (일러요, 일렀다).
Similar grammar
- N에서 N까지
N에서 N까지 states a range with two stated endpoints ('from N to N'). N에 이르다 states that something climbs up to reach a single endpoint, often to emphasize how large or extreme that final number is, without necessarily stating a starting point.
- N에 달하다 / N에 그치다
달하다 is the near-synonym for reaching a figure, but it stays with quantities, where 이르다 also takes states and moments (합의에 이르다, 새벽에 이르러서야 — neither works with 달하다). 달하다 also comes as half of a pair: the same number written 12%에 달했다 or 12%에 그쳤다 is the reporter deciding whether to make it look large or small.