Grammar
N만
Meaning
Beginnerman
Limits what happened to the one thing named. Here 가석방만 이뤄졌다 does two jobs at once: it says parole took place, and it says nothing else did. Korean often makes its point through 만 rather than a second negative sentence, so the limitation can be easy to miss if you read only the verb.
Form
Attaches straight to a noun with no change for a final consonant: 통합회원만. It replaces 은/는 and 이/가 and 을/를, so you write 표만 살 수 있습니다, not 표를만. With other particles it follows them: 서울에서만, 친구에게만.
Examples
통합회원만 표를 살 수 있습니다.
Only integrated members can buy tickets.
신청서만 내면 됩니다.
You only need to submit the application form.
Common mistakes & nuance
만 says two things at once — this one did, and the others did not — and Korean often leans on it instead of writing a second, negative sentence. 가석방만 이뤄졌다 reports that parole happened and, in the same breath, that the pardon did not. Readers who take 만 as simple emphasis miss half the sentence.
Similar grammar
- N뿐
Both mean 'only'. 뿐 is more emphatic and usually needs a following form such as 뿐이다 or 뿐만 아니라, whereas 만 stands on its own anywhere in the sentence.
- N밖에
밖에 also means 'only' but requires a negative verb after it and adds a sense of insufficiency: 만 원밖에 없어요 = 'I have only 10,000 won (and that is not enough)'.