Which one is correct: ‘갈 데까지 가다’ or ‘갈 때까지 가다’?

Question

PSY's <강남 스타일 (Gangnam style)>. It's kind of famous, you know. This is what its lyrics say:

지금부터 갈 데까지 가 볼까?

Shall we go all the way through from now on?

But is it really 데 here? Isn't it 때? It sounds more like 때 somehow.

Answer 1

It's an idiomatic expression and the correct one is ‘갈 데까지 가다’. The other one does not make any sense. Their pronunciation is similar, though.

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Their meanings

• 갈 데까지 가다 [갈떼까지가다] (갈_{(one goes)} 데_(where) -까지_{(up to)} 가다_{(to go)}) literally means ‘to go far as one goes (one may go)’.

  1. 도달할 수 있는 가장 극단의 상태나 상황이 되다. To fall into the most extreme state or situation possible.

     • Eg. 어디 누가 이기는지 갈 데까지 가 보자. Let's go to extremes (keep doing this) to see who'll be the final winner.

  2. 성관계를 맺다. To go all the way; to have sex.

     • Eg. 그녀와 나는 갈 데까지 간 사이다. I went all the way with her.

• 갈 때까지 가다 [갈때까지가다] (갈_{(one goes)} 때_(when) -까지_{(up to)} 가다_{(to go)}) literally means ‘to go (to keep going) until one goes’. I have never used this phrase even once.

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Why does the 데 sound [떼] here?

You know, I just got this naturally, following others' Korean; if you're not a native, here's the standard for you.

표준어 규정 제2부_{(표준 발음법)} 제6장_(경음화) 제27항

Korean Language Standard chapter #2 _{(Standard pronunciation)}, section §6 _{(Tensification)}, clause #27:

관형사형 ‘-(으)ㄹ’ 뒤에 연결되는 ‘ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ’은 된소리로 발음한다.

‘ㄱ’, ‘ㄷ’, ‘ㅂ’, ‘ㅅ’, and ‘ㅈ’ following endings ‘-ㄹ’ or ‘-을’ that make things 관형사 (Korean pre-nouns; similar to determiners.), are tensified (become 된소리).

• 할 것을 [할꺼슬] (ㄱ following -ㄹ)
• 갈 데가 [갈떼가] (ㄷ following -ㄹ)
• 할 바를 [할빠를] (ㅂ following -ㄹ)
• 할 수는 [할쑤는] (ㅅ following -ㄹ)
• 먹을 수는 [머글쑤는] (ㅅ following -을)
• 할 적에 [할쩌게] (ㅈ following -ㄹ)
• 갈 곳 [갈꼳] (ㄱ following -ㄹ)
• 할 도리 [할또리] (ㄷ following -ㄹ)
• 만날 사람 [만날싸람] (ㅅ following -ㄹ)