what does 게 mean in this sentence - 네가 내 친구란 행운이야?

Question

네가 내 친구란 게 행운이야.

I'm happy that you are my friend.

I think 란 works as that.

What is this "게"?

Answer 1

I'm not a pro at Korean grammar so bear with me while I try explain this.

I think you mean 네가 내 친구란게 행운이야. I'm not sure where you got this sentence from, but I'm assuming it was said by someone. In written form it should be, 네가 내 친구라는 겄이 행운이야 or 네가 내 친구라는게 행운이야.

게 in this case works with -란 from the previous word to make -란게 and that translates to 'the fact that'. We can try break the sentence down word for word for a better understanding:

네가: You are

내 친구: My friend

란게: The fact that

행운이야: It's luck/fortune

So if we're talking word for word, '네가 내 친구란게 행운이야' directly translates to:

You are my friend, that fact is luck/a fortune.

But that sounds strange in the english language, so if i simplify it, it becomes:

The fact that you're my friend is luck/a fortune.

But the sentence sounds awkward so it just becomes:

I'm lucky to have you as my friend.

Another example using the -란게 could be:

내가 여자라는게 좋아: I like the fact that I'm a girl <- Where in this case I expanded 란 to 라는.

As mentioned briefly above, Koreans tend to shorten words when pronouncing them, so 라는게 becomes 란게. I hope that helped!