What does "잔치를 원하실 줄은 생각조차" mean?

Question

i have a text as follows

저희는 오히려 부모님이 원하셔서 환갑잔치를 해 드렸더니 좋아하셨어요. 요즘 잔치를 잘 안 하 는 추세라서 잔치 대신 제주도 여행을 보내 드리려고 했는데, 어머님께 살짝 여쭤 보니 환갑이 되었 으면 당연히 잔치를 열게 마련이라 하시더라고요. 잔치를 원하실 줄은 생각조차 못 하고 있었는데 미리 여쭤 보길 잘 했어요. 조금 수고스럽기는 했지만 부모님께서 즐거워하시는 모습을 보니 뿌듯 했습니다. 질문하신 분도 어머님께 살짝 여쭤 보시는 게 어떨까요?

What does "잔치를 원하실 줄은 생각조차" mean? I don't understand this phrase because I don't know what "줄은" is? Is it a grammatical construction?

Answer 1

줄 in 잔치를 원하실 줄은 is what they call bound/dependent noun (의존 명사) with the meaning of how things turn out (often related to intention) or a way or method of doing something. It is very often used by itself even though attaching a particle like 은 or 을 might make more sense.

You can examples of the two uses:

1. 네가 그럴 줄(을) 몰랐다 = 네가 그렇게 행동할 줄 몰랐다 = I didn't know you would act like that.
2. 나는 수영을 할 줄(을) 모른다 = I don't know how to swim.

Your example is using 줄 in the first sense, describing the person acted.

줄 in this usage focuses on what's happening at the moment, including wrong judgement (-지 is another verb ending of this kind). We use -은/는/ㄹ 것 more often when talking about more factual/deterministic cases (i.e 줄 is like think / thought while 것 is know / knew).

비가 올 줄(을) 몰랐다 = 비가 올지(를) 몰랐다. (I didn't know it would rain)
비가 온 것을 알았다. (I knew it had rained)
또 기회가 있을 줄 알았다. (I thought (correctly or wrongly) there would be another opportunity)
더 이상 기회가 없다는 걸 알았다 (I knew (conclusively)there wasn't anymore opportunity.

• 잔치를 원하실 줄은 생각조차 못 했다 = (lit.) I didn't even have an inkling of thought that she would want a ceremonious party = I never thought that she would want a party.

조차 attaches to a noun to strengthen the negation in a negative sentence, like "even". E.g. 작별 인사는 커녕 간다는 말도 없이 떠났다 = They left without even letting me know, let alone saying goodbye to me.

Answer 2

The phrase means 'I never thought that (my parents) would want a party.' '줄' is a dependent noun which makes a verb into a noun.