Making Plans: Time, Place, Promise, Cancel

🌈 The Big Picture

🎨 The Core Plans Vocabulary

• 시간 있어요? (Do you have time?)

• 몇 시간 걸려요? (How many hours does it take?)

• 만날 장소를 정해요. (Let's decide on a meeting place.)

• 장소가 어디예요? (Where is the location?)

• 약속이 있어요. (I have plans/an appointment.)

• 약속을 지켜요. (I keep my promise.)

• 약속을 취소했어요. (I canceled the appointment.)

• 예약을 취소할 수 있어요? (Can I cancel the reservation?)

• 약속을 다음 주로 미뤘어요. (I postponed the appointment to next week.)

• 숙제를 미루지 마세요. (Don't put off your homework.)

🛠️ How They Work in a Sentence

1. 시간이 괜찮으면 만날 장소를 정해요.
(If the time works, let's decide on a meeting place.)
— 시간 and 장소 are the two basics of any plan.

2. 미안하지만 오늘 약속을 취소해야 해요.
(I'm sorry, but I have to cancel today's appointment.)
— 약속 is the plan itself; 취소하다 cancels it.

3. 회의를 다음 주로 미뤘어요. 시간과 장소는 나중에 알려 드릴게요.
(We postponed the meeting to next week. I'll let you know the time and place later.)
— 미루다 + -(으)로 shows the new target time.

🧩 General Formation Rule

• 시간/장소/약속/취소 — all nouns; 하다 turns 취소 and 약속 into verbs (취소하다, 약속하다)

• Common 약속 collocations: 약속을 잡다 (make), 약속을 지키다 (keep), 약속을 어기다 (break), 약속을 취소하다 (cancel)

• 미루다 conjugates as a regular action verb: 미뤄요 / 미뤘어요 / 미룰 거예요

• -(으)로 미루다 = "to postpone to/until [time]"

📚 Cross-check note

🪞 Synonym Alert

• 장소 vs 곳 — 장소 is formal/specific (a designated venue); 곳 is a general word for "place" (이곳, 그곳, 어느 곳).

• 약속 vs 일정 — 약속 = a commitment/appointment with another person; 일정 = a schedule or itinerary, which can be solo.

• 취소 vs 미루다 — 취소 = canceling entirely; 미루다 = postponing to a later time without canceling.

• 취소하다 vs 취소되다 — 취소하다 = "to cancel" (active — you cancel it); 취소되다 = "to be canceled" (passive — it gets canceled, e.g. by weather).

• 시간 vs 때 — 시간 = "time" as duration or clock time; 때 = "time" as in "when" something happens (어릴 때 = "when I was young").

⚠️ Pitfalls to Dodge

• ❌ Using 장소 for casual "here/there" → ✅ 여기/저기/곳 for everyday "place," 장소 for formal venues.

• ❌ Thinking 약속 only means "promise" → ✅ 약속 also commonly means "plans/an appointment with someone."

• ❌ Mixing up 취소하다 and 취소되다 → ✅ 취소하다 = you cancel something; 취소되다 = something gets canceled.

• ❌ Saying 취소 when you mean "delay" → ✅ 미루다 = postpone (keep the plan, change the time); 취소 = cancel entirely.

• ❌ Forgetting -(으)로 before the new time with 미루다 → ✅ 다음 주로 미뤘어요 ("postponed to next week").