Learn Korean: Verb + 알아서 뭐하게?

Let’s take a look at the Korean sentence pattern Verb + 알아서 뭐하게(?). We use this when we feel suspicious about someone’s unnecessary, trivial, and privacy-invading questions. The tone may be serious or not depending on how we deliver it. For example, I go to an all-boys school and one day, my sister had to drop by to hand me the book I left home. The boys started teasing thinking she was my girlfriend until I told them the fact that she is my sister. Then they started asking details about her. I know exactly what’s up their sleeves, so I said 알아서 뭐하게? (What for exactly?) I am not really asking for a response. Now if the question involves an active verb as in Which school does she go to?, we can repeat the question before 알아서 뭐하게(요). The original question is 어느 학교 다녀(요)? The main verb is 다니다. We take the verb stem (다니) and attach 는지. Then, we add 알아서 뭐하게(요). The actual sentence is 어느 학교 다니는지 알아서 뭐하게(요)? It has the nuance What are you gonna do if you find out? Why do you need to know that?

어디 사는지 알아서 뭐하게?

What are you gonna do if you find out where she lives? I don’t think it’s unnecessary for you to know.

어디서 일하는지 알아서 뭐하게?

Why do you know need to know where she works?

남자친구 있는지 알아서 뭐하게?

Why do you want to know if she has a boyfriend? What for?