Expression of the Week

Byon Mi-sook: 잘 쉬었다 왔니?

Did you get a good rest? 

Cindy：  덕분에요.

Thanks to you. 

Byon：어디 갔다 왔니?

Where did you go? 

Cindy：친구들이랑 있었어요

I was with my friends. 

Byon：내가 모르는 친구들도 있어?

You have friends I don’t know of? 

Cindy：있어요, 나도. 친구들. 더 이상은 안 물어보셨으면 좋겠어요. 어쨌든 잘 돌아왔으니까 된 거 아니에요?

I do. I have friends. I hope you don’t ask me any more questions. Now that I’m back safe, isn’t that what matters?

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덕분에요 (thanks to you)

덕분 - indebtedness; The favor or help provided by someone, or gains from an incident.

Casual – 덕분에

Semi-polite – 덕분에요 

>>[덕분] is usually used to describe the favor or help provided by someone

Ex)당신 덕분에 살았어요 - I’m alive thanks to you. 

그분 덕분이야. - It's thanks to him. 

>>The form [N] + 덕분 means “thanks to ~” 

>>In the dialogue, [N] from the pattern ‘[N] + 덕분’ is omitted in a typical Korean way of speaking which omits the subject, but Cindy is referring to the person who is asking her the question, Byon Mi-sook.