방금 vs 금방: Understanding the Subtle Differences in Korean

 금방 갔다 올께요. I will be right back. 

언제 왔어요? When did you arrive? 금방 왔어요. 방금 왔어요. I just arrived. I just got here.

‘금방’ (geumbang) and ‘방금’ (banggeum) both translate to ‘just (now)’ in English, but sometimes they seem interchangeable and other times they seem to have different meanings. 

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You reverse ‘금방‘ (geumbang), it becomes ‘방금’ (bangguem).

These two words are different, and they can’t be interchangeable. 

‘방금‘ means ‘바로 조금 전,’ which means just a monent ago, while ‘금방‘ means ‘바로 조금 뒤,’ which means ‘in just a moment.’

Therefore, 방금 should be used with the past activities and 금방 with the future activities.

Let’s have some examples. 

• 벌써 와 있었네. 많이 기다렸어? You were already here. Have you been waiting long for me?

• 아니야. 방금 왔어. No, I just got here.

• 아직 할 일이 많이 남았네요. 언제 다 하지요? There’s still a lot of work left to do. When will it be done?

• 금방 할 수 있습니다. I can do it just in a minute.

‘방금’ is often used with the word ‘전 before.’ 

• 언제 했어?

• 방금 (전에) 했어. 

So, is “금방 왔어요” a correct expression? 

No, ’금방‘ means ‘in just a moment,’ so 금방 왔어요 is incorrect. 

Instead, 방금 왔어요 or 금방 올게요 should be the correct expressions.