a. D.V. + ㄴ/은 편이다 => "to be kind of," "to be rather," "to be relatively" b. A.V. + ㄴ/은/는 편이다 => "to be kind of," "to be rather," "to be relatively"

	a.	D.V. + ㄴ/은 편이다
		=> "to be kind of," "to be rather," "to be relatively"
	b.	A.V. + ㄴ/은/는 편이다
		=> "to be kind of," "to be rather," "to be relatively"

Used with descriptive verbs, this expression indicates that something is "relatively" or "kind of" 좋다 "good," 크다 "big," 많다 "many," and so on. For action verbs, it is often accompanied by an adverb or an adverbial phrase that modifies the verb, as in 빨리 읽는 편이다 "to read kind of fast."

(a) 

• 아기가 착한 편인데 피곤해서 지금 운다.
  => The baby is usually rather good-natured, but he is crying now because he is tired.
  
• 세일인데도 비싼 편이다.
  => It's on sale, but it's still rather expensive.
  
• 어려서 우리 누나는 키가 작은 편이었다.
  => My sister was relatively short when she was young.

(b) 

• 수잔은 불어보다 독어를 잘 하는 편이다.
  => Susan speaks German somewhat better than French.
  
• 중학교 때 나는 책을 빨리 읽는 편이었다.
  => I read books relatively fast when (I was) in middle school.
  
• 그 사람 부자 에요? 아니오. 못 사는 편이에요.
  => Is he rich? No, he is fairly poor.