Lesson 43: When/if: ~(으)면, ~ㄴ/는다면

This Lesson is also available in Español, Русский, Deutsch and العربية

Click here for a Workbook to go along with this lesson.

Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

When/If… ~(으)면
Usage 1
Usage 2
Usage 3

만약
그러면/그렇다면

 

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
장거리 = long distance

콜라 = Cola

과학자 = scientist

신호 = signal

날개 = wing

가지 = eggplant

고추 = hot pepper

신부 = bride

신랑 = groom

교훈 = moral, lesson

버릇 = habit

햇살 = the rays of the sun

빨래 = laundry

이슬 = dew

비바람 = rainstorm

습도 = humidity

Verbs:
Conjugate 기초하다 = to be based on

Conjugate 보존하다 = to preserve, to conserve

Conjugate 기도하다 = to pray

Conjugate 대접하다 = to serve, to treat

Conjugate 진정하다 = to calm down

Adjectives:
Conjugate 부자연스럽다 = to be unnatural

Conjugate 균등하다 = to be even

Conjugate 어색하다 = to be awkward

Conjugate 낯설다 = to be unfamiliar

Conjugate 수상하다 = to be suspicious

Adverbs and Other Words:
만약 = put in sentences with 'if'

양쪽 = both directions

For help memorizing these words, try using our mobile app.

 

Introduction

In the previous lesson, you learned how to add ~ㄹ/을 때 to words to have the meaning of “when.” In this lesson, you will learn about adding ~(으)면 to words to have a similar meaning. Let’s get started.

 

 

When/If… ~(으)면

To create the meaning of “when” or “if,” you can add ~(으)면 to the stem of a verb or adjective. If we look at the meaning of ~(으)면 more deeply, it can be separated into three main usages.

 

Usage 1
To indicate that one action occurs “when/if” another action (that hasn’t happened yet) occurs

For example:
집에 도착하면 빨래를 할 거예요 = When I arrive at home, I will do laundry

Notice in this usage that the action in the second clause is a supposition/assumption of what would happen when the first clause occurs. Both actions haven’t happened yet and the speaker is merely assuming what will take place. Keep this in mind for later because it will come up again.

Here the event of “arriving at home” hasn’t happened yet. Therefore, the speaker is indicating that he/she will “do laundry” when this event occurs. In this example, the event of “arriving at home” seems inevitable and certain. Because it is certain that this action will occur, the translation of “when” is often used.

If there is uncertainty in whether the first event will occur or not, the translation of “if” is often used to express this uncertainty. Notice what happens if you use “if” in the sentence above:

“If I arrive at home, I will do laundry.”

In most situations, I can’t imagine this being a natural sentence. Of course you are eventually going to arrive at home sometime – so the event isn’t really uncertain. Therefore, the translation of “if” is a little bit unnatural. However, if you changed the sentence a little and added a condition that would make the event uncertain, the translation of “if” would be more appropriate. For example:

집에 일찍 도착하면 빨래를 할 거예요 = If I arrive home early, I will do laundry

Either way, I don’t want you to get hung up on the English translation of a sentence. I would rather you understand the meaning of the Korean sentence than to worry about whether “when” or “if” is more appropriate. Often times it isn’t even clear if the sentence is uncertain or not. For example:

학교에 가면 알려 주세요 = When/if you go to school, let me know

Depending on the situation and context, “When you go to school, let me know” or “If you go to school, let me know” could both be appropriate. In these cases, you need to use the context to distinguish specifically what meaning is being implied.

Below are many examples showing this usage:

신호를 보면 저에게 말을 바로 해 주세요
= When/if you see the signal, let me know immediately please

과학자가 되면 피부에 습도의 영향을 연구하고 싶어요
= When/if I become a scientist, I want to study the effects of humidity on the skin

내일 비바람이 오면 경기가 취소될 거예요
= If it storms tomorrow, the match/game will be cancelled

지금 환경을 보존하지 않으면 미래에 더 큰 문제가 생길 것 같아요
= If we don’t preserve the environment, there will probably be bigger problems in the future

오늘 그 사람을 만나면 낯선 사람으로 대할 거예요
= If I meet that person today, I’m going to treat him like a stranger

손님이 오면 맛있는 음식을 대접할 거예요
= When the guests come, I will treat them with delicious food

진정하지 않으면 콜라를 주지 않을 거예요
= If you don’t calm down, I won’t give you a cola

내일 아침에 이슬이 있으면 고추가 다 죽어 버릴 거예요
= If there is dew tomorrow morning, all of the hot pepper (plants) will die

내일 분위기가 어색하면 이 게임을 한 번 해 보세요
= If the atmosphere is awkward tomorrow, try playing this game

신랑이 신부를 보면 그녀가 얼마나 예쁜지 깨달을 거예요
= The groom will realize how pretty the bride is when he sees her

——————-

In all of the examples so far, the second clause is an assumption of what will happen if/when some action occurs. It is also possible to conjugate the clause attached to ~(으)면 to the past tense to assume/suppose what would have happened if something had occurred. In order to do this, ~았/었 is added to the stem of the word followed by ~으면. For example:

내가 공부했으면… = If I studied…
내가 먹었으면… = If I ate…
내가 갔으면… = If I went…

Much like the present tense, the action in the second clause is a supposition/assumption of what would have happened if the first clause had occurred.

Usually when the verb/adjective after “if” is conjugated to the past tense, the later clause ends in “would have…” For example:

If I studied, I would have passed the test
If I ate, I would have not been hungry
If I met my friend, it would have been fun

Expressing this meaning of “would have” in Korean is done by adding ~았/었을 것이다 to the final word of the sentence. For example:

내가 공부했으면 시험을 합격했을 것이다 = If I studied, I would have passed the test
내가 밥을 먹었으면 배고프지 않았을 것이다 = If I ate, I wouldn’t have been hungry
친구를 만났으면 재미있었을 것이다 = If I met my friend, it would have been fun

Notice that the translation of “if” is more appropriate when using ~(으)면 in the past tense. The use of “when” makes it seem like the action actually did happen – when actually it did not.

Many more examples:

돈을 다 쓰지 않았으면 그것을 샀을 거예요
= If I didn’t/hadn’t spent all of my money, I would have bought that

내가 사과를 다 안 먹었으면 너에게 한 개를 줬을 거야
= If I didn’t/hadn’t eaten all of my apples, I would have given you one

햇살이 그렇게 강하지 않았으면 밖에 나갔을 거예요
= If the sunlight wasn’t so strong, I would have gone outside

음식이 충분했으면 사람들에게 균등하게 줬을 거예요
= If there were enough, I would have given the food out to people evenly

그 남자가 너무 수상하지 않았으면 그를 믿었을 거예요
= If that man weren’t so suspicious, I would have believed him

고추를 안 넣었으면 맵지 않았을 거예요
= If you didn’t put the hot pepper in it, it wouldn’t have been spicy

Using ~(으)면 in the past tense is a common way that you hope or wish for something. Explaining this is beyond the scope of this lesson, but you will continue to learn about this usage in Lesson 61.

—————————–

In all of the examples above – in both the present and past tenses – the second clause is an assumption of what will happen (or would have happened). When indicating an assumption like this, it is also possible to conjugate the verb prior to ~면 first. The words need to be conjugated using the plain/diary form before ~면 can be added on.

Make sure you remember your plain/diary form conjugations, introduced in Lesson 5.

For example:

For verbs in the present tense:
가다 = 간다면
먹다 = 먹는다면

For adjectives in the present tense:
행복하다 = 행복하다면
길다 = 길다면

For verbs in the past tense:
가다 = 갔다면
먹다 = 먹었다면

For adjectives in the past tense:
행복하다 = 행복했다면
길다 = 길었다면

For 이다 and 아니다
이다 = 이라면 (present tense)
이다 = 이었다면 (past tense)
아니라면 (present tense)
아니었다면 (past tense)

I usually refer to this addition as ~ㄴ/는다면 because it shows that the word before ~면 must be conjugated.

All of the examples shown to this point could also be expressed using ~ㄴ/는다면. When used like this, there is a little bit more of an emphasis of the fact that the action is a supposition/assumption than when ~(으)면 is used. Therefore, the translation of “if” is more commonly used with ~ㄴ/는다면. Nonetheless, all of the examples below have the same meaning as their earlier counterparts – just that there is more of an emphasis that the clause before ~ㄴ/는다면 might or might not happen:

집에 도착한다면 빨래를 할 거예요
집에 일찍 도착한다면 빨래를 할 거예요
학교에 간다면 알려 주세요
신호를 본다면 저에게 말을 바로 해 주세요
과학자가 된다면 피부에 습도의 영향을 연구하고 싶어요
내일 비바람이 온다면 경기가 취소될 거예요
지금 환경을 보존하지 않는다면 미래에 더 큰 문제가 생길 것 같아요
오늘 그 사람을 만난다면 낯선 사람으로 대할 거예요
손님이 온다면 맛있는 음식을 대접할 거예요
진정하지 않는다면 콜라를 주지 않을 거예요
내일 아침에 이슬이 있는다면 고추가 다 죽어 버릴 거예요
내일 분위기가 어색하다면 이 게임을 한 번 해 보세요
신랑이 신부를 본다면 그녀가 얼마나 예쁜지 깨달을 거예요
내가 공부했다면 시험을 합격했을 것이다
내가 밥을 먹었다면 배고프지 않았을 것이다
친구를 만났다면 재미있었을 것이다
돈을 다 쓰지 않았다면 그것을 샀을 거예요
내가 사과를 다 안 먹었다면 너에게 한 개를 줬을 거야
햇살이 그렇게 강하지 않았다면 밖에 나갔을 거예요
음식이 충분했다면 사람들에게 균등하게 줬을 거예요
그 남자가 너무 수상하지 않았다면 그를 믿었을 거예요
고추를 안 넣었다면 맵지 않았을 거예요

————————–

It is also possible to attach ~았/었더라면 to the tenses above in the past tense, for example:

내가 공부했더라면 시험을 합격했을 것이다
내가 밥을 먹었더라면 배고프지 않았을 것이다
친구를 만났더라면 재미있었을 것이다
돈을 다 쓰지 않았더라면 그것을 샀을 거예요
내가 사과를 다 안 먹었더라면 너에게 한 개를 줬을 거야
햇살이 그렇게 강하지 않았더라면 밖에 나갔을 거예요
음식이 충분했더라면 사람들에게 균등하게 줬을 거예요
그 남자가 너무 수상하지 않았더라면 그를 믿었을 거예요
고추를 안 넣었더라면 맵지 않았을 거예요

You can think of ~았/었더라면 as one unit, but it might be helpful for you to see the purpose of adding ~더~ to other constructions. I discuss some of the usages of ~더~ in Lessons 117, 118 and 119.

————————-

It is common to end these “assumption” sentences with ~ㄹ/을 텐데, which I discuss in Lesson 100.

Want to see how ~(으)면 would be used in a Korean street sign? Watch me breakdown the usage in a YouTube video.

I know it is tempting, but I actually hope you didn’t look ahead to those future lessons. We still have more to discuss in this lesson. Let’s move on and talk about another usage of ~(으)면.

 

 

Usage 2
To generally indicate that when one action occurs, another action occurs

In this usage, the first clause indicates the requirement/basis that is needed to make the event in the second clause occur. This cause-and-effect between the first and second clause is typically common knowledge that usually anybody would know. For example:

비가 오면 날씨가 추워져요 = When/if it rains, the weather gets colder

Notice in this usage that the events being described are not assumptions but are general facts.

As these sentences are describing a general cause-and-effect – and not some event that happened in the past or will happen in the future, the final clause is typically conjugated in the present tense.

Again, not that I want you to focus on the English translations, but notice that the usage of “when” or “if” is arbitrary. Both words are appropriate for this situation. Below are many more examples:

잠을 못 자면 다음 날에 몸이 피곤해져요
= When/if you don’t sleep well, the next day you will be tired

장거리 운전을 하면 엉덩이가 아파요
= When/if you drive long distances, your bum will be sore

콜라를 매일 마시면 건강이 나빠져요
= When/if you drink cola every day, your health deteriorates/drops

누구나 캐나다에 가면 좋아해요
= When/if anybody goes to Canada, they like it

누구나 자기 전 여자 친구를 만나면 분위기가 어색해요
= When/if anybody meets their ex-girlfriend, the atmosphere is awkward

오후가 되면 햇살이 강해져요
= When/if it becomes afternoon (when it gets to be afternoon), the sun gets stronger

날개가 위로 움직이면 비행기가 떨어져요
= = When/if the wings move up, the plane drops

학생들이 균등한 기회를 받으면 미래가 밝아져요
= When/if students receive an equal opportunity, the future becomes brighter

Let’s move on and talk about another usage of ~(으)면.

 

 

Usage 3
To indicate that an action occurs whenever another action is repeated

In this usage, every time the first clause occurs, the second clause occurs. For this usage to work, the actions need to be things that are repeated frequently. For example:

피자를 먹으면 저는 콜라를 마셔요 = When/If I eat pizza, I drink cola

Notice in this usage that the events being described are not assumptions but are general facts.

Again, as with the previous usage of ~(으)면, these sentences are not describing some event that happened in the past or will happen in the future. Rather, the actions are events that are repeated frequently. Therefore, the final clause of these sentences is typically conjugated in the present tense.

The typical translation for this usage is “whenever…”. This usage of ~(으)면 is almost identical to adding ~마다 to “때,” which you learned about in the previous lesson. In any language, there are often many ways to say the same thing. For example, “whenever” and “every time” can both be used to have the same meaning. For example:

피자를 먹으면 저는 콜라를 마셔요 = Whenever I eat pizza, I drink cola
피자를 먹으면 저는 콜라를 마셔요 = Every time I eat pizza, I drink cola

Below are many more examples of this usage:

그 연예인이 방에 들어가면 양쪽에서 사람들이 그에게 다가가요
= Whenever that celebrity goes into a room, people approach him from both/all directions

아버지가 운전하면 습관으로 담배를 피워요
= Whenever my dad drives, he smokes cigarettes out of habit

제가 경기를 보면 우리 팀이 이기기를 기도해요
= Whenever I watch a game, I pray for my team to win

일요일이면 그 가족이 기도하러 교회에 가요
= Whenever it is Sunday, that family goes to church to pray

내가 공부를 하면 엄마는 TV를 끈다
= Whenever I study, my mother turns off the TV

내가 TV를 보면 엄마는 싫어한다
= Whenever I watch TV, my mother doesn’t like it

내가 행복하면 숙제를 잘 해
= Whenever I am happy, I do my homework well

 

.

만약

There are a handful of Korean adverbs that have no real translation to English because they don’t really have any meaning. These words are often used in sentences for feeling and to help the listener expect what the speaker will say. Probably the most common of all of these words is “만약.”

만약 is used in sentences when the result of a sentence can’t be certain. Due to the nature of sentences where the second clause is a supposition or assumption, it is common to see “만약” used in sentences that follow the first usage of ~(으)면 described in this lesson. For example:

만약 내가 공부했으면 시험을 합격했을 것이다 = If I studied, I would have passed the test
만약 내가 밥을 먹었으면 배고프지 않았을 것이다 = If I ate, I wouldn’t have been hungry

만약 내일 비바람이 오면 경기가 취소될 거예요
= If it storms tomorrow, the match/game will be cancelled

만약 지금 환경을 보존하지 않으면 미래에 더 큰 문제가 생길 것 같아요
= If we don’t preserve the environment now, there will probably be bigger problems in the future

——————-

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~(으)면. Let’s look at how irregulars change as a result of adding this grammatical principle.

• The ㅅ irregular, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules that were introduced in Lesson 7. The addition of the vowel causes a change (or elimination) of the last letter of the stem.

• The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition. The final letter in both types of stems is a vowel, so “면” is added instead of “으면.”

• Much like how additions starting with ㄹ can be attached directly to the stems of words ending in ㄹ, ~면 can be attached directly to the stems of words ending in ㄹ.

• Adding ~(으)면 causes a change to ㅎ irregular words. The ㅎ is removed, and ~면 is added to the stem. Anytime you have the option of adding ~(으) as part of a grammatical addition, the ㅎ will be removed from the stem and the grammatical addition without “으” will be added to the remainder of the stem.
  • For example: 그렇다 + ~(으)면 = 그러면 (I discuss the meaning of 그러면 in the next section).

Below is a table showing the changes that result from adding ~(으)면 to a word.

Irregular	Word	+ ~(으)면
ㅅ Irregular	짓다 (to build)	지으면
ㄷ Irregular	걷다 (to walk)	걸으면
ㅂ Irregular	돕다 (to help)	도우면
ㅡ Irregular	잠그다 (to lock)	잠그면
르 Irregular	자르다 (to cut)	자르면
ㄹIrregular	살다 (to live)	살면
ㅎ Irregular	그렇다 (to be like that)	그러면

You will see these same changes to irregulars anytime you add something that begins in ~(으)ㅁ…. For example:

~(으)면서 (Lesson 62)
~(으)며 (Lesson 62)
~(으)므로 (Lesson 103)

————–

 

그러면/그렇다면

In Lesson 23, you learned that the meaning of the word ‘그렇다’ is close to the meaning of ‘like that.’

By adding ~(으)면 to 그렇다 you can create “그러면.”
By adding ~ㄴ/는다면 to 그렇다 you can create “그렇다면”
(Remember that 그렇다 is an adjective and therefore 그렇는다면 would be incorrect)

When some situation is being talked about, you can use “그러면/그렇다면” to say “If (that situation)…”. The common translation of these two is simply “if so.” For example:

Person 1: 내일 비가 올 것 같아요 = It will probably rain tomorrow
Person 2: 그러면/그렇다면 공원에 안 갈 거예요 = If so, I’m not going to the park

Person 1: 나는 오늘 집에 안 갈 거야 = I’m not going home today
Person 2: 그러면/그렇다면 나도 안 갈 거야 = If so, I’m not going either

 

If not: 아니면

In Lesson 8 (and applied in Lesson 9), you learned about 아니다 and how it can be used to mean “to not be.” By combining 아니다 with ~면, we get “아니면” which literally means “if not.” We can often see 아니면 used at the beginning of a sentence referring to the previous sentence. For example:

저는 밥을 먹고 싶어요. 아니면 죽을 것 같아요 = I want to eat rice. If not, I will probably die
진정하세요! 아니면 제가 교장선생님을 부를 거예요 = Calm down. If not, I will call the principal

It is also possible to see 아니면 used within a clause, often between two nouns. When used like this, 아니면 indicates “if not this (noun), then that (noun).” This is most commonly translated to “or” in English. For example:

저는 밥 아니면 사과를 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat rice, if not, (I want to eat) apples
(which could be translated as “I want to eat rice or apples.”)

아니면 can be used to have this meaning of “or,” but another way to create this meaning is to use ~이나 or 거나, which is discussed in Lesson 58.

That’s it for this lesson!

Okay, got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,
Click here for a Workbook to go along with this lesson.