-(ㄴ/는)다면

(n/neun)damyeon

Grammar · 1 sense

Hypothetical situation

Examples

10년 전 돌아간다면 더 열심히 공부하고 싶어.

If I could go back 10 years, I would want to study harder.

날씨가 좋았다면 한라산에 갈 수 있었을 텐데.

If the weather had been good, I could have gone to 한라산.

지난 학기에 열심히 공부하지 않았다면 장학금을 받을 수 없었겠지?

If you hadn't studied hard last semester, you wouldn't have been able to get a scholarship, right?

When you'd hear it

This pattern appears in careful conversation, dramas, interviews, and especially writing when someone frames a supposition or an unlikely condition. It is less casual than simply using -(으)면, though it is not limited to highly formal speech.

What learners get wrong

Learners often treat it as interchangeable with -(으)면, but -(ㄴ/는)다면 more clearly presents the condition as a supposition or hypothetical premise. For an ordinary real-world condition, -(으)면 is usually the more natural choice.

You looked up -(ㄴ/는)다면 — Ipsae makes sure you still know it in three weeks.

No account needed to try.