-거든

geodeun(yo)

Grammar · 1 sense

if it turns out that - then do this

Examples

시간이 나거든 연락 주세요.

Get in touch if you find you have time.

마음에 안 들거든 다른 걸로 바꾸세요.

If you don't like it, swap it for something else.

When you'd hear it

Conditional -거든 is common in spoken instructions, suggestions, and invitations, and also appears in written directions. The polite form -거든요 is heard in conversation, while -거든 often occurs before a polite main clause such as 가십시오 or 하세요.

What learners get wrong

A condition whose second clause is a suggestion, a request or a plan: 바쁘지 않거든 잠깐 만납시다. That is the split from -(으)면, which takes any kind of second clause. Casual and spoken, and it takes (이)거든 on a noun.

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