Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 9 - Advanced Korean #2 (Lessons 241 to 270) ᚛ Lesson 261 - If only in Korean [-았/었더라면] [-았/었던들]
If only in Korean [-았/었더라면] [-았/었던들]
To regret what did not happen, "if only I had known", "if I had left earlier", Korean combines the past -았/었- with the ending -더라면, which contains the retrospective -더-: -았/었더라면, "if (back then) I had…". The condition is contrary to fact, and the consequence, also in the past, says what would have happened: -았/었을 텐데, -았/었을 거예요, -았/었을지도 몰라요. Its literary cousin -았/었던들 adds a note of concession: "even if I had…, it would have changed nothing". Both extend -았/었으면, but with a stronger focus on a past that is over.
Regret with -았/었더라면
[Verb / adjective]-았/었더라면 [Consequence]-았/었을 텐데 / -았/었을 거예요
The first clause describes a past that did not happen, 알았더라면, "if I had known", 먹었더라면, "if you had eaten"; the second, what would have followed, most often with -(으)ㄹ 텐데 in the past, "it would have been", or -(으)ㄹ 거예요, -(으)ㄹ 수 있었을 거예요. The regret can also be relief: 받지 않았더라면 위험할 뻔했어요, "if I hadn't done it, it would have been dangerous". The adverb 그때, "at that time", often opens the sentence. You keep a single past, 갔더라면, 했더라면: the double past 갔었더라면 is common in speech but unnecessary.
우리 관계가 이렇게 끝나게 될 걸 알았더라면 처음부터 시작하지 않았을 거예요.
→ If I had known our relationship would end like this, I would never have started it.
네가 너무 늦게 와서 음식이 다 식었어. 금방 했을 때 먹었더라면 더 맛있었을 텐데.
→ You came so late that everything has gone cold. If you had eaten when it was freshly made, it would have been better.
제가 어제 재현이처럼 술을 많이 마셨더라면 오늘 회사에 출근할 수 없었을 거예요.
→ If I had drunk as much as Jaehyun yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to go to work today.
그때 건강검진을 받지 않았더라면 아주 위험할 뻔했어요. 정말 운이 좋았어요.
→ If I hadn't had that health check-up back then, it could have been very dangerous. I was really lucky.
Nuances: 만, 이라도, relief and wish
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"Even if I had…" with -았/었던들
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Exercises
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Podcasts in Korean specially designed for beginners, to learn Korean by really listening to it from the very beginning.
You’re starting to learn Korean (or you already know the basics), but as soon as you listen to spoken Korean, everything suddenly feels too fast?
The words blend together, the pronunciation escapes you, and you feel like “real Korean” is very different from what you learned in textbooks.
That’s normal!
Listening comprehension is the most difficult part for all beginners.
