만약 = in case, if

(으)면 = verb ending for “if”

<aside> 📎 Conjugation:

In order to add the meaning “if” to a verb, add -(으)면 [-(eu)-myeon] to the verb stem.

</aside>

1. Verb stems ending with a vowel + -면 Ex) 자다 [ja-da] --> 자면 [ja-myeon] (if you sleep)

2. Verb stems ending with ㄹ + -면 Ex) 길다 [gil-da] --> 길면 [gil-myeon] (if it is long)

3. Verb stems ending with consonants other than ㄹ + -으면 Ex) 작다 [jak-tta] --> 작으면 [ja-geu-myeon] (if it is small)

To make the sentence clearer, add the word 만약 in front of the verb or at the beginning of the phrase. Since most Korean sentences are heavily affected by verb endings toward the end of sentences, adding 만약 at the beginning makes it easier to understand that the sentence will be conditional.

Ex)

(1)Verb: 자다 = to sleep 지금 자면 [ji-geum] = if I sleep now 만약 지금 자면 = if I sleep now

(2)Verb: 비가 오다 [bi-ga o-da] = to rain

내일 밤에 비가 오면 [nae-il ba-me] = if it rains tomorrow night만약 내일 밤에 비가 오면 = if it rains tomorrow night

• In the second sentence for both examples on the previous page, the listener can figure out that the sentence is going to be an “if” sentence just by hearing “만약”.

If what you are saying is simple and the sentence is not very long, you do not always have to use the word 만약 in each sentence.

먹다 [meok-tta] = to eat먹으면 [meo-geu-myeon] = if you eat it; if I eat it

• Add the -았/었/였- [-at/eot/yeot-] suffix before -으면 to make a past tense clause.

먹었어요 [meo-geo-sseo-yo] = I ate먹 + 었 + 으면 [meo-geo-sseu-myeon] = if you ate it; if I ate it

사다 [sa-da] = to buy사면 [sa-myeon] = if you buy it; if I buy it; if they buy it샀다 [sat-tta] = I bought샀으면 [sa-sseu-myeon] = if you bought it; if we bought it

• Create future tense sentences by using -(으)ㄹ 거면 [-(eu)l kkeo-myeon].

보다 [bo-da] = to watch보면 [bo-myeon] = if you watch it; if I watch it봤다 [bwat-tta] = I watched봤으면 [bwa-sseu-myeon] = if I watched it; if they watched it볼 거예요 [bol kkeo-ye-yo] = I am going to watch볼 거면 [bol kkeo-myeon] = if you are going to watch it