TOPIK II · LEVEL 4
-(으)ㄴ/는 셈치다
Used when you deliberately choose to treat something as if it were true, even though it isn't, usually to accept a loss or to take a chance.
조건·가정Conditions & what-ifsHan: 셈이다 states a conclusion based on facts, so it cannot be used to ask someone to accept an assumption; for a deliberate 'let's just consider it so', use 셈치고.
Examples
속는 셈치고 한 번만 믿어 봐.Even if you think you might be fooled, just trust me this once.
비싼 수업료를 낸 셈치고 다음에는 더 조심하세요.Consider it an expensive lesson and be more careful next time.
잃어버린 돈은 기부한 셈치고 잊어버리세요.Just think of the money you lost as a donation and forget about it.
운동하는 셈치고 엘리베이터 대신 계단으로 올라가자.Let's take the stairs instead of the elevator and count it as exercise.
Don’t mix up
-(으)ㄴ/는 셈치다vs-(으)ㄴ/는 셈이다셈이다 draws a real conclusion from facts ('it practically amounts to'); 셈치다 is a deliberate assumption of something untrue: 월급의 반을 월세로 내니까 반만 버는 셈이에요.-(으)ㄴ/는 셈치다vs-(으)ㄴ/는 척하다척하다 means acting so that others believe something; 셈치다 changes how you yourself view the situation: 아픈 척하고 학교에 안 갔어요.How to build it
V+(으)ㄴ 셈치다 (completed)
V+는 셈치다 (present)
있다/없다+는 셈치다
N+인 셈치다
기부하다 → 기부한 셈치다, 속다 → 속는 셈치다, 없다 → 없는 셈치다
- It expresses an assumption the speaker knows is not actually true. To state a real conclusion drawn from facts, use -(으)ㄴ/는 셈이다 instead.
- It is most often used as -(으)ㄴ/는 셈치고 followed by a suggestion, request or intention (-세요, -자, -아/어 봐, -(으)ㄹ게요).
- It usually attaches to verbs (and 있다/없다); plain adjectives are rare. Note fixed phrases like 속는 셈치고 ('even at the risk of being fooled').
- 셈치다 is listed as a single verb in the standard dictionary, so it is written without a space: 셈치다, 셈치고.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 속는 셈이고 한 번만 믿어 봐.
Right: 속는 셈치고 한 번만 믿어 봐.
셈이다 states a conclusion based on facts, so it cannot be used to ask someone to accept an assumption; for a deliberate 'let's just consider it so', use 셈치고.
Practise -(으)ㄴ/는 셈치다 on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(이)면 (조사)Attaches to a noun to mean 'if it is N / whenever it is N'; repeated as N(이)면 N, it means 'in every field, whatever you name'.
- -(으)ㄹ 바에는Use -(으)ㄹ 바에는 to say that if the only way is to do this unpleasant thing, you would rather do something else instead.
- -(으)ㄴ/는 한Sets a condition that must keep holding for the result to stay true: 'as long as…', and with -지 않는 한, 'unless…'.
- -만 같아도Means 'if things were even like N': it holds up a past time or a standard and says how different the result would be (or was) then, often with regret or surprise at change.
- -다가는-다가는 warns that if you keep doing something (or do it at all), something bad will happen.
- -(으)나-(으)나 is a formal written 'but / however', linking two contrasting clauses.
- -(으)되-(으)되 states or allows a first action and then adds a condition or limit to it, in a formal or written style.
- -(으)ㄹ 게 아니라Use it to say that doing X is not the right move, so you should do Y instead: "rather than doing X, do Y."
- -(으)ㄹ 무렵-(으)ㄹ 무렵 means 'around the time when …'.