TOPIK II · LEVEL 4
-(으)ㄹ 법하다
-(으)ㄹ 법하다 says that something is quite plausible or would be natural to expect, given the situation or common sense.
추측·판단Guessing & judgingHan: -(으)ㄹ 법하다 judges whether something is plausible or natural; it does not express your own plans or a simple guess about what you will do, so use -(으)ㄹ 것 같다 here.
Examples
그 사람 성격이라면 그런 말을 했을 법해요.Given his personality, it's quite plausible that he said something like that.
한 시간이나 기다렸으면 화가 날 법도 해요.If you waited a whole hour, it's understandable that you'd get angry.
영화 이야기지만 실제로도 있을 법한 일이에요.It's a story from a movie, but it's something that could really happen.
그렇게 열심히 공부했으면 합격할 법한데 왜 떨어졌을까요?You'd expect him to pass after studying that hard, so why did he fail?
Don’t mix up
-(으)ㄹ 법하다vs-(으)ㄹ 만하다만하다 mainly says something is worth doing or doable (이 영화는 볼 만해요); 법하다 is about plausibility. They overlap only in "understandable" (화가 날 만해요 / 화가 날 법해요).-(으)ㄹ 법하다vs-는 법이다-는 법이다 states a general truth or rule of life (노력하면 성공하는 법이에요); -(으)ㄹ 법하다 judges a specific situation (그렇게 노력했으니 성공할 법해요).-(으)ㄹ 법하다vs-(으)ㄹ 것 같다-(으)ㄹ 것 같다 is a neutral everyday guess, also about yourself (저는 늦을 것 같아요); 법하다 adds the idea "it would make sense / be natural" and is not used for your own plans.
How to build it
V/A+(으)ㄹ 법하다 (past: V/A + 았/었을 법하다)
있다 → 있을 법하다, 화가 나다 → 화가 날 법하다
- It expresses the speaker's judgment about how reasonable or plausible something is; it is not used to state your own plans or intentions.
- It is very often used as -(으)ㄹ 법도 하다 ("it's understandable") or -(으)ㄹ 법한데 ("you'd expect…, but"), the latter implying the expected thing did not happen.
- For a judgment about a past event, put the past tense before it: 했을 법하다, not 할 법했다 (which means "it seemed plausible back then").
- It cannot be used in commands or suggestions (no -(으)세요, -(으)ㅂ시다 meaning).
Classic mistake
Wrong: 저는 내일 도서관에 갈 법해요.
Right: 저는 내일 도서관에 갈 것 같아요.
-(으)ㄹ 법하다 judges whether something is plausible or natural; it does not express your own plans or a simple guess about what you will do, so use -(으)ㄹ 것 같다 here.
Practise -(으)ㄹ 법하다 on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄹ 리가 없다Use -(으)ㄹ 리가 없다 when you are convinced that something cannot possibly be true or happen, based on what you know.
- -(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 게 틀림없다-(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 게 틀림없다 expresses a confident guess: 'there's no doubt that / it must be …'.
- -(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ 듯(하다)A written-style way to guess, 'it seems / it looks like', the bookish counterpart of -(으)ㄴ/는 것 같다; used as -듯(하다) at the end, or as -(으)ㄴ/는 듯 to link a description to the next clause.
- -(으)ㄹ까 봐-(으)ㄹ까 봐 means 'worried that something bad might happen', and that worry is the reason for what you do or feel.
- -(으)ㅁ직하다It says that something is worth doing or quite likely to happen, as in food that looks good to eat (먹음직하다) or an event that could plausibly happen (있음직하다).
- -기 일쑤다-기 일쑤다 says that something undesirable happens again and again, almost as a bad habit.
- -기 마련이다-기 마련이다 says that something naturally happens as a general rule of life, so it is no surprise.
- -는가 보다The verb form of the evidence-based guess 'it seems that…': V + 는가 보다 (가는가 보다). Same meaning as -나 보다, slightly more careful and frequent in writing and narration.
- -(으)나-(으)나 is a formal written 'but / however', linking two contrasting clauses.