TOPIK II · LEVEL 5
-고도
-고도 means that even after A has actually happened, B happens or stays the opposite of what A would lead you to expect.
대조·양보Contrast & concessionHan: -고도 does not take the past marker -았/었-; the past is shown only by the final verb 나았어요.
Examples
이 영화는 슬프고도 아름다운 사랑 이야기를 담고 있다.This film tells a sad yet beautiful love story.
열 시간이나 자고도 아직 피곤해요?You're still tired even after sleeping ten hours?
그는 밥을 두 그릇이나 먹고도 아직 배가 고프다고 했다.He said he was still hungry even after eating two bowls of rice.
민수는 내 말을 분명히 듣고도 못 들은 척했다.Minsu clearly heard what I said, yet pretended he hadn't.
Don’t mix up
-고도vs-는데도-는데도 contrasts with any existing situation, even one with a different subject; -고도 stresses that the subject's own action A was completed. 비가 오는데도 우산 없이 나갔다 (not 비가 오고도).
-고도vs-(으)면서도-(으)면서도 means the two things are true at the same time; -고도 means B follows after A is done. 웃으면서도 눈물을 흘렸다 vs 약을 먹고도 낫지 않았다.
-고도vs-아/어도-아/어도 can be hypothetical ("even if"); -고도 is used only for an action that really happened. 내일 비가 와도 갈 거예요 (not 비가 오고도).How to build it
V/A+고도
먹다 → 먹고도, 듣다 → 듣고도, 슬프다 → 슬프고도
- Do not put past tense on the first verb (먹었고도 ✗). Tense is marked only at the end of the sentence.
- A must be a real, completed action, not a hypothetical one. For "even if" about the future, use -아/어도.
- Both clauses usually share the same subject. Common collocations: 알고도/보고도/듣고도 모른 척하다.
- With adjectives, -고도 joins two qualities for emphasis or contrast (슬프고도 아름다운, 멀고도 가까운). This is mostly a written or literary use.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 어제 약을 먹었고도 감기가 안 나았어요.
Right: 어제 약을 먹고도 감기가 안 나았어요.
-고도 does not take the past marker -았/었-; the past is shown only by the final verb 나았어요.
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄹ 망정-(으)ㄹ망정 means 'even if I have to accept this bad situation, I still won't give up something more important,' or 'although X is true, Y still holds.'
- -(으)ㄹ 테지만From -(으)ㄹ 터이지만: 'surely / probably …, but'. The speaker grants a confident assumption, often about the listener's feelings or situation, and then adds a contrasting point. A little more formal than -겠지만.
- -(으)ㄹ지언정Use it to say you would accept even something bad in the first clause, but you will firmly hold to what you say in the second: "even if X, I still (won't) Y" or "X may be so, but Y."
- -(느)ㄴ다기보다는Use it to say that a first description is not quite accurate and then give a better one: 'it's not so much X as Y.'
- -지 (대조)A linking -지 that sets what is true against what is not: 'it is A, not B' / 'it only does A and not B'. Most often met as N(이)지 N이/가 아니다; neutral, used in speech and writing.
- -아/어 봤자-아/어 봤자 says that even if you do something, it will be useless or the result will be small, so it is not worth doing.
- -에도 불구하고N에도 불구하고 'despite N, in spite of N': a known fact, expressed by a noun, that should have prevented the result, yet the result happened. Formal: news, reports, speeches.
- -(이)란N(이)란 picks out a concept that you are about to define or explain the essence of: "N is (by its nature)…", "what we call N is…".
- -(으)ㄹ 게 뻔하다Use -(으)ㄹ 게 뻔하다 when the situation makes it plain to you that something, usually something bad, will happen or has happened.