TOPIK II · LEVEL 5
-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.
대조·양보Contrast & concessionHan: -아/어 봤자 means the action won't help, so the result must be negative or useless; for a positive outcome use -(으)면 or -아/어도.
Examples
이 가방은 비싸 봤자 오만 원 정도일 거예요.This bag will cost about 50,000 won at most.
그 사람한테 말해 봤자 소용없어요. 절대 안 들어요.There's no point telling him. He never listens.
지금 가 봤자 가게는 벌써 문을 닫았을 거예요.Even if we go now, the shop will probably have closed already.
아무리 후회해 봤자 지나간 일은 되돌릴 수 없잖아요.No matter how much you regret it, you can't undo what's already happened.
Don’t mix up
-아/어 봤자vs-아/어도-아/어도 is a neutral 'even if' and allows any result; 봤자 requires a useless result: 비가 와도 갈 거예요 (fine), but not *비가 와 봤자 갈 거예요.-아/어 봤자vs-(으)나 마나-(으)나 마나 stresses that doing it or not makes no difference because the result is obvious; 봤자 stresses the effort itself is pointless: 물어보나 마나 안 된다고 할 거예요.
-아/어 봤자vs-더라도-더라도 can be followed by a resolve or a command; 봤자 cannot: 힘들더라도 끝까지 하세요 (not *힘들어 봤자 끝까지 하세요).How to build it
V/A+아/어 봤자
N+(이)어 봤자 (consonant ending: 이어 봤자 / vowel ending: 여 봤자)
말하다 → 말해 봤자, 가다 → 가 봤자, 비싸다 → 비싸 봤자, 학생 → 학생이어 봤자, 아이 → 아이여 봤자
- The second clause must show a useless, negative or insignificant result (often 소용없다, -(으)ㄹ 거예요, 뻔하다); it cannot introduce a good or hoped-for outcome.
- Do not add -았/었- or -겠- to the verb before 봤자 (not *갔어 봤자); show the time at the end of the sentence instead (전화해 봤자 안 받았을 거예요).
- The main clause is usually a statement or judgment, not a command or suggestion directly about the same action.
- With adjectives and nouns it often means 'at most, no more than': 비싸 봤자 만 원이에요.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 지금 택시를 타 봤자 제시간에 도착할 거예요.
Right: 지금 택시를 타 봤자 제시간에 도착 못 할 거예요.
-아/어 봤자 means the action won't help, so the result must be negative or useless; for a positive outcome use -(으)면 or -아/어도.
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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.
- -고도-고도 means that even after A has actually happened, B happens or stays the opposite of what A would lead you to expect.
- -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.