TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-노라면
-노라면 means 'if you keep doing something for a while', and the next clause gives the result that naturally follows; it has a literary, reflective tone.
조건·가정Conditions & what-ifsHan: -노라면 does not take the past marker -았/었-. It attaches directly to the verb stem, and the time is shown in the second clause.
Examples
이 길을 따라 한참 걷노라면 작은 호수가 나타난다.If you keep walking along this path for a while, a small lake appears.
옛 친구의 편지를 읽노라면 그 시절이 저절로 떠오른다.If I keep reading an old friend's letters, those days come back to me by themselves.
꾸준히 연습하노라면 실력은 자연스럽게 늘기 마련이다.If you keep practicing steadily, your skill is bound to improve naturally.
힘들어도 열심히 사노라면 언젠가는 좋은 날이 올 것이다.Even if it is hard, if you keep living earnestly, a good day will come someday.
Don’t mix up
-노라면vs-다(가) 보면Same meaning, but -다 보면 is the neutral everyday form, while -노라면 sounds literary. In conversation choose 계속 연습하다 보면 잘하게 될 거예요.
-노라면vs-노라고-노라고 explains the effort someone made, often before an unexpected past result, while -노라면 states what follows if an action continues: 열심히 하노라고 했는데 결과가 안 좋았어요.-노라면vs-(으)면-(으)면 is a simple condition with no idea of repeating or continuing, so one-time events need -(으)면: 비가 오면 안 갈 거예요 (not 비가 오노라면).How to build it
V (action verb stem)+노라면 (ㄹ-stem verbs drop ㄹ)
걷다 → 걷노라면, 살다 → 사노라면
- Attach it to action verbs, not adjectives. Do not add a tense marker: 했노라면 and 하겠노라면 are wrong.
- The second clause usually describes a natural outcome or discovery, often with -게 되다, -(으)ㄹ 것이다 or -기 마련이다. It is not normally followed by a command or a suggestion.
- Verbs whose stem ends in ㄹ lose the ㄹ: 살다 → 사노라면, 만들다 → 만드노라면.
- It is mostly used in writing, essays, speeches and songs. In everyday conversation Koreans usually say -다(가) 보면 instead.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 꾸준히 공부했노라면 언젠가는 합격하게 될 것이다.
Right: 꾸준히 공부하노라면 언젠가는 합격하게 될 것이다.
-노라면 does not take the past marker -았/었-. It attaches directly to the verb stem, and the time is shown in the second clause.
Practise -노라면 on real TOPIK questions
Hannim plans each day up to your exam date: questions on this pattern, reviews, full mock papers and graded writing. 7 days free, no card.
Start 7-day free trialMore level 6 grammar
All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㄹ진대-(으)ㄹ진대 sets up an accepted fact as a premise ("given that…, since it is so that…") from which a firm conclusion, command or rhetorical question follows, in formal, bookish style.
- -(느)ㄴ다면야-(느)ㄴ다면야 stresses a condition: if this is really the case, the result naturally follows; the speaker often accepts or concedes the condition.
- -(으)ㄹ라치면-(으)ㄹ라치면 means 'every time I am about to do something, (annoyingly) something else happens', describing a repeated pattern that blocks or spoils the attempt.
- -는 날에는V-는 날에는 pictures the day a feared event might happen and warns that a serious, usually bad consequence will follow: "if ever ~, then it's all over."
- -았/었다 하면-았/었다 하면 means that once someone does a certain action, a particular, often excessive result follows every single time.
- -았/었던들Imagines the opposite of what really happened in the past ('had X happened…'), usually with regret that things could have turned out differently.
- -자면A connective ending of hypothetical intention, 'if one sets out to do V, if V is to be done': it states what doing it would take (time, money, effort). This is an ending in its own right; the quoted contraction of -자고 하면 'if someone says let's' is a separate use (see the last rule). Slightly bookish; also in set phrases like 말하자면 'so to speak' and 솔직히 말하자면 'to be honest'.
- -기로 들면If someone really sets about doing something, often stubbornly, there is no end to it, or nothing is impossible.
- -거들랑 (조건)A colloquial, old-fashioned or regional-sounding variant of conditional -거든: 'if / when …, (then do …)'. Heard from older speakers and in novels or period dramas; shortened to -걸랑.