TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-는 날에는
V-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."
조건·가정Conditions & what-ifsHan: The 는 in this pattern is fixed: the feared event is imagined, so it takes V-는 regardless of time; -았는 is not a Korean form (use 늦었다가는 if you want a past-stem pattern).
Examples
그 사람 비밀을 누설하는 날에는 이 업계에서 다시는 일 못 할 거예요.If you ever leak his secret, you'll never work in this industry again.
이 사실이 부장님 귀에 들어가는 날에는 우리 둘 다 끝이야.If this ever reaches the manager's ears, we're both finished.
이렇게 무리하다가 쓰러지는 날에는 아무도 책임져 주지 않아요.If you keep overworking like this and collapse one day, nobody will take responsibility for you.
엄마한테 거짓말한 게 들통나는 날에는 용돈은 꿈도 꾸지 마.If Mom ever finds out you lied, don't even dream of getting pocket money.
Don’t mix up
-는 날에는vs-았/었다가는Same warning meaning, but it attaches to the past stem and sounds less dramatic; -는 날에는 vividly pictures "that day": 거짓말했다가는 큰일 나요 vs 거짓말하는 날에는 큰일 나요.
-는 날에는vsliteral -는 날에는 (on days when)With real, recurring days there is no warning and the result is neutral: 비 오는 날에는 집에서 쉬어요 (On rainy days I rest at home).
-는 날에는vs-(으)면A neutral condition that can lead to any result; -는 날에는 requires a dire one: 늦으면 전화하세요 is fine, but a request like this cannot use -는 날에는 in the warning sense.How to build it
V+는 날에는
들키다 → 들키는 날에는 (if it ever gets found out)
- Use the present form 는 even though the event is imagined in the future; forms like -았는 날에는 or -을 날에는 are wrong. Adjectives are rare in this sense.
- The main clause states a grave result or threat (끝이다, 큰일 나다, 가만두지 않겠다, 못 할 것이다); it is not used for neutral or pleasant outcomes, and the main clause is not in the past tense.
- The warning sense comes from a single hypothetical event; with recurring situations (비 오는 날에는) the phrase just means "on days when ~".
- It is emphatic and mostly spoken or used in fiction; in formal writing -(으)ㄹ 경우 or -(으)면 is more usual.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 회사에 또 늦었는 날에는 해고당할 거야.
Right: 회사에 또 늦는 날에는 해고당할 거야.
The 는 in this pattern is fixed: the feared event is imagined, so it takes V-는 regardless of time; -았는 is not a Korean form (use 늦었다가는 if you want a past-stem pattern).
Practise -는 날에는 on real TOPIK questions
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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.
- -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.
- -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.
- -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.