TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-았/었던들
Imagines the opposite of what really happened in the past ('had X happened…'), usually with regret that things could have turned out differently.
조건·가정Conditions & what-ifsHan: The -았던들 clause describes an unreal past, so the result must also be a past conjecture (-았을 것이다), not a plain future.
Examples
그때 내가 조금만 더 용기를 냈던들 우리 관계가 이렇게 끝나지는 않았을 것이다.Had I been a little braver back then, our relationship would not have ended like this.
의사의 말을 진작 들었던들 병이 이토록 깊어지지는 않았을 텐데.If only I had listened to the doctor sooner, the illness wouldn't have become this serious.
정부가 미리 대비책을 마련했던들 피해를 크게 줄일 수 있었을 것이다.Had the government prepared countermeasures in advance, the damage could have been greatly reduced.
부모님께서 살아 계셨던들 오늘 이 자리를 얼마나 기뻐하셨을까.Had my parents been alive, how happy they would have been on this occasion today.
Don’t mix up
-았/었던들vs-았/었더라면Same counterfactual meaning, but neutral and common in speech, while -았던들 is bookish: 일찍 왔더라면 그 사람을 만났을 텐데요.-았/었던들vs-(으)ㄴ들Concessive 'even if': the result stays the same (often a rhetorical question), whereas -았던들 says the result would have been different: 아무리 후회한들 무슨 소용이 있겠어요?-았/었던들vs-았/었다면Can also suppose a past fact that is merely unknown, not necessarily untrue; -았던들 is for things that did not happen: 그가 범인이었다면 증거가 남아 있을 거예요.
How to build it
V/A+았/었던들
N+이었던들/였던들
알다 → 알았던들, 계시다 → 계셨던들, 학생 → 학생이었던들
- Used for past situations that did not actually happen; for real or future conditions use -(으)면.
- The result clause is usually a guess about the past: -았/었을 것이다, -았/었을 텐데, -았/었을까. It cannot end in a command or suggestion.
- It sounds literary and formal (essays, speeches, novels); in everyday conversation -았/었더라면 is more natural.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 그때 열심히 공부했던들 시험에 합격할 것이다.
Right: 그때 열심히 공부했던들 시험에 합격했을 것이다.
The -았던들 clause describes an unreal past, so the result must also be a past conjecture (-았을 것이다), not a plain future.
Practise -았/었던들 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.
- -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.
- -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.