TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-자면
A 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'.
조건·가정Conditions & what-ifsHan: -자면 needs an action verb; 건강하다 is an adjective.
Examples
이 많은 자료를 다 정리하자면 적어도 일주일은 걸릴 거예요.Sorting out all this material would take at least a week.
전통 방식 그대로 장을 담그자면 손이 많이 가고 시간도 오래 걸린다.Making fermented sauces the fully traditional way takes a lot of work and a long time.
솔직히 말하자면 저는 그 계획에 찬성하지 않습니다.To be honest, I don't support that plan.
Don’t mix up
-자면vs-(으)려면Same idea, more everyday: 거기 가려면 서둘러야 해요. -자면 is more bookish and general: 거기까지 걸어가자면 하루는 걸린다.-자면vs-자니-자니 voices a dilemma when you try to act: 먹자니 배부르고 버리자니 아깝다. -자면 states what an action would require.How to build it
V+자면
가다 → 가자면; 끝내다 → 끝내자면; 듣다 → 듣자면; 말하다 → 말하자면; 따지다 → 따지자면; 지키다 → 지키자면
- Action verbs only. Adjectives cannot take it; use a verb (-아/어지다, 지키다…): 건강을 지키자면….
- The second clause states a requirement or cost: -아/어야 하다, 걸리다, 들다, 필요하다, 쉽지 않다: 제대로 하자면 한 달은 걸린다.
- Set phrases introducing a rephrasing or opinion: 말하자면, 솔직히 말하자면, 굳이 따지자면, 엄밀히 말하자면, 예를 들자면.
- Elsewhere -자면 can simply be quoted 'if someone says let's': 친구가 같이 가자면 갈게 (= 가자고 하면).
Classic mistake
Wrong: 건강하자면 꾸준히 운동해야 해요.
Right: 건강을 지키자면 꾸준히 운동해야 해요.
-자면 needs an action verb; 건강하다 is an adjective.
Practise -자면 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.
- -았/었던들Imagines the opposite of what really happened in the past ('had X happened…'), usually with regret that things could have turned out differently.
- -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.