-자면 (-자고 하면)

Short for -자고 하면: 'if (someone) suggests doing V / says "let's V"'. A reported suggestion used as a condition; the main clause gives the speaker's response. Conversational.

인용·전달Quoting & reporting

Han: A suggestion has no tense of its own: keep 가자면 and show the past in the main clause (갔을 거예요).

Examples

선배가 퇴근 후에 한잔하자면 피곤해도 거절하기가 쉽지 않다.When a senior colleague suggests a drink after work, it's hard to say no even if you're tired.

부모님이 이번 명절에는 다 같이 여행을 가자면 저도 일정을 맞춰 볼게요.If my parents suggest we all go on a trip together this holiday, I'll try to fit my schedule around it.

아이들이 놀이공원에 가자면 이번 주말에 데려가 줄 생각이에요.If the kids ask to go to the amusement park, I'm planning to take them this weekend.

Don’t mix up

-자면 (-자고 하면)vs-자면 (의도)Hypothetical intention, nobody proposes: 거기까지 걸어가자면 하루는 걸린다. Quoted suggestion: 친구가 걸어가자면 같이 걸을 거예요.

-자면 (-자고 하면)vs-(으)라면-(으)라면 quotes an order: 부장님이 가라면 가야죠. -자면 quotes a suggestion to do it together: 부장님이 같이 가자면 가야죠.

How to build it

V+자면 (negative: V + 지 말자면)

가다 → 가자면; 먹다 → 먹자면; 놀다 → 놀자면; 한잔하다 → 한잔하자면; 그만두다 → 그만두자면; 가지 말다 → 가지 말자면

Someone, usually not the speaker, proposes 'let's V'; the main clause says how the speaker will react: 친구가 같이 가자면 갈게요.
-자 carries no tense; put the tense in the main clause: 가자면 갔을 거예요, not *갔자면.
Do not confuse it with the ending -자면 of hypothetical intention (제대로 하자면 한 달은 걸린다; 말하자면), where nobody proposes anything. Test: if you can expand it to -자고 하면, it is this one.
The other quoted forms contract the same way: statement -(느)ㄴ다면 (= -(느)ㄴ다고 하면), command -(으)라면 (가라면 갈게요), question -냐면.

Classic mistake

Wrong: ~~친구가 같이 여행을 갔자면 저도 갔을 거예요.~~

Right: 친구가 같이 여행을 가자면 저도 갔을 거예요.

A suggestion has no tense of its own: keep 가자면 and show the past in the main clause (갔을 거예요).

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