(으)리라, (으)리오, (으)련만, 건대: literary forms to recognise

By Daniel Buckley · 18 minute read · TOPIK 6

Vocabulary

반드시 - without fail
고향 - one's home town
은혜 - a kindness, a debt of gratitude
그리워하다 - to miss, to long for
바라다 - to hope, to wish
이웃 - a neighbour
마땅하다 - to be only right
부족하다 - to be short of
유의하다 - to take note, to be careful
슬픔 - sorrow

이육사's poem 광야 ends on a promise: 이 광야에서 목 놓아 부르게 하리라. You won't hear 하리라 in a café. But open a novel or put on a historical drama, and endings like this are everywhere, and they don't look like anything in your textbook.

You'll read these, you won't say them. So nothing here asks you to build anything. Each form comes with a plain modern equivalent, and the only job is to see it and know what the sentence is doing.

(으)리라: I will, or it will

(으)리라 looks ahead, in two ways. With "I", it's a vow, 겠다 with a raised hand. With anything else, it's a guess about the world, ㄹ 것이다 in a grander voice. You'll meet it in poems, novels and speeches.

Two readings of (으)리라

A vow: what I will do. Modern Korean says 겠다.돌아가리라 = 돌아가겠다
A guess: what must be so. Modern Korean says ㄹ 것이다.녹으리라 = 녹을 것이다도착했으리라 = 도착했을 것이다

나는 반드시 고향으로 돌아가리라.
I shall go back home, whatever it takes.
이번에는 꼭 이기리라.
This time I will win.
이 광야에서 목 놓아 부르게 하리라.
Here in this wilderness I shall have him sing out with all his voice. (이육사, 광야. "Him" is the hero on a white horse the poem promises.)
봄이 오면 눈도 녹으리라.
When spring comes, the snow too will melt.
지금쯤 그는 집에 도착했으리라.
By now he must have reached home.

Inside a sentence it's (으)리라고, or plain (으)리라, before a verb like 믿다, 생각하다 or 기대하다. This is the part that's still alive. Journalists and speechmakers use it, so of everything in this lesson, it's the form you're most likely to see in a modern newspaper.

저는 그가 성공하리라고 믿습니다.
I believe he will succeed.
일이 이렇게 되리라고는 생각하지 못했다.
I never thought it would turn out like this.
아무도 그가 돌아오리라고 기대하지 않았다.
Nobody expected him to come back.
내년에는 경제가 좋아지리라 믿습니다.
I believe the economy will improve next year.

다시는 그 사람을 만나지 않으리라.
내일이면 비가 그치리라.
끝까지 이 길을 가리라.
지금쯤 아이들은 잠들었으리라.
이 일은 내 손으로 끝내리라.
그 소식을 들으면 그도 기뻐하리라.

(으)리오 and (으)랴마는: how could it be?

(으)리오 asks a question that answers itself, usually with 어찌, 누가 or 무엇을 nearby. The speaker isn't waiting for a reply. The sentence is a heavy way of saying "of course not", and it's what a character in a historical drama says with a hand on their heart. In modern Korean you'd ask it with 겠어요 or ㄹ 수 있겠어요.

내 어찌 그 은혜를 잊으리오.
How could I ever forget that kindness?
이 마음을 누가 알리오.
Who could know how I feel?
그 슬픔을 어찌 말로 다 하리오.
How could words ever say that sorrow?
이보다 더 무엇을 바라리오.
What more could I ask for?

(으)랴마는 starts the same kind of question, then turns against it. Its first half is (으)랴, a lighter form of (으)리오, and its second half is 마는, "but". So it means "of course that's so, but", and modern Korean says 겠지만.

누군들 고향을 그리워하지 않으랴마는 돌아갈 수가 없었다.
Who wouldn't miss home? But there was no way back.
그 마음을 누가 모르랴마는 지금은 참아야 한다.
Everyone knows how you feel, but for now you must bear it.
그 사람이 내 말을 들으랴마는 그래도 한번 말해 보자.
He's hardly going to listen to me, but let's try telling him anyway.

(으)려니 and 거니: what I assumed

Both of these hold an assumption in your head, and both usually come before 하다 or 생각하다. Think of 하고 here as "thinking that". (으)려니 is literary, but 겠거니 하다, which means nearly the same thing, is still heard in speech.

One phrase has escaped into daily speech. 그러려니 하다 means to take something as just the way it is and stop minding. You could well say that one yourself.

집에 있으려니 하고 찾아갔는데 아무도 없었다.
I went round assuming she'd be home, but nobody was there.
나는 그가 곧 돌아오려니 생각했다.
I assumed he'd be back soon.
시간이 지나면 괜찮아지겠거니 했어요.
I figured it would be all right in time.
다들 바쁘겠거니 하고 연락을 안 했어요.
I figured everyone was busy, so I didn't get in touch.
그 사람은 원래 그래요. 그냥 그러려니 하세요.
He's always been like that. Just let it go.

※ You'll also see (으)려니 where it means (으)려고 하니, with no assumption in it: 막상 떠나려니 눈물이 났다, when it actually came to leaving, the tears came. If there's no 하고 or 생각하다 after it, try this reading.

거니 has two more uses. Doubled, it shows two things going back and forth, and these pairs are fixed phrases you'll meet in ordinary writing and in sports reports. On its own, in old-style writing, it means "given that", and a question usually follows.

두 사람은 주거니 받거니 술을 마셨다.
The two of them drank, passing the glass back and forth.
두 선수는 앞서거니 뒤서거니 달렸다.
The two runners were neck and neck.
그대가 곁에 있거니 무엇이 두려우랴.
You're at my side, so what is there to fear?

(으)련만: if only

(으)련만, short for (으)련마는, says that something could or should happen, but it isn't happening. It's nearly always a regretful wish, and 좋으련만 is the form you'll see most. You'll meet it in essays and in novels, and sometimes it stands alone at the end of a sentence, with the "but" left hanging.

What (으)련만 says

About now: I wish it were so, but it isn't.좋으련만 = 좋을 텐데
About the past: it should have been so, but it wasn't.좋았으련만 = 좋았을 텐데

비가 좀 오면 좋으련만.
If only it would rain a little.
그 사람이 여기 있으면 좋으련만.
If only he were here.
미리 말해 줬으면 좋았으련만 아무 말도 없었다.
He should have told me earlier, but he said nothing.
조금만 더 기다렸으면 됐으련만 그는 벌써 떠나 버렸다.
Waiting a little longer would have been enough, but he'd already gone.

(으)오니, 건대, ㄹ진대: formal frames

(으)오니 is the one form here you might see on a real notice. It's (으)니 with an old polite 오 inside, and it gives a reason before a request. After a consonant or 겠 you'll usually see 사오니, as in 있사오니, and sometimes 으오니. You've met its relative 죄송하오나 in connectors for writing.

곧 행사가 시작되오니 자리에 앉아 주시기 바랍니다.
The event is about to begin, so please take your seats.
주차 공간이 부족하오니 대중교통을 이용해 주십시오.
Parking is limited, so please use public transport.
수수료가 부과될 수 있사오니 유의하시기 바랍니다.
A fee may apply, so please take note.

건대 goes on a small group of verbs for seeing, hearing, hoping and thinking, and it announces that what follows is that view or that wish. It opens a sentence, the way "as I see it" does. It's bookish but very much in use, in columns and speeches.

제가 보건대 이 계획은 성공하기 어렵습니다.
As I see it, this plan is unlikely to succeed.
듣건대 그가 곧 귀국한다고 한다.
I hear he's coming home soon.
바라건대 부디 건강하시기를.
I hope with all my heart that you keep well.
생각건대 이번 일은 우리의 잘못이다.
To my mind, this was our fault.
요컨대 문제는 돈이다.
In short, the problem is money.

생각건대 has lost the 하 of 생각하건대, which is normal after ㄱ. 요컨대 is a descendant of the same ending that's now a word of its own, and it's the one you'd use in an essay.

ㄹ/을진대 is the rarest and the heaviest. It accepts A as true, then builds B on it: given A, surely B. You'll find it in sermons, old-style speeches and historical dramas, and it often pairs with 하물며, "let alone".

같은 마을에 사는 이웃일진대 서로 돕는 것이 마땅하다.
Since we are neighbours in one village, it is only right that we help each other.
그 말이 사실일진대 어찌 가만히 있겠는가.
If that's true, how could we sit still?
짐승도 제 새끼를 아낄진대 하물며 사람은 어떻겠는가.
If even animals cherish their young, how much more a human being?

노라면: as you keep doing it

노라면 is 다 보면 in old clothes: keep doing this, and that will come. It goes on verbs, and a ㄹ stem drops its ㄹ, so 살다 gives 사노라면. That's also the title of a well-known Korean song.

사노라면 힘든 날도 있다.
As you go through life, there are hard days too.
이 길을 걷노라면 어릴 때가 생각난다.
Walking this road, I find myself thinking of my childhood.
음악을 듣노라면 마음이 편해진다.
When I listen to music for a while, my heart eases.
가만히 앉아 있노라면 별의별 생각이 다 든다.
Sit still for long enough and all sorts of thoughts come.

A page, all at once

Here's how these sound together, in the sort of paragraph you might meet in an older memoir. Try reading the Korean before the English.

고향 길을 걷노라면 어머니 생각이 난다.
Walking the road home, I think of my mother.
살아 계시면 좋으련만 어머니는 이미 세상을 떠나셨다.
If only she were alive, but she has already passed away.
그 은혜를 내 어찌 잊으리오.
How could I forget all she did for me?
이제 나는 고향으로 돌아가리라.
Now I shall go back home.

곧 오려니 하고 기다렸다.
시간이 더 있으면 좋으련만.
누가 그 슬픔을 알리오.
형제일진대 서로 믿어야 한다.
다들 잘 지내겠거니 했다.
내 어찌 그대를 떠나리오.
그 말이 옳을진대 따라야 한다.
같이 갔으면 좋았으련만.

Common mistakes

You're reading these and not writing them, so the mistakes worth knowing are spellings. All three turn up online, and they can throw you when you try to look a form up.

바라건데 부디 건강하세요.
바라건대 부디 건강하세요.
The ending is 건대. 건데 is a common misspelling.
같은 마을 이웃일진데 서로 도와야 한다.
같은 마을 이웃일진대 서로 도와야 한다.
The same trap: the ending is 진대.
그럴려니 하세요.
그러려니 하세요.
It's the stem 그러 plus 려니, with no extra ㄹ.

Check yourself

Quick check

1 / 6

A character in a historical drama says 내 어찌 그대를 잊으리오. What does he mean?

Summary

What each form says in modern Korean

(으)리라: 겠다 for a vow, ㄹ 것이다 for a guess.돌아가리라, 녹으리라
(으)리라고: ㄹ 것이라고, before 믿다 or 생각하다.성공하리라고 믿는다
(으)리오: 겠어요? or ㄹ 수 있겠어요? A question that answers itself.어찌 잊으리오
(으)랴마는: 겠지만, with a rhetorical first half.누가 모르랴마는
(으)려니, 겠거니: I assumed.있으려니 하고, 바쁘겠거니 하고, 그러려니 하다
A거니 B거니: back and forth.주거니 받거니
(으)련만: ㄹ 텐데. If only.좋으련만, 좋았으련만
(으)오니, 사오니: (으)니까, in a formal notice.부족하오니, 있사오니
건대: as I see, hear, hope or think.보건대, 듣건대, 바라건대, 생각건대
ㄹ/을진대: given that, surely.이웃일진대
노라면: 다 보면.사노라면, 걷노라면

(으)리라 forms
Dictionary	Stem	(으)리라
가다	가	가리라
먹다	먹	먹으리라
살다	살	살리라
듣다	듣	들으리라
돕다	돕	도우리라

Now you can read

일이 이렇게 되리라고는 생각하지 못했다.
I never thought it would turn out like this.
그 은혜를 내 어찌 잊으리오.
How could I forget all she did for me?
주차 공간이 부족하오니 대중교통을 이용해 주십시오.
Parking is limited, so please use public transport.