(으)면과 다면

In Elementary-level Korean, I learnt how to use the grammar ~(으)면. In Intermediate-level Korean, I learnt how to apply ~다면. But there is always this question that has been bugging me. What is the difference between the two grammars? It seems like this question will only be answered in Advanced-level Korean.


~(으)면
(Making an assumption, based on known facts or accepted belief, which is quite probable to happen )

The conjunction (으)면 is normally used when a person knows a certain fact, truth or information which is probably true. By making certain assumption using (으)면, the person can emphasise a fact, give a warning, an advice or an encouragement. (으)면 is also used when time is being talked about (for e.g. 시간이 나면, 밤이 되면).

Example 1: 계속해서 운동을 하지 않으면 건강이 나빠질 것이다.
The known fact here is that exercise is good for health and the lack of it means health will deteriorate. The assumption made is, if that somebody continues not to exercise, then let him be warned that his health will deteriorate. In this situation, (으)면 is used to give a warning because it is already known that the lack of exercise will eventually mean deteriorating health.

Example 2: 나이가 들면 누구나 흰머리가 생긴다.
In this example, the truth is that everyone will have white hairs when we grow old. (으)면 is used in this situation to emphasise the fact to those who may not have fully accepted the fact that if we grow old, we will naturally have white hairs.


~다면
(Making an assumption, based on personal feeling or belief, which is quite improbable to happen)

Example 1: 네가 도와주지 않았다면 일을 그렿게 빨리 끝낼 수 없었을 거야.

What this sentence is trying to say is, "I believe that if you had not helped, the task would not have completed so expeditiously." The speaker is trying to give credits to someone else for a task well done. The truth may be that 'someone' did not actually contribute much and the speaker is fully deserving of all the credits except that he chose not to accept them out of humbleness.

Example 2: 내가 너라면 이번에 받은 장학금으로 영행을 갈 거야.
(Note: ~다면 includes (Action Verb + (은/는)다면), (Stative Verb + 다면) and (Noun + (이)라면). In this sentence, "너" is a noun, hence "라면".)

In this example, the assumption made is definitely not probable since 'I' cannot be 'you'. However, this improbable assumption is still made to create a scenario for the speaker to express his thought on what he will do in that particular scenario. It may sound strange for someone to assume a scenario in order to speak out his intention, but it won't be strange if you know that the speaker (in this context) is trying to tell the other person indirectly that you are not using your scholarship for what it is worth. '다면' can be used to tell someone about your opinion or proposal in an indirect and subtle way so as to avoid offending someone who may not like to be told what to do directly.

The grammar 아/어서 may be my most frequently-used grammar but (으)면 and 다면 are the grammars that "witness" my progression from Elementary to Advanced-level Korean. For this reason, I have to write this post ^^

이퀴녹 축가해. 여기까지 닿을 수 있는 건 쉬운 건 아니야. 나도 너무나 놀랐어. 그래서 잘 했어. 파이팅!