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Grammar Advanced TOPIK II · Level 5–6 Advanced Korean 2 · conjunctive ending

-건만

-건만: And Yet — Expected Sequel Fails

Connective: and yet — the expected sequel fails to follow from the conceded front.

Before this, make sure you know: -지만 , -아요 / -어요

How to form it

When Form Example
Verb / adjective stem -건만 알건만 / 좋건만 / 있건만

-건만 grants the front, then breaks the expected sequel — and yet….

You admit 알건만, 좋건만 — and what should follow does not. Curriculum gloss: the expected sequel fails to follow.

Why this is hard

It sits in the same contrast neighbourhood as -지만 and 마는. Learners mash them. -건만 is a stem connective with a heavier, often written coat; 마는 rides after finite endings; -지만 is the everyday bridge.

Expectation is the secret ingredient: the sequel should have followed, and it did not.

What it does

알건만 말을 안 해요.
좋건만 살 돈이 없어요.
있건만 안 써요.
바쁘건만 도와줬어요.

Front is granted. Back refuses the expected line.

Forms

Stem + -건만.

When not to use it

Do not replace every café -지만.

Do not confuse attachment with 마는 after endings.

Do not use it for soft even-if — -어도.

Neighbours — and why they differ

FormWhy it is not this slot
-지만Everyday but.
마는After endings — concede-then-clash particle.
-어도Even if / though.

Ask: did I grant a fact whose expected sequel fails? If yes, -건만. If soft spoken but, stay with -지만.

Do not confuse it with

-지만

but — the plain contrast, blunter than 는데

-아도 / -어도

even if — granting the condition and going ahead anyway

마는

but — opposing what the prior clause led you to expect

Taught alongside this

On the jabi learning path, this appears in 연결어미 (conjunctive ending) — Advanced Korean 2, Unit 2, on the theme of conjunctive ending. These come with it:

-거들랑1 if / when that is so — if the fact holds or comes true (connective) -노라면 if you keep doing… — as you go along doing that -건대 as I see / hear / think… — prefacing that what follows is from your observation -기로서니 even if / no matter how — conceding the premise then rejecting the conclusion -느니만큼 inasmuch as — to the degree that, so… -되 but / with the caveat — granting then restricting -디1 really does… — emphasising by repeating the stem -이라야 only if it is… — specifying that noun as the required one -으련마는 would…, but — hoped result blocked because the condition is unmet -자니3 meaning to… — intention that then hits a snag -는다고1 intending to… / claiming one will… — intention as a linker -자면1 if you mean to… — taking that intention as the starting point -은들 even if it is… — conceding the point and still refusing -을망정 even if / granted — conceding one line and setting the other against it -을라치면 whenever it comes to… — taking that case as the condition

Words used above

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-건만-geonmanand yet
알건만algeonmanknows, and yet…
기대gidaeexpectation

Quick check

No sign-up, no score saved — just see if it stuck.

1. You want to grant that someone does know the answer, and then say they still will not speak. Which line concedes and then disappoints?

2. You are writing a formal notice and want the contrast to sound weighty rather than conversational. Which ending suits the register?

3. Which sentence attaches -건만 to an adjective stem the way the forms table shows?

Common questions

Dictionary?

Connective conceding the prior content while the expected follow-up does not come — and yet.

Vs 마는?

마는 rides after finished endings. -건만 attaches to stems as a connective.

Vs -어도?

-어도 is even-if / though. -건만 is and-yet clash after a granted fact.

Speech?

Possible but less common than -지만 in casual talk.