As long as: -기만 하면 or -기만 해도 Hello there! Once again I've read very different explanations how to say "As long as..." in Korean. Some websites said: "As long as you're here, I'm fine." = 너가 여기에 있기만

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Marius

As long as: -기만 하면 or -기만 해도 Hello there! Once again I've read very different explanations how to say "As long as..." in Korean. Some websites said: "As long as you're here, I'm fine." = 너가 여기에 있기만 하면, 나는 좋아. But some Korean friends said I can only use "기만 하면" if the outcome is negative. And for my example I should use: 너가 여기에 있기만 해도, 나는 좋아. So which is it? -기만 하면 or -기만 해도?

Nov 18, 2012 3:29 PM

Answers · 13

I think your Korean friend was wrong. It is not the same thing at all. It means -하는 한. - 한다면. As long as you're here, I'm fine = 너가 여기 있는 한, 난 괜찮아. -하기만 하면 means "if you dare" for example, "if you dare breathe a word, I will cut your head off" = 말한마디하기만 하면, 죽여버리겠다.

November 18, 2012

To be precise, the answer is "-기만 하면", even though natives don't distinguish them clearly. As it seems clearly that "as long as" explains situations on a particular CONDITION, the corresponding expression of it in Korean MIGHT be "-하면". "-해도" sometimes refers to the same meaning you mentioned, but it is used TO EXPRESS spearker's feelings more concretely.

November 19, 2012

exactly an expert** It seems I should stop writing while working on other thing!

November 19, 2012

Glad it was helpful! But I'm not exactly, so I'd like to hear the opinion of a native speaker on it. Also, my apologies for some messy writing. I had forgotten that formatting was lost, and I had wrote it while preparing for a video conference, so some of my writing was a bit poor (though I don't think it interfered with the meaning).

November 19, 2012

Wow, Mytch, thanks so much! Your explanation really shed some light for me! If it was a regular answer to this, I would definately hit "best answer"! Thanks!

November 19, 2012

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