2 · Helping verbs and modal patterns
I hope …: -(으)면 좋겠다
a wish about anybody or anything
-(으)면 좋겠어요 and the stronger -았/었으면 좋겠어요 wish for something to be so — literally “it would be good if …”.
At a glance
- Remember
- Go sipda wants to do; myeon joketda wishes it were so — for anyone.
- Form
- 오다 → 오면 좋겠어요after a vowel
- Signal words
- -(으)면 좋겠다
- -았/었으면 좋겠다
- 빨리
- -았/었으면 하다
- Trap
- Wrong:저는 친구가 한국에 오고 싶어요.Right:저는 친구가 한국에 왔으면 좋겠어요.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| after a vowel | 오다 → 오면 좋겠어요 |
| after a consonant | 좋다 → 좋으면 좋겠어요 |
| the stronger wish | 오다 → 왔으면 좋겠어요 |
| a wish that it will not | 안 왔으면 좋겠어요 |
| a polite request | 보내 주셨으면 좋겠어요 |
| formal | 왔으면 합니다 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-(으)면 좋겠어요 wishes for something to be so.
내일 날씨가 맑으면 좋겠어요.I hope it is sunny tomorrow.
-았/었으면 좋겠어요 is the more common, more heartfelt form; it refers to the future all the same.
빨리 주말이 왔으면 좋겠어요.I wish the weekend would hurry up and come.
The wish can be about anybody, not only the speaker.
동생이 시험에 합격했으면 좋겠어요.I hope my younger sister passes the exam.
Addressed to the listener, it becomes a polite request.
조금만 더 기다려 주셨으면 좋겠어요.I would be grateful if you could wait a little longer.
Example sentences
올해는 한국에 꼭 갔으면 좋겠어요.I really hope I get to go to Korea this year.
이번 주말에는 비가 안 왔으면 좋겠어요.I hope it doesn't rain this weekend.
집이 회사에서 좀 더 가까우면 좋겠어요.I wish my home were a bit closer to work.
모두 건강했으면 좋겠어요.I hope everybody stays well.
시간이 좀 더 있으면 좋겠어요.I wish I had a bit more time.
내일까지 답장해 주셨으면 좋겠어요.I would be grateful for a reply by tomorrow.
8 more example sentences
이번 시험이 좀 쉬웠으면 좋겠어요.I hope this exam is a bit easier.
우리 아이가 친구를 많이 사귀었으면 좋겠어요.I hope our child makes lots of friends.
언젠가 바다가 보이는 집에서 살았으면 좋겠어요.I would love to live in a house with a sea view one day.
회의가 빨리 끝나면 좋겠어요.I hope the meeting finishes soon.
내일은 좀 덜 추웠으면 좋겠어요.I hope it is a bit less cold tomorrow.
다음에는 같이 갔으면 좋겠어요.I would like us to go together next time.
좀 조용히 해 주셨으면 좋겠어요.I would appreciate it if you could be a bit quieter.
그 일이 잘됐으면 좋겠어요.I hope it works out well.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
-고 싶어요 wants an action of the speaker's own: 한국에 가고 싶어요, “I want to go”. A wish about what somebody else does needs -(으)면 좋겠어요: 친구가 왔으면 좋겠어요, “I wish my friend would come”.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The pattern is the conditional -(으)면, “if”, followed by 좋겠다, “it would be good”: 주말에 날씨가 좋으면 좋겠어요, “I hope the weather is nice at the weekend”. The conditional takes -면 after a vowel and -으면 after a consonant, as everywhere.
Much more common in speech is the past inside the conditional: -았/었으면 좋겠어요. 빨리 방학이 왔으면 좋겠어요, “I wish the holidays would come soon”. The past does not mean that anything has happened; it makes the wish sound more heartfelt, as if the speaker were already picturing it done.
Unlike -고 싶다, which only wants an action of the speaker's own, this pattern can wish for anything: the weather, another person's action, a state of affairs. 친구가 한국에 왔으면 좋겠어요 is “I wish my friend would come to Korea”; -고 싶다 could not say that.
Said to the listener, the wish becomes a polite request: 내일까지 보내 주셨으면 좋겠어요, “I would be grateful if you could send it by tomorrow”. A wish that something will not happen takes 안 or -지 않: 비가 안 왔으면 좋겠어요. In formal writing, -았/었으면 합니다 does the same job.
A closer look
Why the past makes a wish stronger
오면 좋겠어요 pictures a possibility: if it comes, that would be good. 왔으면 좋겠어요 pictures it as already accomplished and longs for that picture. That is why the past form sounds warmer and more urgent, and why it is the usual one in speech.
For a wish about the past that can no longer come true, Korean uses a different ending: 미리 알았으면 좋았을 텐데, “if only I had known”. 좋겠어요 always looks forward.
Worth knowing (1)
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Softening it further
Ending the wish in -는데요 leaves the request hanging and makes it gentler still: 오늘 좀 일찍 갔으면 좋겠는데요, “I was hoping I could leave a bit early today”.
창문 좀 닫았으면 좋겠는데요.I was hoping we could close the window.
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