Lesson 190: ~(으)나 마나: To be Pointless

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Vocabulary

Nouns:
시 = poem
일환 = a part of
산하 = affiliate
잠결 = in ones sleep
은혜 = grace, favor, kindness
권한 = authority, power
관제 = control
맹목 = blindness
맹복적 = blindly obedient
내리막 = downward slope
오르막 = upward slope
보고서 = report paper

Verbs:
함축하다 = to imply
항복하다 = to surrender
보답하다 = to return a favor
기증하다 = to donate
문의하다 = to inquire, to ask
추진하다 = to promote, to push forward with a plan
개입하다 = to intervene, to interfere

Adjectives:
미흡하다 = to be insufficient, to be unsatisfactory

Introduction

In this lesson, you will continue to learn about ~(으)나 by looking at another way that it can be used. In this lesson, you will see it used with 말다 to create 하나 마나. Let’s get started.

~(으)나 마나: To be Pointless

In Lesson 167, you saw a quick review of the verb 말다 and from Lesson 167 to Lesson 169, you saw a variety of ways that 말다 is used. For example:

Lesson 167: ~ㄹ/을 까 말까
Lesson 168: ~거나 말거나
Lesson 169: ~ㄹ/을락 말락

You can see that 말다 is often used with certain grammatical principles, where something is attached to a verb, and then followed by 말다 with that same grammatical principle attached. You can also attach ~(으)나 to a verb and then follow that with 말다 + ~(으)나. The resulting grammatical principle looks like this:

~(으)나 마나

In the past two lessons, you saw different ways that ~(으)나 can be used. This usage is specifically the one that was introduced in Lesson 189. In this meaning, ~(으)나 indicates that the result will be the same regardless of which option occurs.

~(으)나 마나 indicates the idea that doing something is pointless or unnecessary because the result is obvious. Here is a simple example sentence:

그 얘기는 하나 마나 다 아는 이야기예요
= That story is obvious, there is no point even saying it

Here, the speaker is using ~(으)나 마나 to express that the action in the first clause is pointless or unnecessary because the outcome in the second clause is already obvious, unavoidable, or unaffected. Below are many more examples:

이미 망가진 기계는 기증하나 마나 누구도 쓰질 못해
= A broken machine, whether you donate it or not, no one can use it anyway

이 전쟁에서는 우리가 항복하나 마나 결과는 똑같아요
= In this war, whether we surrender or not, the result will be the same

이 시는 의미를 너무 함축해서 읽으나 마나 이해 못 해요
= This poem is so full of implications that it’s impossible to understand even if you read it

이런 가파른 오르막에서는 천천히 가나 마나 금방 지치게 돼요
= On a steep uphill like this, whether you go slowly or not, you’ll get tired quickly anyway

이 내리막길에서는 브레이크를 밟으나 마나 속도를 줄일 수가 없어요
= On this downhill road, hitting the brakes is useless, you can’t slow down anyway

이 프로젝트는 교육 혁신의 일환으로 추진되는 거라서 성공하나 마나 중요한 의미가 있어요
= This project is part of educational innovation, so whether it succeeds or not, it’s meaningful

~(으)나 마나이다

It is also possible to use ~(으)나 마나 at the end of a sentence and predicate it by attaching 이다 to it. This is very conversational, as it requires the listener to assume that the situation given in the first clause is pointless. For example:

그 학생한테 부탁하나 마나야
= There’s no point asking that student for a favor

In practice, the speaker would likely follow up this simple sentence by providing the context, but they wouldn’t have to as ~(으)나 마나 technically provides that. For example:

그 학생한테 부탁하나 마나야. 어차피 안 도와줄 거야.
= There’s no point asking that student for a favor. He won’t help anyway.

Below are some more examples:

그 은혜는 아무리 애써도 보답하나 마나야
= No matter how hard I try, returning that favor is meaningless

맹목적으로 따르나 마나야. 잘못된 길이니까.
= Following blindly is pointless. It’s the wrong path.

잠결에 한 말은 신경 쓰나 마나야. 기억도 못 해.
= There’s no point caring about what you say in your sleep. Nobody will even remember it.

이 보고서는 내용이 너무 미흡해서 읽으나 마나야
= This report is so lacking in content that it’s not worth reading.

그 산하 기관에 문의하나 마나야. 결정 권한이 없거든.
= There’s no point in contacting that affiliate agency. They have no authority to decide.

이 구역은 이미 자동 관제 시스템이 작동 중이라서 사람이 개입하나 마나야
= Since the automatic control system is already in place, human intervention is pointless

That’s it for this lesson!