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~(으)려니: A Settled Assumption
~(으)려니 vs ~(으)리라고 생각하다
Vocabulary
Nouns
적 = enemy
적군 = enemy forces, enemy army
군사 = military affairs
전시 = wartime
기지 = military base
기세 = momentum, force
학계 = academic community, academic world
유물 = artifact, relic
공단 = public corporation
창립 = founding, establishment
창립자 = founder
설득력 = persuasiveness
가치관 = values
나룻배 = ferry boat
사고방식 = way of thinking
Verbs
침체되다 = to be in a slump
밀어붙다 = to be pushed forward, to be driven forward
밀어붙이다 = to push forward, to press ahead, to push through
냉담해지다 = to become cold, indifferent
Adverbs and Other Words:
그제서야 = only then, not until then
Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn a grammatical construction used to express an assumption or expectation that a speaker has settled on in their own mind. Depending on the context, it can also convey a sense of resignation or acceptance. In this lesson, you will learn about ~(으)려니. Let’s get started.
~(으)려니: A Settled Assumption
~(으)려니 is used to express an assumption or expectation that a speaker has settled on in their own mind. ~려니 is added to verbs and adjectives ending on a vowel (or ㄹ) and ~으려니 is added to verbs and adjectives ending in a consonant. Common ways that this is translated to English are:
I figured that…
I assumed that…
I expected that…
The important nuance is that the speaker is presenting something as their own assumption or expectation. Depending on the context, ~(으)려니 can also carry a sense of resignation or acceptance, as though the speaker has simply decided to regard something as being the case.
Because the sentence is an assumption, sentences with ~려니 typically end in:
생각하다 (to indicate that it’s what one thinks)
싶다 (as discussed in Lesson 171)
하다 (as the base verb for most situations)
여기다 (to mean “to be considered as”)
Let’s look at a simple example:
나눠 주려니 해서 기다렸어요
= I waited, figuring they would hand it out
Here, the nuance is that the speaker waited because of an assumption they had. They did not know that it would happen, but they figured that it would based on their own reasoning or expectations. The speaker simply assumed it would happen and behaved accordingly.
Often a speaker will use ~려니 to make an assumption, but later realizes that assumption may have been wrong. The latter part of the sentence will usually indicate what happens as a result of this incorrect assumption. For example:
사람도 별로 없으려니 하고 나룻배를 탔는데 도착해 보니 사람이 많았어요
= I figured there probably wouldn’t be many people, so I took the ferry, but when I arrived, there were a lot of people
Below are many more examples of ~(으)려니:
적이 이미 물러났으려니 하고 기지를 비웠어요
= We abandoned the base, assuming the enemy had already retreated
설득력이 부족하니 반응이 냉담해지려니 싶었어요
= Since the argument wasn’t persuasive, I figured people would respond coldly
전시 상황이라서 군사 활동이 많으려니 생각했어요
= Since it was wartime, I assumed there would be a lot of military activity
기세가 꺾였으려니 여기고 더 밀어붙이지 않았어요
= Thinking the momentum was gone, we didn’t push any further
경제가 침체되니 분위기도 가라앉았으려니 싶었어요
= With the economy slumping, I figured the mood would be low too
학계에서도 이 연구 결과를 긍정적으로 받아들이려니 했어요
= I figured the academic community would respond positively to these research findings
사람들의 가치관이 달라졌으니 사고방식도 변했으려니 생각해요
= Since people’s values have changed, I assume their way of thinking has too
그제서야 내가 괜찮으려니 하고 너무 쉽게 넘겼다는 것을 깨달았어
= Only then did I realize that I had assumed everything would be fine and brushed it off too easily
이 유물이 진품이려니 하고 한동안 전시했는데 나중에 가짜라는 사실이 밝혀졌어요
= We displayed this ancient artifact for some time, assuming it was authentic, but later it was discovered to be fake
~(으)려니 vs ~(으)리라고 생각하다
In Lesson 201, you saw how ~(으)리라고 is used to infer a guess of what somebody’s intention will be, or a guess about what will happen. For example:
그 선수가 이기리라고 생각했어요
= I thought that player would win
In this sentence, the speaker presents something as a prediction or expectation. It could be based on evidence, analysis, intuition, or simply the speaker’s own judgment. However, if we change ~(으)리라고 to ~(으)려니:
그 선수가 이기려니 생각했어요
= I assumed he’d win
Let’s look at the difference with another example. Check out the following two sentences:
이 공단이 지역 경제 발전에 큰 도움이 되리라고 생각했어요
= I thought that this public corporation would greatly help the development of the local economy
이 공단이 지역 경제 발전에 큰 도움이 되려니 생각했어요
= I assumed that this public corporation would greatly help the development of the local economy
Both sentences express the speaker’s expectation that the public corporation would help the local economy. ~(으)리라고 생각하다 presents this more straightforwardly as a prediction or belief about what will happen. In contrast, ~(으)려니 생각하다 emphasizes that this was the speaker’s own assumption about how things would turn out.
We can see the same distinction with 창립:
이 회사의 창립이 지역 사회에 큰 변화를 가져오리라고 생각했어요
= I thought that the founding of this company would bring significant changes to the local community
이 회사의 창립이 지역 사회에 큰 변화를 가져오려니 생각했어요
= I assumed that the founding of this company would bring significant changes to the local community
Again, ~(으)리라고 생각하다 sounds more like a prediction or expectation about what will happen, while ~(으)려니 생각하다 has more of the feeling of settling on an expectation in one’s own mind: “I figured that this would be the case.” Depending on the context, ~(으)려니 can also carry a sense of resignation or acceptance, as though the speaker has simply decided to accept something as being the case.
That’s it for this lesson!