# 어렸을 때부터 엄마람 요리했더라면 지금은 요리를 얼마나 잘할까?



## 82riceballs

Hi all! I"m trying to use ~더라면 to express regret, and was wondering if the following sentence is OK?

내가 어렸을 때부터 엄마랑 요리했더라면 지금은 얼마나 잘 할까?
If I had just cooked with my mother when I was young... (how good of a cook would I be now?)

If there is a more natural-sounding way to say this, please tell me
Thanks!


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## lillian yi

to me it soudns natural .! or you can say ' 내가 어렸을 때(어릴 때부터) 엄마랑 요리했다면 지금은 얼마나 잘 할까?'


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## Rance

~부터 has meaning of "since".
If you want to imply that you wished to keep practicing from when you were young till now, then it's right choice.
If you meant to say that you wished to practice with mom in the past (and no including present), then you are probably better saying "어렸을 때".


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## jakartaman

내가 어렸을 때부터 엄마랑 요리했더라면 지금은 얼마나 잘 할까?
Perfect! .

I would like to say to you....
내가 어렸을 때부터 영어 공부를 열심히 했더라면 지금은 얼마나 잘 할까?


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## 82riceballs

Thanks everyone for your help!! 

And thanks Randy for the tip- I guess I do mean 때 and not 때 부터 since I don't even live at home so can't cook with my mom.


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## jakartaman

82riceballs said:


> I guess I do mean 때 and not 때 부터 since I don't even live at home so can't cook with my mom.



때 부터 doesn't imply that you have lived with your mom since young.  

You could have just visited her for a few days once in a while and cooked with her.

And "때 부터" and "since" are not quite equivalent, since Korean doesn't have the English present perfect tense"

It's more like "from when"

By the way, your sentence with "때 부터" sounds much better than the one with "때" because of the word "지금은".

지금은 implies that you have continued to cook with your mom and as a result you are now a good cook. (Of course, you haven't so you're not a good cook)


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## 82riceballs

Thanks jakartaman!! Got it now


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## Rance

I'm not sure if I'm following jakartaman, so I'll add a few more thoughts.

When someone says "내가 어렸을 때부터 ~했더라면..." it often times implies one is doing it now and he wishes that he had started sooner.
It's kind of lamenting for not starting sooner.
For example, if an adult has started learning piano and hopes to have  started when he was a kid (because he's slow at learning), then he's  say, "내가 어렸을 때부터 피아노를 배웠더라면....."
Or when a high-school student is showing off his soccer skills on the field,  "내가 초등학교 때부터 축구를 했지", he's likely to have been playing soccer from  elementary to high school(present).
Now if he said, "내가 초등학교 때부터 축구를 했었지" with past tense, this implies he  practiced soccer from elementary school to some unspecified time point  but beyond elementary school period.
However he no longer plays soccer as much as he used to at the present.

If one says "내가 어렸을 때 ~했더라면...", it usually means speaker is bad at it and wish he had learned it when he was young.
For example, let's say a pretty girl wants to date only to a guy who can play piano.
Then a guy who's in love with her would lament for not being able to play piano. He'd say, "아.. 어렸을 때 피아노를 배울껄..."
Or when a high-school student is showing off his soccer skills on the field,   "내가 초등학교 때 축구를 했었지", he probably played it a lot when he was in elementary,  but not so much in middle school, nor in high school.

Going back to OP, if you are learning how to cook from mom right at this  moment and you wish to have started sooner, then I'd use 어렸을  때부터.
Like jakartaman said, you don't have to be living with your mom and learn 24/7 =)
However, if you are just lamenting for being a poor cook and not  learning from mom when she offered chance, then I'd say 어렸을 때 would be  more appropriate.
But as jakartaman pointed out, 지금은 sort of acts as ending point of a  period where 때 acts as the starting point of a period(of learning how to  cook).
Hence 때부터 would sounds a lot more natural. And you do sound like you are currently learning from your mother.


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