# 아/어야 소용없다 vs 아/어도 소용없다



## 82riceballs

Do you sense a difference between the following?
설명해야 소용없다 vs 설명해도 소용없다.
키 크자고 맨날 우유 마셔봐야 소용없어 vs. 마셔도 소용없어.
노력해야 소용없다 vs 노력해도 소용없다

아/어야 seems to assume the meaning of "even if." 
Is 아/어야 only used in this way with 소용없다? (If not, could you provide some examples of other situations in which 아/어야 is used this way?)

Thanks for your help!!!

What confuses me is that usually 아/어야 is used to mean, "one must," e.g.
미국에 가야 자유여신상을 볼 수 있다. You have to go to the U.S. to see the Statue of Liberty.
예쁜 선생님의 수업을 들어야지! I must take classes by a pretty teacher
그 치킨집 한번 가 봐야겠네요! I've got to try out that chicken place!


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> Do you sense a difference between the following?


 Yes, it looks only one example for each set is correct. 
설명해야 소용없다 (X) vs 설명해도 소용없다. (O)
키 크자고 맨날 우유 마셔봐야 소용없어 (O) vs. 마셔도 소용없어. (X)
노력해야 소용없다 (X) vs 노력해도 소용없다 (O) 



82riceballs said:


> 아/어야 seems to assume the meaning of "even if."
> Is 아/어야 only used in this way with 소용없다? (If not, could you provide some examples of other situations in which 아/어야 is used this way?)


No, there can be other choices. 
1. 설명해도 이해 못해. 
2. ~ 마셔봐야 헛수고야.
3. 노력해도 안되는게 있어.


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## 82riceballs

Wow seems like they're more different than I thought!

But they both translate to "even if" in English, so can you think of a rule as to where to use "아/어야 소용없어요" and "아/어도 소용없어요"?

For example, how do you know to use 아/어야 소용없다 in the following:
나한테 얘기히봐야 소용없어.
키 크자고 맨날 우유 마셔봐야 소용없어.

but... 아/어도 소용없다 in the following?
설명해도 소용없다.
노력해도 소용없다.

Thanks in advance!!


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> But they both translate to "even if" in English, so can you think of a rule as to where to use "아/어야 소용없어요" and "아/어도 소용없어요"?


 I am not sure that there are certain rules governing your question. But after Googling, I only found out that ~해봐야 소용없다(어) and ~해도 소용없다(어) seem to be interchangeable in your examples' case. People online tend to use them both ways. 

나한테 애기해봐야 소용없어.
나한테 애기해도 소용없어.
.
키 크자고 맨날 우유 마셔봐야 소용없어.
키 크자고 맨날 우유 마셔도 소용없어.

설명해봐야 소용없다.
설명해도 소용없다.

노력해봐야 소용없다.
노력해도 소용없다.


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## dhchong

'야' comes after end of word  ‘-어’, ‘-어서’, ‘-게’, ‘-지’, ‘-고’  and it functions as an emphasizer of the phraise.

'설명해봐야 소용없다.' is actually contraction of ''설명해보아야 소용없다'.

Even for me -native korean speaker-it's difficult to explain the grammar related to this.

[example]
나는 무슨 일이 있어도 그 일을 기어이 해내고야 말겠다.	Whatever the cost might be, I'll carry through it. 	
								 네가 아무리 궁하다고 그런 일까지 하게야 되겠니?	   Howerver hard up you may be, you definately won't come down to such a humble job.

Do these english translation make sense?


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## dhchong

Sorry. My previous answer was wrong.

아/어/여야 is added to describe subjunctive situation. And it is used to express the conditions whatever effort is made, the result can not be changed.  So after 아/어/여야 clause, negative phraise is followed.

Some examples are: 아무리 힘써봐야 꼼짝도 안해.   However hard I try, It never moves.
								                                이제 와서 후회하여야 소용없다.	 Even if you regret at this belated time, it is of no use.

Again I'm sorry to make you confused with my wrong answer. As I told you before, Korean is difficult even for me.


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## 82riceballs

ahhh I get it now!! Thanks for your detailed explanations!!


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