# 러면 vs. 그렇다면



## idialegre

Hi again, everybody. I'm wondering if there is a big or perhaps just a subtle difference between 그러면 and 
그렇다면. Are they by any chance parallels to the differences (which I think of as fairly subtle) between English "but" and "however"?

I'd be interested to read any opinions, comments, etc.

주말을 잘 보내세요!


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## Kross

Can you provide the examples you saw? As it is, the topic is too general to discuss.


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## idialegre

Well, it's not a case of many different examples, really. It's just that I was reading an article, here is an excerpt:

갤럽은 각국의 동성애자들에게 '당신의 나라는 동성애자가 살기 좋은가?'라는 질문을 던졌고, 조사에 참여한 네덜란드 동성애자의 83%가 그렇다고 답했다. 뒤를 잇는 나라는 82%의 아이슬란드와 80%의 캐나다다. 


그렇다면 동성애자에게 가장 불관용적인 나라는? 아프리카 국가들이 최악이다. 최하위를 기록한 건 세네갈로, 무려 98%의 동성애자들이 세네갈은 동성애자가 살기 힘든 나라라고 답했다.

(Here's the whole article: http://www.huffingtonpost.kr/2014/08/29/story_n_5734316.html?utm_hp_ref=korea)

And I just got to wondering about the 그렇다면 that opens the second paragraph. I think in the context, I would probably translate it into English as "On the other hand," or perhaps "Given these results,..." But would it be possible to use 그러면 in this instance?

I understand that it really is a broad question, so feel free to scold me.


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## Kross

According to the Daum Korean dictionary, 그러면 as an adverb can be used to link the previous sentence with the following when you want to start a new argument with being in support of the previous content. I think your question falls on this definition. They can be interchangeable. 

For example:
청소년은 미래의 주인공이다. 그러면 청소년들이 올바르게 성장하기 위해서 어떻게 해야 하는가? 
Replacing 그러면 with 그렇다면 sounds fine to me. 

(source: http://dic.daum.net/word/view.do?wordid=kkw000032318&q=그러면 )


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## idialegre

Thank you!


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## yonh

You can use 그러면 instead of 그렇다면, but not vice versa. 그러면 has multiple meanings:
1. adverb "if so, then"
2. adverb "ok, then" (another topic)
3. verb "if you do so, then" -- a combination of verb 그러다 and ending -면
4. adj. "if it is so, then" -- a combination of adj. 그렇다 and ending -면

I'm not sure about #1 and #2, but definition #3 is not applied to 그렇다면, because 그렇다 is an adjective. For example,
이 약을 드세요. 그러면(#1 or #3) 나을 거예요.
이 약을 드세요. 그렇다면 나을 거예요. -- sounds unnatural to me.
그만 해. 또 그러면(#3) 혼난다.
그만 해. 또 그렇다면 혼난다. -- sounds unnatural, too.


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## idialegre

Thanks, yonh. That makes sense to me.


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