-(으)ㄴ들
even if … (what use is it?)
Level 5 · Connective
Explanation
Supposes 'even if one did that' while the main clause denies any value, often as a rhetorical question (무슨 소용이 있겠어요?). Vowel or ㄹ stems take ㄴ들, consonant stems 은들; nouns 인들. Formal or literary.
Examples
이제 와서 후회한들 무슨 소용이 있겠어요?
What's the use of regretting it now?
아무리 돈이 많은들 건강을 살 수는 없다.
However rich you are, you can't buy health.
그 사람인들 그 사실을 알았겠어요?
Even he couldn't have known that, could he?
TOPIK note
TOPIK II Reading 42–43 (literature) and 46–47 (attitude).