-(으)ㄹ 법하다

Build it

When to use it

Attachment is the standard rule with the ㄹ short form: 만들다 gives 만들 법하다.

It rates something as plausible rather than likely: 충분히 있을 법한 이야기예요 — that’s entirely believable. It often appears with 충분히 or 그럴.

The modifier form -(으)ㄹ 법한 is the more common shape: 있을 법한 이야기, 나올 법한 질문.

Two neighbours to keep apart. 법이다 states a rule about the world; 법하다 rates a possibility. And -(으)ㄹ 만하다, which looks similar, means “worth doing.”

How to attach it

In use

1. 충분히 있을 법한 이야기예요.

   That’s an entirely believable story.

2. 그 사람이라면 그럴 법해요.

   Coming from him, that’s plausible enough.

3. 시험에 나올 법한 문제를 골라 봤어요.

   I picked out questions that might plausibly come up.

4. 누구나 한 번쯤 겪을 법한 일이에요.

   It’s the sort of thing anyone might go through once.

5. 집에서도 만들 법한 요리네요.

   That looks like something you could plausibly make at home.

6. 화가 날 법도 하죠.

   It’s understandable that he’d be angry.

Compared with

• -(으)ㄴ/는 법이다

  Same noun, opposite jobs. 법이다 asserts how things always go; 법하다 rates one case as believable.

  실수하는 법이다. (people always do)  /  실수할 법해요. (plausible that he did)

• -(으)ㄹ 만하다

  Easy to confuse by shape. 만하다 rates worth or tolerance; 법하다 rates plausibility.

  볼 만해요. (worth watching)  /  있을 법해요. (believable)

• -(으)ㄹ 것 같다

  것 같다 predicts what will happen; 법하다 accepts that something could be so. One forecasts, the other concedes.

  비가 올 것 같아요. (I expect rain)  /  그럴 법해요. (that could well be)

Watch out

• 집에서도 만들을 법해요.

  집에서도 만들 법해요.

  A stem ending in ㄹ already supplies it, as with 만들 거예요 and 만들 만해요.

• 그 영화는 볼 법해요. — meaning “worth watching”

  그 영화는 볼 만해요.

  법하다 rates plausibility, not worth. For a recommendation the word is 만하다.

• 사람은 누구나 실수할 법하다. — as a general rule

  사람은 누구나 실수하는 법이다.

  To state a universal, the form is 법이다. 법하다 comments on a single plausible case.

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