-(으)ㄴ/는 셈치고

Build it

When to use it

The form follows the modifier system: verbs take -는 셈치고, completed actions -(으)ㄴ 셈치고. With a noun, 셈치고 attaches directly. 셈치다 is written as one word.

You are proposing a pretence you both know is false, in order to make a decision easier: 잃어버린 셈치고 잊어버리세요 — write it off as lost and forget about it.

The single most common instance is 속는 셈치고 — “on the off chance,” literally “counting yourself as being deceived.” It introduces something you doubt but will try anyway.

Keep it apart from -(으)ㄴ/는 셈이다, which claims something is actually near enough true. 셈치고 knows it is not.

How to attach it

In use

1. 속는 셈치고 한번 해 보세요.

   Give it a go on the off chance.

2. 잃어버린 셈치고 잊어버리려고요.

   I’m going to write it off as lost and forget about it.

3. 운동하는 셈치고 한 정거장 걸었어요.

   I walked a stop, counting it as exercise.

4. 공부 셈치고 이번 일을 맡아 보겠습니다.

   I’ll take this on, treating it as a learning experience.

5. 직접 만드는 셈치고 재료비만 받을게요.

   Let’s call it self-service — I’ll only charge for the ingredients.

6. 기부한 셈치고 마음 편히 가지세요.

   Think of it as a donation and put your mind at rest.

Compared with

• -(으)ㄴ/는 셈이다

  셈이다 claims something is close enough to true; 셈치고 knows it is false and adopts it anyway as a convenience.

  끝난 셈이에요. (effectively finished)  /  끝난 셈치고 (let’s pretend it’s finished)

• -(으)ㄴ/는 척하다

  척하다 deceives someone else; 셈치고 is an arrangement you make with yourself in order to move on.

  모르는 척했어요. (pretended not to know)  /  잃어버린 셈치고 (writing it off)

• 속는 셈치고

  The one instance worth memorising whole. It softens a suggestion by admitting in advance that it may not work.

  속는 셈치고 한번 드셔 보세요.

Watch out

• 숙제를 다 했으니까 끝난 셈치고 쉬어요.

  숙제를 다 했으니까 끝난 셈이니 쉬어요.

  If it really is finished, the form is 셈이다. 셈치고 adopts a fiction you know to be false.

• 직접 만들는 셈치고 재료비만 받을게요.

  직접 만드는 셈치고 재료비만 받을게요.

  Stems ending in ㄹ drop it before -는, as everywhere in the modifier system.

• 속는 셈 치고 해 보세요.

  속는 셈치고 해 보세요.

  셈치다 is a single verb and is written joined.

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