-기로서니
granted that …, but even so
Concedes a reason and then rejects it as insufficient. There is reproach built into the ending — you are telling someone their excuse does not stretch that far.
Build it
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When to use it
Attach -기로서니 to any stem — no vowel rule, ㄹ stays, and tense may appear in front: 했기로서니. The variant 기로선들 also occurs.
The first clause grants a fact, usually one the other person has offered as an excuse. The second says it does not justify what followed: 아무리 바쁘기로서니 연락 한 번 못 하나?
That second clause is normally a rhetorical question or a reproach, and 아무리 almost always introduces the first.
The tone is scolding, so it is aimed downward or sideways — not at someone senior. The register is elevated but the feeling is sharp.
How to attach it
| Situation | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Any verb or adjective | -기로서니 | 바쁘다 → 바쁘기로서니 |
| Past | -았/었기로서니 | 잘못했기로서니 |
| ㄹ stems keep the ㄹ | -기로서니 | 만들기로서니 |
| Common partner | 아무리 | 아무리 바쁘기로서니 |
| Second clause | reproach or question | 연락 한 번 못 하나? |
| Neutral concession | -더라도 | 바쁘더라도 |
In use
아무리 바쁘기로서니 연락 한 번 못 하나?
Busy as you may be, could you not have got in touch once?
아무리 화가 났기로서니 그런 말을 해서는 안 되지.
Angry as you were, you had no business saying such a thing.
아이가 잘못했기로서니 그렇게 심하게 혼낼 일인가.
The child may have done wrong, but was that any reason to scold him so harshly?
급하기로서니 인사도 없이 가 버리다니.
In a hurry or not, to leave without so much as a goodbye.
직접 만들기로서니 이렇게 오래 걸릴 줄이야.
Making it yourself is one thing, but who would have thought it would take this long?
아무리 어렵기로서니 포기할 수는 없다.
Difficult as it is, we cannot give up.
Compared with
-더라도
-더라도 concedes neutrally and moves on; -기로서니 concedes in order to rebuke.
바쁘더라도 연락하세요. (please get in touch) / 바쁘기로서니 연락도 못 하나? (couldn’t you have?)
-(으)ㄴ들
Both take rhetorical questions. -(으)ㄴ들 concludes that nothing would change; -기로서니 says the excuse does not stretch that far.
후회한들 무슨 소용인가. (futile) / 바쁘기로서니 그럴 수 있나. (not an excuse)
-(으)ㄹ지라도
-(으)ㄹ지라도 is a plain literary concession with no reproach. -기로서니 always carries the scolding.
어려울지라도 하겠다. (however hard) / 어렵기로서니 그만둘 순 없지. (that’s no excuse)
Watch out
아무리 바쁘기로서니 열심히 일했어요.
아무리 바쁘기로서니 연락 한 번 못 하나?
The second clause must reject the excuse, usually as a rhetorical question. A neutral statement leaves the reproach unsaid.
부장님이 아무리 바쁘시기로서니 연락도 안 하십니까?
부장님께서 많이 바쁘셨나 봅니다.
The ending scolds. Directed at a superior it is impertinent, whatever the honorifics.
아무리 화가 나기로서니 그런 말을 했다.
아무리 화가 났기로서니 그런 말을 해서는 안 되지.
The anger is a completed fact, so the past belongs inside, and the second clause has to deliver the rebuke.
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