#intermediate grammar

Time for another grammar post! I was just looking through the Grammar Directory and was surprised to find that I hadn’t yet written about this very useful form. Doubting that there’s no way your best friend forgot your birthday? Don’t believe that the quiet nerdy kid in your social anthropology course moonlights as a stand-up comedian? -(으)ㄹ 리가 없다/만무하다 is just what you’re looking for!

Function

The function of this form is to express disbelief of something, or to express that you think there is no possibility of something being true. For example, we can use it in these situations:

• There’s no way such a famous restaurant would suddenly shut down.

• There’s no way he would have failed if he had really studied that hard.

Usage

Before getting into how to use this, I want to break the form down a little, as you can see there are three distinct parts to it. The first is our future noun modifier ending, which you can read about more here. The second part, 리, is what is known as a 의존명사, or dependent noun. You will never see this noun in isolation, but used here it refers to the “reason” or “logic” for something. Slap 없다 or 만무하다 on the end, and you are saying that there’s no reason why something will happen or would have happened.

The difference between using 없다 and 만무하다 at the end of this form is negligible. 만무하다 is a word derived from Hanja (일만 ten thousand 만 萬, 없을 not existent 무 無) that means “to be completely none.”없다 is far more commonly used in daily speech while 만무하다 is pretty solidly relegated to the realm of more formal speech.

To use this grammar form, attach -을 리가 없다/만무하다 to descriptive or action verb stems that end with consonants and -ㄹ 리가 없다/만무하다 to stems that end with ㄹ or vowels. Be careful of any irregular conjugations!

This form can be used with past tense verbs as well as present tense; just be sure to put the verb in past tense and then attach -을 리가 없다/만무하다. Let’s check out some examples!

Usage examples

• 그렇게 유명한 식당이 갑자기 문을 닫을 리가 없어요. (There’s no way such a famous restaurant would suddenly shut down.)
• 실제로 공부를 그렇게까지 열심히 한 거였으면은 시험에 떨어질 리가 없었을 거예요. (There’s no way he would have failed if he had really studied that hard.)
• 둘이 사이가 정말 안 좋잖아. 승규 씨는 새린 씨를 도와줬을 리가 없어. (Those two really don’t get along [Lit. Their relationship is really bad], you know. There’s no way Seunggyu would have helped Saerin.
• 김 의원께서는 뇌물을 받으셨을 리가 만무하다고 봅니다. (We believe there is no reason why Senator Kim would have taken bribes.)

Bonus: Can we use 있다 with this form?

We know that 있다 is essentially the opposite of 있다. Can 있다 be used in this form as well as “-(으)ㄹ 리가 있다”?

The answer is both yes and no! -(으)ㄹ 리가 있다 does not lend itself to declarative sentences, but it can work in questions. For example, one could ask:

• 그렇게 유명한 식당이 갑자기 문을 닫을 리가 있겠어요? (Is there any reason why such a famous restaurant would suddenly shut down?)
• 지민 씨가 면접에 빠졌을 리가 있어요? (Is there any reason why Jimin would have missed the interview?)

As always, happy studying~