日本語

Grammar

-(으)ㄴ/는 반면

Meaning

Advanced-(eu)n/neun banmyeon

Sets two facts side by side as opposites: A happens, whereas B goes the other way. Use -는 반면 for a verb in the present and -(으)ㄴ 반면 for a completed action or a descriptive verb, which gives shapes like 줄어든 반면 ('fell, whereas…'). -(으)ㄴ/는 데 반해 is a near-identical variant with the same meaning and the same endings (순매수한 데 반해, 'whereas they bought a net amount'), and -던 데 반해 is the shape used when looking back at a former state. Both clauses have to be in the sentence, because the comparison itself is the point, and both forms belong to written Korean — reports and news set two figures against each other this way rather than with -지만, which merely concedes a point.

Form

반면 is a noun, so the clause in front takes a modifier ending: -는 반면 for a verb in the present (오르다 → 오르는 반면, 늘어나다 → 늘어나는 반면), -(으)ㄴ 반면 for a completed action (줄어들다 → 줄어든 반면) or for a descriptive verb (싸다 → 싼 반면, 좋다 → 좋은 반면). ㄹ-final stems drop the ㄹ before ㄴ: 길다 → 긴 반면. The variant 데 반해 takes exactly the same endings — 순매수한 데 반해, 배정된 데 반해, 있던 데 반해 — and 데 there is a bound noun, so it needs a space in front of it. 반면 can also stand alone at the head of a sentence as 반면(에), meaning 'on the other hand'.

Examples

Common mistakes & nuance

Mind the space in 데 반해: 데 is a bound noun, and running it together as 순매수한데 반해 turns it into the ending -(으)ㄴ데, which is a different form altogether. The other thing to check is that both halves of the comparison are actually in the sentence — a clause ending in -는 반면 with nothing set against it is unfinished.

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