In short

This is the bookish end of “even if / even though.” Where speech uses -아/어도 and -더라도 (lesson 49), essays and editorials reach for -(으)ㄹ지라도 (emphatic “even if”), rhetorical -(으)ㄴ들 (“even if - what good is it?”), and -(으)ㄹ망정 (“though X, … Y” - with 차라리, “I’d rather X than Y”). Recognize them for reading first; use the colloquial -아/어 봤자 (“even if - it’s no use”) when you actually speak.

The rule

These endings all grant a clause and push past it, exactly like the B1 concessives - but they carry a formal, written register, and several add a rhetorical or preference twist that plain -아/어도 does not. An adverb up front telegraphs which ending is coming: 설령/설사 (even supposing), 비록 (although), 아무리 (no matter how), 차라리 (rather).

Step 1 - -(으)ㄹ지라도: emphatic literary “even if / even though”

The written upgrade of -더라도. Attach -ㄹ지라도 after a vowel or ㄹ, -을지라도 after a 받침: 가다 -> 갈지라도 (galjirado), 먹다 -> 먹을지라도 (meogeuljirado). It handles both a hypothesis and a granted fact, and pairs with 설령 (seollyeong, even supposing) or factual 비록 (birok, although): 설령 실패할지라도 (seollyeong silpaehaljirado, even if I should fail).

Step 2 - -(으)ㄴ들: the rhetorical “even if”

-ㄴ들 after a vowel/ㄹ, -은들 after a 받침: 가다 -> 간들 (gandeul), 먹다 -> 먹은들 (meogeundeul). It is almost always rhetorical - the main clause is a “what use is it?” question or a flat 소용없다 (soyongeopda, it’s no use): 지금 간들 소용없어요 (jigeum gandeul soyongeopseoyo, even if I go now, it’s no use). Pairs with 아무리.

Step 3 - -(으)ㄹ망정 and -(으)ㄹ지언정: preference under sacrifice

Their dictionary sense is concessive contrast - 표준국어대사전 defines -(으)ㄹ망정 as “앞 절의 사실을 인정하고 뒤 절에 그와 대립되는 다른 사실을 이어 말할 때에 쓰는 연결 어미” (“grant the first clause, then say something that stands against it”) and -(으)ㄹ지언정 as the same thing with a stronger feel. That plain sense reads like 일이 더딜망정 결과는 늘 정확해요 (iri deodilmangjeong gyeolgwaneun neul jeonghwakhaeyo, the work may be slow, but the results are always accurate) - a granted fact, then a contrast, with no 차라리 and nothing refused. The pattern you actually meet, though, is 차라리 + the ending + a refusal, which reads “I would rather X than Y”: there the -(으)ㄹ망정 / -(으)ㄹ지언정 clause is the hardship you accept and the main clause is what you refuse: 굶을망정 빌리지는 않겠어요 (gulmeulmangjeong billijineun ankesseoyo, I’d rather starve than borrow). Attachment is the (으)ㄹ pattern: 굶다 -> 굶을망정, 지다 -> 질지언정. They pair with 차라리 (charari, rather). 지언정 is even more formal than 망정 and stresses the refusal.

Step 4 - -기로서니 and -(느)ㄴ다손 치더라도: “granted that / even supposing”

-기로서니 attaches to the plain stem and concedes a reason (“granted it’s so, that’s no excuse”); it lives in rhetorical questions with 아무리: 아무리 바쁘기로서니 (amuri bappeugiroseoni, no matter how busy you are). -(느)ㄴ다손 치더라도 stacks the plain declarative (-(느)ㄴ다/-다) onto 손 치더라도 for a very literary “even supposing that”: 가다 -> 간다손 치더라도 (gandason chideorado).

Step 5 - -아/어 봤자 / -았자: the colloquial counterpart

Everything above is reading-and-writing register. In speech the concessive of choice - besides -아/어도 and -더라도 - is -아/어 봤자 (the auxiliary 보다, written with a space by default): 가 봤자 소용없어요 (ga bwatja soyongeopseoyo, even if you go, it’s no use). 봤자 is not a word of its own - it is 보- plus the ending -았자, which is why the two are the same thing; 표준국어대사전 lists -았자/-었자 as an ending in its own right, but it is used almost only in this -아/어 봤자 frame. It means “even if you try, at most / it’s pointless.”

Forms & patterns

The (으)-type endings by stem ending:

ㅂ-irregular stems take the vowel form: 어렵다 -> 어려울지라도 (eoryeouljirado).

The endings that don’t take (으):

Register - which to read, which to say:

Adverbs that flag the ending:

Examples

Common mistakes

• 가은들 소용없어요 (gaeundeul soyongeopseoyo) -> 간들 소용없어요 (gandeul soyongeopseoyo) - a vowel stem takes just -ㄴ들 (간들); -은들 is only after a 받침 (먹은들).
• 빌릴망정 굶지는 않겠어요 (billilmangjeong gumjineun ankesseoyo) -> 굶을망정 빌리지는 않겠어요 (gulmeulmangjeong billijineun ankesseoyo) - the -(으)ㄹ망정 clause is the sacrifice you accept, the main clause is what you refuse; reversing them reverses your meaning.
• 바빠기로서니 (bappagiroseoni) -> 바쁘기로서니 (bappeugiroseoni) - -기로서니 attaches to the plain stem (바쁘-), never to the 아/어 form.
• 먹봤자 소용없어요 (meokbwatja soyongeopseoyo) -> 먹어 봤자 소용없어요 (meogeo bwatja soyongeopseoyo) - 봤자 is the auxiliary 보다, so the main verb must be in its 아/어 form (먹어), never the bare stem; and remember it is colloquial, not for essays. (Spacing: write 가 봤자 - but 한글 맞춤법 제47항 also allows the joined 가봤자, so that one is not an error.)
• 지금 간들 소용업어요 (jigeum gandeul soyongeobeoyo) -> 지금 간들 소용없어요 (jigeum gandeul soyongeopseoyo) - 없다 has 받침 ㅄ (없), not *업; a wrong 받침 is a different word.

Tips

• Let the adverb warn you. 설령/설사 -> a hypothetical ending is coming (-(으)ㄹ지라도, -(느)ㄴ다손 치더라도); 비록 -> a factual “although”; 아무리 -> “no matter how” (-기로서니, -(으)ㄴ들); 차라리 -> a “would rather” (-(으)ㄹ망정, -(으)ㄹ지언정).
• -(으)ㄴ들 needs a rhetorical partner. It nearly always sets up a question or 소용없다. If there’s no “what’s the point?” bite, you actually want plain -아/어도.
• 망정 vs 지언정 are twins - both “rather X than Y” - but 지언정 is the more formal, more emphatic refusal. Both outrank a bare 차라리.
• Read them, speak the plain ones. For output, -아/어도 (L49) and -아/어 봤자 carry you through conversation; -(으)ㄹ지라도 and -(느)ㄴ다손 치더라도 are what you decode in TOPIK reading and editorials.