아무튼 · 어쨌든: 'Anyway' and 'In Any Case' | Korean Grammar

Every conversation needs a way to say "enough of that — here's the point." Korean's main tools for it are two adverbs, 아무튼 and 어쨌든, both of which wave off the preceding detail and push the talk toward its conclusion. They are discourse managers, not logical connectors: they signal a wrap-up or a pivot, they do not draw a conclusion from premises. English speakers routinely mistake them for "so / therefore," which is the single most important error this page fixes. As a bonus, both freeze a productive piece of grammar inside them — the concessive -든 — and once you spot it, the adverbs stop looking arbitrary.

Where they come from: "however things may be"

아무튼 derives from 아무렇든 (아무렇다 "to be any-which-way" + -든). 어쨌든 derives from 어쨌다/어찌했다 ("to have done however" + -든). Both literally mean "however things may be / whatever the case." That origin is the whole meaning: they dismiss the specifics of what came before as not decisive, and move on to what matters.

아무튼 결론은 이거예요.

amuteun gyeolloneun igeoyeyo

Anyway, the point is this.

자세한 건 나중에 얘기하고, 아무튼 잘 됐어요.

jasehan geon najung-e yaegihago, amuteun jal dwaesseoyo

We'll go over the details later, but anyway, it worked out.

이유는 잘 모르겠지만, 어쨌든 안 된대요.

iyuneun jal moreugetjiman, eojjaetdeun an doendaeyo

I'm not sure of the reason, but in any case they say it's a no.

Both sit sentence-initially, as pivots. Everything before them is the stuff you are setting aside; everything after is where you actually want to land.

The grammar frozen inside: the concessive -든(지)

The -든(지) ending means "whether… or / whatever / no matter which" — it grants that all options are equal, that the choice doesn't change the outcome. Seeing it live and free demystifies the frozen adverbs.

네가 가든 안 가든 난 갈 거야.

nega gadeun an gadeun nan gal geoya

Whether you go or not, I'm going. (casual)

뭘 먹든 상관없어요. 아무거나 시키세요.

mwol meokdeun sanggwaneopseoyo. amugeona sikiseyo

I don't mind whatever we eat. Order anything. (polite)

누가 뭐라든 신경 쓰지 마세요.

nuga mworadeun singyeong sseuji maseyo

Whatever anyone says, don't let it bother you. (polite)

Now 아무튼 and 어쨌든 read clearly: they are 아무렇든 and 어쨌든 — "however-it-may-be." For the ending itself, see -든지: whichever.

-든 vs -던: the spelling trap behind these words

Worth flagging because it trips up natives and learners alike: the concessive -든 ("whether / whatever") sounds identical in speech to the retrospective -던 ("that one used to / was ~ing"), but they mean completely different things — and confusing them is exactly why 어쨌든 gets misspelled ×어쨋던. The rule of thumb: if you mean "no matter which," it is -든; if you mean "back then," it is -던.

뭘 먹든 다 잘 먹어요.

mwol meokdeun da jal meogeoyo

Whatever we eat, I'm happy with it all. (concessive -든)

아까 먹던 거 마저 드세요.

akka meokdeon geo majeo deuseyo

Please finish what you were eating earlier. (retrospective -던)

Because 아무튼 and 어쨌든 carry the concessive -든, they are always spelled with -든, never -던.

The subtle difference: 어쨌든 overrides, 아무튼 moves on

The two overlap heavily, and in most sentences you can swap them. But there is a lean:

어쨌든 presses on "regardless of what was just said." You have laid out considerations, doubts, or objections, and 어쨌든 overrides them: the point stands anyway. It feels a touch more argumentative.
아무튼 is a looser "anyway, moving on." It wraps up when you can't be bothered with the details, or shifts to the next thing.

여러 가지 문제가 있지만, 어쨌든 시작은 해야죠.

yeoreo gaji munjega itjiman, eojjaetdeun sijageun haeyajo

There are various problems, but in any case, we have to at least get started.

뭐, 어쨌든 끝났으니까 다행이에요.

mwo, eojjaetdeun kkeunnasseunikka dahaeng-ieyo

Well, in any case, it's over now, so that's a relief.

아무튼 오늘은 여기까지 하죠.

amuteun oneureun yeogikkaji hajo

Anyway, let's wrap up here for today.

이야기가 길어졌네요. 아무튼 고마워요.

iyagiga gireojeonneyo. amuteun gomawoyo

This got long. Anyway, thanks.

There are near-synonyms too: 하여튼 and 여하튼 ("at any rate") carry the same wrap-up function, with 하여튼 often sounding a shade more exasperated.

하여튼 넌 항상 늦어.

hayeoteun neon hangsang neujeo

At any rate, you're always late. (casual, exasperated)

💡

These are register-neutral adverbs — the politeness of the sentence lives in the verb ending, not in the adverb. 아무튼 잘 됐어 (casual) and 아무튼 잘 됐어요 (polite) differ only in the verb. Don't try to make the adverb polite by tacking 요 onto it; 아무튼요 is substandard.

💡

Think of 아무튼 as your conversational exit ramp. When you catch yourself over-explaining or wandering off-topic, 아무튼 lets you drop the detail and land the point in one word. The catch: it works because it is used sparingly. Deployed at every turn it stops meaning "here's the point" and starts meaning "whatever."

Why English speakers get this wrong

The big one: treating 아무튼/어쨌든 as "so / therefore." They are not result connectors. "It rained, so I didn't go" is a cause-and-effect claim → use 그래서 / 그러니까. 어쨌든 does the opposite job: it dismisses the preceding point rather than concluding from it. "It rained, but anyway I went" (overriding the obstacle) is 어쨌든; "It rained, so I stayed home" (drawing a consequence) is 그래서. Keep the two families apart.

The second issue is stylistic: 아무튼 is easy to overuse as a verbal tic. Sprinkled every few sentences it starts to read as dismissive — "anyway, whatever" — so deploy it deliberately, at genuine wrap-up or pivot points.

Common Mistakes

❌ 비가 왔어요. 어쨌든 안 갔어요.

Incorrect if you mean 'so I didn't go' — 어쨌든 doesn't mean 'therefore'; use 그래서 for cause-and-effect.

✅ 비가 왔어요. 그래서 안 갔어요.

biga wasseoyo. geuraeseo an gasseoyo

It rained, so I didn't go.

✅ 비가 왔어요. 근데 어쨌든 가긴 갔어요.

biga wasseoyo. geunde eojjaetdeun gagin gasseoyo

It rained. But in any case, I did go. (correct override use)

❌ 저 이제 가야 돼요. 아무튼요, 다음에 봐요.

Incorrect — the adverb doesn't take 요; put politeness on the verb.

✅ 저 이제 가야 돼요. 아무튼 다음에 봐요.

jeo ije gaya dwaeyo. amuteun daeume bwayo

I have to go now. Anyway, see you next time.

❌ 어쨋든 결정해야 해요.

Incorrect spelling — it's 어쨌든 with double ㅆ, not 어쨋든.

✅ 어쨌든 결정해야 해요.

eojjaetdeun gyeoljeonghaeya haeyo

In any case, we have to decide.

Master these two and you gain a natural way to steer conversations to their point. For pivoting rather than wrapping up, see 그런데 / 근데: topic shifting; for the reaction phrases that often sit right beside them, 그렇구나 · 그러게요 · 글쎄요.

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