gireul moreugesseumyeon nareul ttarawa.

to not know

Breakdown of gireul moreugesseumyeon nareul ttarawa.

• 나: me
• 길: way
• 따라오다: to follow someone here

Questions & Answers about gireul moreugesseumyeon nareul ttarawa.

How can I break this sentence down piece by piece?

A natural breakdown is:

• 길을 = the way / the road / the route
  • object marker -을
• 모르겠으면 = if you don’t know / if you’re not sure
• 나를 = me
  • object marker -를
• 따라와 = follow (me) / come along after me

So the structure is basically:

길을 모르겠으면 + 나를 따라와
= If you don’t know the way, follow me.

What does -으면 mean in 모르겠으면?

-으면 / -면 is a conditional ending meaning if or sometimes when.

Here:

• 모르겠다 = to not know / to be unsure
• 모르겠으면 = if you don’t know / if you’re unsure

So -으면 connects the first idea to the second:

• If you don’t know the way,
• follow me.

A very literal pattern is:

A-(으)면 B
= If A, then B

Why is it 모르겠으면 instead of just 모르면?