Korean -아/어 봤자: "Even If You Do, It's No Use"

The bus already left, and you are running after it. You cleaned the stain for ten minutes and it is still there. You waited for a reply that never came. In each case, the effort will not change the outcome. Korean has a pattern for this feeling: -아/어 봤자. It means "even if I do it, it won't help" or "there's no point in doing it."

How to form it

Attach -아/어 봤자 to a verb or adjective stem. Use 아 after the vowels ㅏ and ㅗ, and 어 after every other vowel. 하다 becomes 해.

Stem	Form	Example
가다	가 봤자	지금 가 봤자 문을 닫았을 것이다. — Even if I go now, it will already be closed.
앉다	앉아 봤자	책상에 앉아 봤자 집중이 안 된다. — Even if I sit at the desk, I can't concentrate.
먹다	먹어 봤자	지금 먹어 봤자 소화도 안 될 것이다. — Even if I eat now, it won't digest.
하다	해 봤자	걱정을 해 봤자 달라지는 게 없다. — Even if I worry, nothing changes.
듣다	들어 봤자	설명을 들어 봤자 이해가 안 된다. — Even if I listen to the explanation, I won't understand.
쓰다	써 봤자	일기를 길게 써 봤자 오늘 일은 바뀌지 않는다. — Even if I write a long diary entry, today won't change.

Spelling note: 봤자 is the shortened form of 보았자. In standard spelling it is a separate word after the verb: 해 봤자. Adjectives work too: 비싸 봤자 얼마나 비싸겠어? ("Even if it's expensive, how expensive can it be?").

What it means: the effort will not pay off

-아/어 봤자 sets up a "try it and see" scene, then closes the door. Whatever you do, the result is useless, small, or the same as before. The clause that follows is almost always negative.

• 울어 봤자 소용없다. — Crying won't help.
• 지금 뛰어 봤자 버스는 이미 떠났다. — Even if I run now, the bus has already left.
• 화를 내 봤자 내 기분만 나빠진다. — Even if I get angry, only my mood gets worse.
• 일찍 자 봤자 잠이 안 올 것 같다. — Even if I go to bed early, I probably can't sleep.

Words that often follow: 소용없다 (it's useless), 마찬가지다 (it's the same), 별수 없다 (there's nothing to be done), 안 ~다 (a plain negative), and ~뿐이다 ("only"). A question like 얼마나 ~겠어? ("how much could it be?") also fits, and it means "not much."

-아/어 봤자 vs -아/어도 vs -아/어 봐야

Pattern	Feeling	Example
-아/어도	A neutral "even if"	지금 가도 괜찮아요. — It's fine even if you go now.
-아/어 봐야	"No use even if you try": the same idea, a little more neutral	지금 가 봐야 소용없다.
-아/어 봤자	"No use even if you try": more casual and more dismissive	지금 가 봤자 소용없다.

-아/어도 only says "even if," and the result can be good. -아/어 봤자 and -아/어 봐야 both say the result is useless, and in a diary 봤자 sounds like you are talking to yourself.

Not for the past, not for commands

The "if" is imagined, so the past tense does not go inside the pattern. The whole sentence also reports a hopeless result, so it does not end in a command or a suggestion.

Mistake	Fix	Why
먹었어 봤자 ✗	먹어 봤자 ✓	Do not add -았/었- before 봤자. The effort is imagined, not something that already happened, so the verb stays in the plain -아/어 form.
지금 가 봤자 집에 있자 ✗	지금 가 봤자 소용없으니까 집에 있자 ✓	A command or a suggestion cannot follow 봤자 directly. State the useless result, then suggest something else.
해 봤자 좋은 결과가 나올 거예요 ✗	해 봤자 좋은 결과는 안 나올 거예요 ✓	The result after 봤자 should be negative or useless. A happy result does not fit.
김치를 먹어 봤자 (meaning "I have tried kimchi") ✗	김치를 먹어 봤다 ✓	먹어 봤다 means "I have tried eating it." 먹어 봤자 is a different pattern about uselessness.

Try it in tonight's entry

Find a moment today when you caught yourself thinking "what's the use?":

• 아무리 찾아 봤자 잃어버린 우산은 안 나올 것이다.
• 지금 닦아 봤자 얼룩이 안 지워진다.
• 혼자 고민해 봤자 답은 안 나온다.
• 밤새 기다려 봤자 연락은 안 올 것이다.

Then add one sentence about what you did instead: 그냥 내일 다시 해 보기로 했다 ("I decided to just try again tomorrow"). The pattern gives the "it's no use," and your next move turns it into a diary entry. Want to check that your -아/어 봤자 sentences sound natural? Write your diary at kdiaryai.com and get instant corrections.