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그 책을 읽는 것이 좋다
그 책을 읽으면 좋다

What's the difference between the 'feel' of these? I've read that 는 것이 좋다 has more of a feel of an instruction - "you should read this book". Is that correct? intuitively I would have thought it would be the other way around.

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The phrase 면/으면 (one for verbs that don't end in a consonant/one for verbs that do) translates most directly to "if".

그 책을 읽는 것이 좋다

Reading that book (near you) is good.

그 책을 읽으면 좋다

If you read that book (near you) it is good.

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    Thanks for the answer - it's not so much the direct / literal translation that I'm interested in, but the different situations in which you might use each (if indeed they would be used differently).
    – Нет войне
    Commented Dec 10, 2016 at 13:47
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    Perhaps you would use "if" in a case where you were not certain the reader would read the book. As you mention in your other question one would probably not use 것이 since it is too "standard", but then, the 을 would likely be dropped too - 그책은 좋아 - 읽어봐!
    – 제이 죤스톤
    Commented Dec 10, 2016 at 13:52

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