던, 았/었던 and 았/었었: the finer past
By Daniel Buckley · 13 minute read · TOPIK 3
Vocabulary
- 다니다 - to attend, to go regularly
- 어리다 - to be young (of a child)
- 계속하다 - to carry on
- 옛날 - the old days, long ago
- 그때 - then, at that time
- 친하다 - to be close (of friends)
- 동네 - neighbourhood
- 없어지다 - to disappear, to be gone
- 샤워하다 - to have a shower
You leave half a bread roll on the table to answer the door, and you come back to find someone about to bin it. You want to say "that's the roll I was eating". 제가 먹은 빵이에요 won't do, because 먹은 says you finished it, and then there's nothing to rescue.
What you need is 제가 먹던 빵이에요. So far you've had one past for verbs before a noun and one past for the end of a sentence. Korean cuts the past more finely than that, and its cuts fall in different places from "ate", "was eating", "used to eat" and "had eaten".
던: it wasn't over
The past modifier from ~는 것, ㄴ/은, treats an action as done and closed. 던 looks back at an action while it was still going. It may have been interrupted, or it may have carried on for years, but in the memory it hasn't reached its end.
Making 던
- Verbs: drop 다, add 던.먹다 → 먹던가다 → 가던살다 → 살던듣다 → 듣던
Pick a verb
먹다먹먹던
The first use is the half-eaten roll. Something was under way, and it stopped before the end.
제가 먹던 빵이에요. 버리지 마세요.
That's the bread I was eating. Don't throw it away.
어제 읽던 책을 오늘 다 읽었어요.
Today I finished the book I was reading yesterday.
하던 일을 계속하세요.
Carry on with what you were doing.
아까 하던 얘기 계속해 주세요.
Please go on with what you were saying earlier.
The second use is something that kept happening over a stretch of time. English says "used to" here.
여기가 제가 다니던 학교예요.
This is the school I used to go to.
어렸을 때 살던 집이 아직 있어요.
The house I lived in as a child is still there.
대학생 때 자주 가던 식당이 없어졌어요.
The restaurant I used to go to all the time at university has gone.
제가 입던 옷인데 필요하면 가져가세요.
These are clothes I used to wear. Take them if you need them.
※ Don't confuse 던 with 든 from instead and or. 던 looks back and 든 offers a choice. They sound alike, and it's the same slip as 던지 for 든지 in the no matter lesson.
았/었던: back then
Put 았/었 in front and the action is finished again, but you're still looking back at it: 먹었던. Where ㄴ/은 simply says something was done, 았/었던 places it back then, on an occasion you're recalling. Compare all three on one noun.
제가 먹은 빵이에요.
It's the bread I ate.
제가 먹던 빵이에요.
It's the bread I was eating.
제가 먹었던 빵이에요.
It's the bread I had back then.
Example 1 is a plain fact about the bread. Example 2 says there's some left. Example 3 sends you back to an occasion, so picture someone pointing at a photo or a bakery shelf.
작년에 갔던 식당에 또 갔어요.
I went back to the restaurant I went to last year.
그때 봤던 영화가 아직도 기억나요.
I still remember the film I saw back then.
어렸을 때 좋아했던 노래예요.
It's a song I loved as a kid.
With verbs that last, like 살다, 다니다 and 좋아하다, the gap between 던 and 았/었던 nearly closes. 제가 살던 집 and 제가 살았던 집 are the same house. With one action that can finish, like eating that roll or reading that book, 던 still means unfinished and 았/었던 doesn't.
This is also the form I'd use for adjectives and nouns. 던 goes on them too, as in 조용하던 동네, and there the two are hard to tell apart. It's where the 바빴던 적 from the experience lesson comes from.
그렇게 조용했던 동네가 많이 바뀌었어요.
The neighbourhood that used to be so quiet has changed a lot.
그렇게 작았던 아이가 벌써 대학생이 됐어요.
That child who was so small is a university student now.
어렸을 때 친했던 친구를 만났어요.
I met a friend I was close to as a kid.
옛날에 선생님이었던 분이에요.
She's someone who was a teacher in the old days.
※ 있다 and 없다 don't use ㄴ/은 for a past state, so these are their everyday past modifiers: 여기 있던 가게, the shop that was here, or 여기 있었던 가게 with the same meaning.
Three pasts before a noun
- ㄴ/은: it was done.다 읽은 책
- 던: it was under way, or it kept happening.읽던 책자주 가던 식당
- 았/었던: it was done, and I'm recalling that time.그때 읽었던 책
아까 ___ 커피 어디 있어요?
Where's the coffee I was drinking earlier?
이건 다 ___ 책이에요. 가져가세요.
I've finished this book. Take it.
여기가 제가 어렸을 때 ___ 학교예요.
This is the school I went to as a kid.
___ 일을 끝내고 갈게요.
I'll finish what I was doing, then go.
았/었었: that's over now
Korean can double the past, which gives you 았/었었. Grammar books sometimes call it the past perfect, but it doesn't line up with English "had eaten". What it adds is a break between then and now, so it says that's how it was, and things are different today.
Making 았/었었
- Take the past stem and add 었어요. The second one is always 었.갔어요 → 갔었어요먹었어요 → 먹었었어요바빴어요 → 바빴었어요
Pick a verb
가다갔어요갔었어요
The clearest way to feel it is in pairs. The plain past doesn't say anything about now, and the double past says it's over.
민수 씨가 왔어요.
Minsu has come.
민수 씨가 왔었어요.
Minsu came, but he's gone again.
동생이 제주도에 갔어요.
My brother has gone to Jeju.
동생이 제주도에 갔었어요.
My brother went to Jeju, and he's back.
That's why it so often lands on English "used to". It suits anything that's true of the past and no longer true.
어렸을 때는 키가 작았었어요.
I used to be short when I was little.
전에 이 동네에 살았었어요.
I used to live in this neighbourhood.
그 사람을 좋아했었어요.
I used to like him.
머리가 길었었어요.
My hair used to be long.
Example 3 is a whole story in one verb: I liked him once, and that's finished. Plain 좋아했어요 would leave it open. Most past sentences need nothing more than 았/었어요, so keep this form for when the break with the present is the thing you want to say.
동생이 일본에 갔어요.
동생이 일본에 갔었어요.
아까 창문을 열었어요.
아까 창문을 열었었어요.
전에는 많이 바빴었어요.
어제 많이 바빴어요.
Listen and type
1 / 3
Play it as often as you like.
고 있었다: in the middle of it
You met 고 있었어요 in the progressive lesson. It puts you inside an action at one moment in the past, like English "was doing". Korean leans on it less than English does, though: 어제 텔레비전을 봤어요 is the normal way to say you watched TV yesterday.
It earns its place when there's a moment to hang it on. Someone asks what you were doing at a certain time, or something else happened while you were busy with it.
전화했을 때 뭐 하고 있었어요?
What were you doing when I called?
샤워하고 있었어요.
I was having a shower.
친구가 왔을 때 저는 자고 있었어요.
I was sleeping when my friend came.
버스를 기다리고 있었는데 비가 오기 시작했어요.
I was waiting for the bus when it started to rain.
그때 저는 부산에 살고 있었어요.
I was living in Busan at the time.
민수 씨는 그날 까만 코트를 입고 있었어요.
Minsu was wearing a black coat that day.
It combines with 던 too. 제가 읽고 있던 책 is the book I was in the middle of, which spells out what 읽던 책 already implies. You'd reach for it when you want that "in the middle" to be heard.
제가 읽고 있던 책 못 봤어요?
Have you seen the book I was reading?
기다리고 있던 전화가 왔어요.
The call I was waiting for came.
Three pasts at the end of a sentence
- 았/었어요: it happened. This is the default.밥을 먹었어요.
- 고 있었어요: it was under way at that moment.그때 밥을 먹고 있었어요.
- 았/었었어요: it happened, and that's over now.전에는 고기를 먹었었어요.
In a conversation
- A
이 사진은 어디예요?
This photo is where?
- B
제가 어렸을 때 살던 동네예요. 이게 제가 다니던 학교고요.
Neighbourhood I lived in when young. This is the school I attended, and.
- A
와, 머리가 길었네요!
Wow, hair was long!
- B
네, 그때는 길었었어요. 지금도 그 동네에 친구가 있어요.
Yes, then used to be long. Now too in that neighbourhood friends exist.
- A
자주 가요?
Often go?
- B
작년에 한 번 갔었어요. 제가 좋아했던 빵집이 없어졌어요.
Last year once went. The bakery I liked back then disappeared.
Common mistakes
아까 마신 커피를 다 마실게요.
아까 마시던 커피를 다 마실게요.
마신 커피 is already finished, so you can't finish it. An unfinished action takes 던.
민수 씨가 왔었어요. 지금 저기 있어요.
민수 씨가 왔어요. 지금 저기 있어요.
왔었어요 says he's gone again, and the second sentence says he hasn't.
여기 있은 가게가 없어졌어요.
여기 있던 가게가 없어졌어요.
있다 doesn't use ㄴ/은 for a past state. Use 있던 or 있었던.
Check yourself
Quick check
1 / 6
아까 ___ 얘기 계속해 주세요. (하다, unfinished) Please go on with what you were saying.
It stopped before the end.
Summary
| Dictionary | Stem | 던 |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 | 먹 | 먹던 |
| 가다 | 가 | 가던 |
| 살다 | 살 | 살던 |
| 듣다 | 듣 | 듣던 |
| 다니다 | 다니 | 다니던 |
| Dictionary | Past | 았/었던 |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 | 먹었어요 | 먹었던 |
| 가다 | 갔어요 | 갔던 |
| 듣다 | 들었어요 | 들었던 |
| 좋아하다 | 좋아했어요 | 좋아했던 |
| 바쁘다 | 바빴어요 | 바빴던 |
The finer past
- 던: before a noun, an action still going, interrupted or repeated.
- 았/었던: before a noun, a finished action or past state, recalled. The one I'd use for adjectives and nouns.
- 았/었었: it happened or was so, and that's over now.
- 고 있었다: in the middle of it at a certain moment.
Now you can say
제가 먹던 빵이에요.
That's the bread I was eating.
여기가 제가 다니던 학교예요.
This is the school I used to go to.
전에 이 동네에 살았었어요.
I used to live in this neighbourhood.
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