4 · Linking clauses, further
If you keep at it: -다 보면, -다 보니
what repetition leads to
-다 보면 says what will happen if you keep doing something; -다 보니(까) what you found happened as you kept doing it.
At a glance
- Remember
- Da bomyeon: keep at it and you will see. Da boni: I kept at it and saw.
- Form
- 하다 → 하다 보면if you keep doing
- Signal words
- -다 보면
- -다 보니까
- -다 보니
- 계속
- 매일
- Trap
- Wrong:한국어를 계속 공부하다 보면 실력이 늘었어요.Right:한국어를 계속 공부하다 보니까 실력이 늘었어요.
Your turn
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The form
| if you keep doing | 하다 → 하다 보면 |
| as I kept doing | 하다 → 하다 보니까 |
| short form | 하다 보니 |
| after an adjective | 바쁘다 → 바쁘다 보니 |
| after a noun | 학생이다 보니 |
| typical ending | 하다 보면 익숙해질 거예요 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
-다 보면 says what tends to happen if an action is kept up.
계속 연습하다 보면 잘하게 될 거예요.If you keep practising, you will get good.
-다 보니(까) says what the speaker found had happened as the action went on.
친구랑 이야기하다 보니까 시간이 금방 지나갔어요.Chatting with my friend, I lost track of time.
After -다 보면, the second half is usually a future, -게 되다 or a general truth.
살다 보면 힘든 날도 있어요.In life there are hard days too.
-다 보니 can follow an adjective or 이다 to give an ongoing situation as the reason.
요즘 바쁘다 보니 운동을 못 했어요.I've been so busy lately that I haven't exercised.
Example sentences
매일 조금씩 읽다 보면 실력이 늘 거예요.If you read a little every day, you will improve.
한국에 살다 보니까 매운 음식을 좋아하게 됐어요.Living in Korea, I have come to like spicy food.
일하다 보면 실수할 수도 있어요.Anyone can make mistakes at work.
걷다 보니까 어느새 바닷가에 도착했어요.I kept walking, and before I knew it I was at the beach.
자주 만나다 보면 친해질 거예요.If you see each other often, you will become friends.
혼자 살다 보니 요리를 잘하게 됐어요.Living on my own, I have become a good cook.
8 more example sentences
외국에서 살다 보면 가족이 그리울 때가 있어요.When you live abroad, there are times you miss your family.
드라마를 보다 보니까 새벽 세 시가 됐어요.I kept watching the drama, and it was three in the morning.
천천히 하다 보면 방법을 찾을 수 있을 거예요.If you take it slowly, you will find a way.
자주 가다 보니 그 가게 주인하고 친해졌어요.Going there often, I have become friends with the shop owner.
막내다 보니 집에서 귀여움을 많이 받았어요.Being the youngest, I was spoilt at home.
그 노래를 계속 듣다 보면 좋아질 거예요.If you keep listening to that song, you will start to like it.
일이 많다 보니 주말에도 출근해요.There is so much work that I go in at weekends too.
이야기하다 보니 고향이 같다는 걸 알게 됐어요.As we talked, we found out that we come from the same town.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
-다 보면 looks ahead to what will happen; it cannot be followed by a past result. Something that has already turned out takes -다 보니(까): “as I kept studying, I found I had improved”.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Both patterns go straight onto the stem with -다, short for -다가, and a form of 보다: 하다 보면, 듣다 보면, 살다 보니까. No vowel is chosen and no letter changes. The idea is an action repeated or kept up over time, and a result that comes out of it.
-다 보면, “if you keep …”, looks ahead. The second half is what tends to happen, so it usually ends in -(으)ㄹ 거예요, -게 돼요 or a general present: 매일 듣다 보면 귀가 열릴 거예요, “if you listen every day, your ear will open up”. It is the grammar of encouragement and of life's general truths.
-다 보니(까), “as I kept …”, looks back. The second half is what the speaker found had happened, usually in the past or as a present state: 매일 한국 드라마를 보다 보니까 한국어가 늘었어요, “from watching Korean dramas every day, my Korean has improved”. It often explains a situation without anybody having planned it.
-다 보니 also follows adjectives and 이다, to give an ongoing situation as the reason: 요즘 바쁘다 보니 연락을 못 했어요, “I've been so busy that I haven't been in touch”; 학생이다 보니 돈이 별로 없어요. -다 보면 stays with action verbs.
A closer look
The quiet surprise in -다 보니
-다 보니 often carries a small surprise: the result was not the plan. 이야기하다 보니까 벌써 자정이었어요 — nobody meant to talk until midnight. That is the difference from -아/어서, which states a cause plainly.
The same 보다 appears in -아/어 보니까, “when I tried it, I found”, which looks at a single occasion. -다 보니 looks at a process repeated over time.
Worth knowing (1)
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A proverb-like comfort
살다 보면, “if you go on living”, starts many consoling sentences: 살다 보면 그럴 수도 있어요, “these things happen in life”.
살다 보면 좋은 날도 올 거예요.Good days will come too, as life goes on.
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