4 · Before a noun, and verbs as nouns
The remembered past before a noun: 내가 다니던 학교
the retrospective modifier
-던 describes a noun by something that used to happen or was going on, and often by something that has since stopped.
-던 looks back. It describes a noun by an action that was repeated or going on at some time in the past, seen from memory: 제가 다니던 학교 is “the school I used to go to”, 어릴 때 자주 가던 공원 “the park we often went to as children”. It attaches to any stem without change — no 으, no irregular forms: 듣던, 살던, 춥던.
Its second use is an action that was started and not finished: 제가 마시던 커피 is “the coffee I was drinking”, still half full; 읽던 책 is the book I was in the middle of. Compare 마신 커피, the coffee I drank, and 읽은 책, a book I have finished. For an English speaker this is the clearest way in: -던 is the “was doing” and the “used to” of the modifiers.
-았던/었던 adds the past marker and stresses that the event is over and complete, often a single occasion: 작년에 갔던 식당, “the restaurant we went to last year”. With adjectives and 이다, -던 and -았던/었던 describe a past state that has changed: 조용하던 동네 or 조용했던 동네, “the once quiet neighbourhood”; 학생이었던 때, “when I was a student”.
The lines between -던, -았던 and plain -은 depend on how the speaker sees the past, and in many sentences more than one works. The main error for English speakers is a narrower one: using -은 for something unfinished. 제가 먹은 빵 is gone; if half a roll is still on the plate, it is 제가 먹던 빵.
The form
| any stem, no change | 다니다 → 다니던, 살다 → 살던, 듣다 → 듣던 |
| used to | 자주 가던 카페 |
| unfinished | 마시던 커피, 읽던 책 |
| finished, remembered | 작년에 갔던 식당 |
| a past state | 조용하던 동네, 학생이었던 때 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-던 describes something that happened repeatedly in the past.
대학교 때 자주 가던 식당이 문을 닫았어요.The restaurant I used to go to a lot at university has closed.
It also describes an action that was interrupted.
제가 읽던 책 못 봤어요?Have you seen the book I was reading?
-았던/었던 stresses a finished event, often a single one.
작년 여름에 갔던 바다가 생각나요.I keep thinking of the beach we went to last summer.
With adjectives, it describes a state that no longer holds.
조용하던 동네가 요즘은 많이 시끄러워졌어요.The once quiet neighbourhood has become very noisy lately.
-던 attaches to any stem unchanged.
어렸을 때 살던 집에 다시 가 봤어요.I went back to the house I lived in as a child.
A closer look
-던, -았던 and -은 side by side
제가 읽은 책: a book I have read — finished, with no memory implied. 제가 읽던 책: the book I was reading, or the book I used to read again and again. 제가 읽었던 책: a book I read back then, the reading over and seen from now.
For a single finished action, -은 and -았던 often both work, and many speakers choose -았던 to make the past more vivid. For -던, think of an unfinished line: whatever was going on had not reached its end at the moment you look back at.
How to spot it
- -던
- -았던
- -었던
- 다니던
- 먹던
Example sentences
이건 제가 어릴 때 갖고 놀던 인형이에요.This is the doll I used to play with when I was little.
먹던 거 버리지 마세요. 이따가 다 먹을 거예요.Do not throw away what I was eating. I am going to finish it later.
고등학교 때 친하던 친구를 우연히 만났어요.I bumped into a friend I was close to at secondary school.
하던 일을 마저 끝내고 갈게요.I will finish what I was doing and then go.
그렇게 춥던 날씨가 갑자기 따뜻해졌어요.The weather, which had been so cold, suddenly turned warm.
예전에 자주 들었던 노래가 라디오에서 나왔어요.A song I used to listen to a lot came on the radio.
8 more example sentences
제가 쓰던 컴퓨터를 동생한테 줬어요.I gave my younger brother the computer I used to use.
예쁘던 꽃이 다 졌어요.The flowers that were so pretty have all faded.
아까 하던 얘기 계속해 주세요.Please go on with what you were saying earlier.
처음 만났던 날을 기억해요?Do you remember the day we first met?
학생이었던 시절이 그리워요.I miss my student days.
할머니가 자주 해 주시던 음식이 생각나요.I think of the dishes my grandmother used to make for me.
자던 아이가 갑자기 울기 시작했어요.The child, who had been asleep, suddenly started crying.
지난번에 묵었던 호텔로 다시 예약했어요.I have booked the hotel we stayed at last time again.
Worth knowing (1)
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A form with a mood
-던 carries memory with it, and in speech it often sounds a little wistful: 자주 듣던 노래 is not only a song you listened to, but one that belongs to a time you remember. It is common in stories, songs and talk about the past, and rarer in plain reports, where -은 or -았던 is used.
여기가 우리가 처음 만났던 곳이에요.This is where we first met.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The cup was still half full, so the drinking was interrupted, not finished. 마신 커피 would be coffee already drunk; an action broken off before its end takes -던.
Deon looks back at what was going on or used to happen — and leaves it unfinished.
Your turn
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.