3 · Before a noun, and verbs as nouns
Verbs before a noun, past: 어제 본 영화
the past relative clause
An action verb takes -은 after a consonant, or adds n after a vowel, to describe a noun by something that has already happened.
To describe a noun by a finished action — “the film I saw yesterday”, “the people who came” — the verb takes the same ending as an adjective: -은 after a consonant, an n added after a vowel. 먹다 → 먹은 음식, 보다 → 본 영화, 오다 → 온 사람, 하다 → 한 일.
On an adjective this ending means a present state (작은 방); on an action verb it means a completed action. The difference lies in the word, not in the ending, and it is why 먹은 means “eaten” while 작은 means “small” and not “was small”.
The past is in the ending itself, so nothing else is added. English speakers who have just learnt 봤어요 tend to build 봤은 or 봤는, and both are wrong: it is simply 본. The irregular stems change as before any ending with (으): 듣다 → 들은, 돕다 → 도운, 짓다 → 지은, and a stem in 리을 drops its l: 만들다 → 만든, 살다 → 산.
Set it beside the present: 제가 읽는 책 is the book I am reading, 제가 읽은 책 the book I have read, and — next topic — 제가 읽을 책 the book I am going to read. The same three endings return in many fixed patterns, among them 간 적이 있어요 (I have been there) and 먹은 후에 (after eating).
The form
| after a consonant | 먹다 → 먹은 음식 |
| after a vowel: n is added | 보다 → 본 영화 |
| stem in 리을: the l drops | 만들다 → 만든 케이크 |
| stems in 디귿 and 비읍 | 듣다 → 들은 노래, 돕다 → 도운 사람 |
| present, past and future side by side | 읽는 책 · 읽은 책 · 읽을 책 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
On an action verb, -은 or an added n means the action is finished.
어제 먹은 음식이 정말 맛있었어요.The food we ate yesterday was really good.
No past marker is added: it is 본, never 봤은.
지난주에 본 영화 제목이 뭐였죠?What was the title of the film we saw last week?
Irregular stems change as before an ending with (으).
친구한테 들은 이야기예요.It is something I heard from a friend.
Stems in 리을 drop the l.
이건 제가 직접 만든 쿠키예요.These are biscuits I made myself.
A closer look
Adjective or verb? One ending, two meanings
작은 and 먹은 look alike, and an English speaker naturally reads them as the same kind of form. But an adjective names a quality that holds, so its modifier describes the noun as it is; an action verb names an event, and the same ending marks the event as done.
The difference shows in words that are both. 크다 as an adjective (to be big) gives 큰 아이, a big child; used as a verb (to grow) it gives 크는 아이, a growing child.
How to spot it
- 본
- 먹은
- 만든
- 들은
- 간
Example sentences
작년에 간 제주도가 정말 좋았어요.Jeju, where I went last year, was really lovely.
이거 누가 쓴 책이에요?Who wrote this book?
오늘 아침에 산 우유가 어디 있어요?Where is the milk I bought this morning?
어제 만난 사람 이름이 기억이 안 나요.I cannot remember the name of the person I met yesterday.
제가 보낸 메일 받았어요?Did you get the email I sent?
한국에 처음 온 날을 아직 기억해요.I still remember the day I first came to Korea.
8 more example sentences
이 사진은 제가 찍은 거예요.I took this photo.
지난 주말에 읽은 소설이 아주 슬펐어요.The novel I read last weekend was very sad.
엄마가 만드신 김밥이 제일 맛있어요.The gimbap my mother made is the best.
그때 저를 도운 분께 감사 인사를 드렸어요.I thanked the person who had helped me then.
방금 끝난 회의에서 무슨 얘기를 했어요?What did you talk about in the meeting that has just ended?
잃어버린 지갑을 찾았어요.I found the wallet I had lost.
한국에서 십 년 동안 산 친구가 있어요.I have a friend who lived in Korea for ten years.
새로 생긴 식당에 가 봤어요?Have you been to the restaurant that has just opened?
Worth knowing (1)
-
산: bought or lived?
사다 (to buy) adds an n: 산. 살다 (to live) loses its l and adds an n: also 산. 제가 산 집 can be “the house I bought” or “the house I lived in”; the rest of the sentence usually decides, and where it does not, Korean speakers say 제가 살던 집 for the second.
이 옷은 시장에서 산 거예요.I bought these clothes at the market.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The modifier ending already carries the past. Adding -았/었- in front of it, as in 봤는 or 봤은, doubles the tense and produces something no Korean says. (봤던 does exist, with a different ending and a nuance of its own.)
On a verb, -eun means done — and never add the past marker before it.
Your turn
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.