-곤 하다

gon hada

Grammar · 1 sense

Often, used to

Examples

사무실에서 퇴근하고 운동하곤 해요.

I use to work out after work at the office.

밤에 잠이 안 오면 음악을 듣곤 해요.

When I can't sleep at night, I often listen to music

When you'd hear it

-곤 하다 appears in everyday polite conversation and writing, especially when describing recurring routines or past habits. It is common in personal stories, interviews, and drama dialogue, and it can attach to present or past situations.

What learners get wrong

Learners often treat it as interchangeable with 자주, but -곤 하다 highlights a repeated pattern or habit, often one that is no longer current when used in the past. 자주 simply means “often” and can describe a single general frequency without emphasizing a routine.

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