-아/어 대다
a/eo daeda
Grammar · 1 sense
To keep doing something excessively
Examples
동생이 계속 울어 대서 머리가 아파요.
My younger sibling kept crying too much, so I have a headache.
고양이가 밤에 울어 대서 잠을 못 잤어요.
The cat kept crying at night, so I couldn't sleep.
When you'd hear it
This pattern is common in conversational Korean and informal storytelling, especially when the speaker finds the repeated action irritating or excessive. It also appears in written narrative, but is less suitable for formal reports.
What learners get wrong
Unlike -고 있다, which neutrally describes an action in progress, -아/어 대다 adds the speaker's sense that the action keeps happening too much or is bothersome. The repeated action itself can be neutral with -고 있다, but not usually with -아/어 대다.
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