-았/었던
(at/eot/yeot)deon
Grammar · 1 sense
the ... that I once - and it's over
Examples
작년에 갔던 식당에 또 가고 싶어요.
I'd like to go back to the restaurant we went to last year.
한때 유행했던 노래예요.
It's a song that was popular for a while.
When you'd hear it
This pattern is common in everyday conversation, personal storytelling, and written descriptions, and is not especially formal. It often appears when speakers look back on an earlier situation or experience, including in dramas and essays.
What learners get wrong
Modifies a noun with something finished and closed off: 어렸을 때 살았던 집. Plain -던 leaves the action hanging; -았/었던 seals it. So 먹던 빵 is half-eaten and 먹었던 빵 is one you finished, and 갔던 곳 is somewhere you went and came back from.
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