-던 Retrospective Modifier: Meaning, Rules and Examples

What you'll learn

• Attach 던 to a verb or adjective stem and place it before a noun.
• Use -던 for a habit or an unfinished action in the past.
• Tell -던 apart from -(으)ㄴ and -았/었던.
• Say 먹던 as [먹떤] and spell 살던 and 만들던 correctly.
• Avoid the common mistakes with finished actions and present states.

Before you start: you should know that a noun modifier is an ending that lets a verb or adjective describe a noun, as in 읽는 책 ("the book I read" now). If it is new, read Noun-Modifying Forms first, and then -(으)ㄴ. Estimated time: 15 minutes.

What Does the -던 Retrospective Modifier Mean?

The -던 retrospective modifier means "that used to ..." or "that I was ...-ing". It recalls a past action or state that was repeated, ongoing or never finished, and it puts a noun at the end of the phrase. In 어릴 때 살던 집, the speaker remembers living in a house over a period of time. The word "retrospective" means "looking back".

The ending is built from two parts. The first is 더, the sign that the speaker saw or remembers the thing in the past. You may know it from -더라 and -더니. The second is ㄴ, the modifier ending that lets the phrase describe a noun. So 살던 집 is "the house that I remember living in".

Three meanings are common. The first is a habit: 자주 가던 식당 ("the restaurant I often went to"). The second is an unfinished action: 먹던 음식 ("the food I was eating"). The third is a past state that was true for a while: 작던 아이 ("the child who used to be small").

A First Example

Here are two sentences that show the pattern with a habit and an unfinished action.

• 어릴 때 살던 집이에요. (eoril ttae saldeon jibieyo.) [어릴 때 살던 지비에요] = "It is the house I used to live in as a child."
• 먹던 음식을 버렸어요. (meokdeon eumsigeul beoryeosseoyo.) [먹떤 음시글 버려써요] = "I threw away the food I had been eating."

In the first sentence, 살던 describes a past home that the speaker lived in for years. In the second, 먹던 describes food that the speaker started and did not finish. In both, the phrase sits before the noun it describes. The next section shows how the ending is formed.

How Does the -던 Retrospective Modifier Work?

The -던 retrospective modifier works by adding 던 directly to the stem, with nothing in between. There is only one version, so you never choose between -던 and -으던. The stem does not change, even for irregular verbs, because 던 starts with the consonant ㄷ.

Pattern Table

The table shows the stem types. Each row has a verb or adjective, the form with 던, the sound and the Revised Romanization.

Revised Romanization (RR, the official Latin spelling) follows the sounds of the words and writes aspiration, as in joteon for 좋던. It does not show tensing caused by a neighbouring sound. So 먹던 is written meokdeon even though it is said [먹떤]. Words separated by a space are romanized separately.

Two sound rules apply. First, after a final ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ the ㄷ of 던 becomes tense (Standard Pronunciation Rules, 표준 발음법, Article 23): 먹던 [먹떤], 듣던 [듣떤], 입던 [입떤]. A tense consonant is a sharper, tighter sound, written ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ or ㅉ when it has its own letter. A double final consonant keeps one sound, so 읽던 is said [익떤]. Second, ㅎ plus ㄷ makes an aspirated ㅌ (Article 12): 좋던 [조턴]. After a vowel or ㄹ, nothing changes: 가던 [가던], 살던 [살던].

No irregular changes. Before the modifiers -는 and -(으)ㄴ, ㄹ stems lose their ㄹ (사는, 만드는) and ㅂ stems change (도운). Before -던 nothing like that happens. The ㄹ stays: 살던, 만들던. The ㅂ stays: 돕던. The ㄷ stays: 듣던. This is easy to remember, because the stem you see in the dictionary form is the stem you use.

Adjectives and 이다. Adjectives take 던 in the same way: 작던 (that used to be small), 좋던 (that used to be good). The copula 이다 gives 이던, as in 학생이던 시절 ("the days when I was a student"). The past forms 이었던 and 였던, as in 학생이었던 시절 and 의사였던 사람, are also common.

The phrase with 던 works as a relative clause: it describes the noun that follows. You can read more about that in relative clauses. Next, here is one full phrase built step by step.

Worked Example, Step by Step

You build a phrase with -던 in five steps, working from the plain sentence you want to turn into a description. This example makes "the kimchi stew my mother used to make".

1. Write the plain sentence. 엄마가 김치찌개를 만들었어요. = "Mom made kimchi stew."
2. Decide what you want to describe. The stew is the noun. The action is the thing Mom used to do again and again.
3. Find the stem of the verb. Remove 다 from 만들다. The stem is 만들.
4. Add 던 and keep the stem. 만들 + 던 = 만들던, said [만들던]. Do not drop the ㄹ.
5. Put the phrase before the noun and finish. 엄마가 만들던 김치찌개. Add a verb: 엄마가 만들던 김치찌개가 생각나요.

Checkpoint. You have it when the stem is exactly the dictionary stem. If you wrote 만드던, you applied the ㄹ-drop rule of other modifiers, and 던 does not use it.

The sentence built here is a statement. The next section shows how -던 differs from the other past modifiers.

How Is -던 Different from Similar Forms?

-던 looks back at an action in progress or repeated, while -(으)ㄴ names a finished action and -았/었던 recalls a finished event or a state that has ended. All three can point to the past, but they answer different questions. The lesson on -(으)ㄴ gives the plain past, and -는 vs -(으)ㄴ vs -(으)ㄹ compares all of them. The past perfect -았었- is covered on past perfect -았었-.

Compare 어제 먹은 밥이 맛있었어요 and 어제 먹던 밥을 냉장고에 넣었어요. The first says "The rice I ate yesterday was good": the meal was finished. The second says "I put the rice I was eating yesterday in the fridge": the meal was left half done.

The ending -았/었던 is -던 with the past marker in front. It stresses that the event or state is over: 작년에 갔던 식당에 또 갔어요 means "I went again to the restaurant I visited last year". For a plain completed event, many speakers use -(으)ㄴ or -았/었던, and the two often overlap.

A quick test: if the English can say "used to" or "was in the middle of", choose -던. If it is a finished action, choose -(으)ㄴ. Next, here is when to use it and when not.

When Do You Use -던, and When Not?

Use -던 when the noun belongs to the past and the action or state was repeated, ongoing or left unfinished. It is common in speech and in writing, and it often carries a feeling of memory or nostalgia, as in 그 사람은 제가 좋아하던 가수예요 ("That person is the singer I used to like").

Do not use -던 for a finished one-time action that you simply report. 어제 먹던 밥 does not mean "the rice I ate yesterday". It means the rice you were in the middle of eating. Do not use -던 for a state that is still true, either. 이 집은 크던 집이에요 is wrong for a house that is big now, because 크던 means "that used to be big". Say 이 집은 큰 집이에요.

When a speaker uses -던, the listener understands "it was like that then". Next are the errors that appear most often.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with -던?

Learners make five common mistakes with -던.

1. Using it for a finished one-time action. Learners write 어제 먹던 밥이 맛있었어요 when the meal was complete. Actually 먹던 means "was eating". Say 어제 먹은 밥 or 어제 먹었던 밥.
2. Dropping the ㄹ of an ㄹ stem. Learners write 만드던 for 만들던, or 사던 for 살던 ("the house I lived in"). Actually the stem is unchanged, so write 만들던 and 살던. The word 사던 exists, but it comes from 사다 ("to buy") and changes the meaning. The ㄹ-drop belongs to -는 and -(으)ㄴ.
3. Using it for a present state. Learners write 이 집은 크던 집이에요 to mean "This is a big house". Actually 크던 means "that used to be big", so the sentence says something different. For a present state, use -(으)ㄴ: 큰 집.
4. Adding 으 between a consonant stem and 던. Learners write 먹으던. Actually there is only one form: 먹던.
5. Saying 먹던 as a plain [먹던]. Learners follow the spelling. Actually the ㄷ is tense after a final ㄱ, so say [먹떤].

Whenever you reach for 던, check that the action was repeated or unfinished, and keep the stem as it is. Now test yourself.

Practice and Answers

These four exercises check the main skills: choosing the form, repairing a mistake, translating and writing one of your own. Try each one before you read the answers.

Exercise 1: Choose the form. You want to say "the book I was reading" (and you did not finish it). Which fits: 읽던 책, 읽은 책 or 읽을 책?

Exercise 2: Fix the error. A learner writes 어제 먹던 밥이 맛있었어요 about a meal that was finished. Correct it.

Exercise 3: Translate. "This is the song we often listened to." (listen = 듣다)

Exercise 4: Write your own. Write one phrase or sentence with -던 about a place you used to go to.

Answer Key

• Exercise 1: 읽던 책. [익떤 책] The book is unfinished, so 읽던 fits. 읽은 책 would mean a book you finished.
• Exercise 2: 어제 먹은 밥이 맛있었어요. [어제 머근 바비 마시써써요] A finished meal takes -(으)ㄴ (or -았/었던).
• Exercise 3: 이 노래는 우리가 자주 듣던 노래예요. [이 노래는 우리가 자주 듣떤 노래예요] The ㄷ stem 듣 keeps its ㄷ before 던.
• Exercise 4: Answers vary. One correct answer is 자주 가던 식당이 문을 닫았어요. [자주 가던 식땅이 무늘 다다써요] The phrase 자주 가던 describes a place visited again and again.

If you missed Exercise 1 or 2, return to the comparison table. If you missed Exercise 3, reread the section on irregular stems. Next, plan where to go from here.

Next Lessons and Where to Go from Here

The best next lesson is -는 vs -(으)ㄴ vs -(으)ㄹ, which compares the tenses of the modifiers side by side. Then read relative clauses to see how a modifier phrase describes a noun, and -(으)ㄹ future modifier for the forward-looking form. The past perfect is explained in past perfect -았었-. The full set of lessons is on Noun-Modifying Forms.

What this lesson does not cover. It does not cover -던 in the sentence ending -던데, the ending -더라 in depth, or the written use of 이던. The level given here, B2, is an editorial estimate based on common textbook order and TOPIK II, not an official grading.

In short, the -던 retrospective modifier attaches to the dictionary stem, keeps irregular stems unchanged, and recalls a habit, an unfinished action or a past state before a noun.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the -던 retrospective modifier mean? -던 is a noun-modifying ending that looks back at the past. It recalls a habit, an action left unfinished or a past state, and it describes the noun after it. 어릴 때 살던 집 means "the house I used to live in as a child", and 먹던 음식 means "the food I was eating". The feeling is often one of memory.

How do I attach -던 to a verb or adjective? Remove 다 from the dictionary form and add 던 to the stem: 가다 gives 가던, 먹다 gives 먹던, 작다 gives 작던. There is only one form, with no 으. Irregular stems stay as they are, so 살다 gives 살던 (not 사던), 만들다 gives 만들던, 돕다 gives 돕던 and 듣다 gives 듣던.

What is the difference between -던 and -(으)ㄴ? -(으)ㄴ names a finished action, as in 어제 먹은 밥 ("the rice I ate yesterday"). -던 names a habit or an action left unfinished, as in 어제 먹던 밥 ("the rice I was eating yesterday"). With adjectives, -(으)ㄴ is the present state (작은 집) and -던 is a past state (작던 집, "the house that used to be small").

What is the difference between -던 and -았/었던? -았/었던 is -던 with the past marker added. It stresses that an event or state is over and recalled from a distance: 작년에 갔던 식당 ("the restaurant I went to last year"). -던 alone stresses a habit or an unfinished action. The two overlap in many sentences, and speakers often use either one for a past habit or state.

How is -던 pronounced? After a final ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ, the ㄷ of 던 becomes tense: 먹던 is [먹떤], 듣던 is [듣떤] and 입던 is [입떤]. A double final consonant keeps one sound, so 읽던 is [익떤]. After ㅎ it makes an aspirated ㅌ: 좋던 is [조턴]. After a vowel or ㄹ nothing changes: 가던 [가던], 살던 [살던].

What is the most common mistake with -던? The most common mistake is using -던 for a finished one-time action, as in 어제 먹던 밥 when the meal was complete. Say 어제 먹은 밥 instead. Another mistake is dropping the ㄹ of an ㄹ stem (만드던 for 만들던) or using 던 for a state that is still true, such as 크던 집 for a big house.

Save This to Pinterest