-던

Korean

Etymology

Presumably from the past continuous tense inflectional suffix -더- (-deo-, “deo”). Not to be confused with suffixes of similar sound -든 (deun, “deun”), -든지 (deunji, “irrespective of ...”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [tʌ̹n]
• Phonetic hangul: [던]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	deon
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	deon
McCune–Reischauer?	tŏn
Yale Romanization?	ten

Suffix

던 • (-deon)

1. past continuous tense marker, making an adjective clause:
   1. after verb stems, indicates action or state which was interrupted by the occurrence of another action or state
   2. after verb stems, functions as a retrospective marker, indicates events in the past, often events which happened on a regular basis
      • 비가 오면 나가 걷곤 하던 대나무 숲길 (biga omyeon naga geotgon hadeon daenamu supgil, “the lane in the bamboo grove I used to walk along when it rained”)
   3. after adjective stems, indicates a state which no longer exists