Recalling the past with -던 and -았/었던

When you want to describe a noun using an action from the past, you have to decide if the action was repeated (a habit) or unfinished (interrupted).

For these situations, we attach -던 to the verb stem.

Repeated Habits or Unfinished Actions

Verb · Modifier Form (-던)

읽다 · 읽던 책 (the book I used to read / was reading)

가다 · 자주 가던 식당

Use this form when you want to emphasize that an action was ongoing for a period of time in the past, or when recalling a past habit.

If the past action was completely finished or was a one-time event that is no longer happening, we use -았/었던 .

This form is created by combining the past tense stem (-았/었-) with -던. It strongly emphasizes that the event is over.

Finished Experiences

Verb · Modifier Form (-았/었던)

읽다 · 읽었던 책 (the book I read [and finished])

가다 · 작년에 갔던 식당

This is the standard way to describe a noun with an action that happened once and ended in the past.

Let's look at the same nouns described with both forms to see the difference in nuance.

Side-by-Side Comparison

-던 (Ongoing / Habitual) · -았/었던 (Completed / One-time)

살던 집

(the house I used to live in) · 살았던 집

(the house I lived in [and left])

먹던 음식

(the food I was eating [unfinished]) · 먹었던 음식

(the food I ate [finished])

While native speakers sometimes use these interchangeably in casual conversation, the basic distinction in this course is clear: use -던 for interrupted or repeated past actions, and -았/었던 for completed past experiences.