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Lv 4Connective endingIntermediate · TOPIK II

-던데

-deonde

...but; so (background)

Attaches to a verb or adjective stem to give, in advance, some related background the speaker personally witnessed in the past, before making the main point that follows -- roughly 'I saw/noticed that..., so...' The same form used as a stand-alone sentence-final ending is treated separately as '-던데2.'

Form

Attaches to
Verb, Adjective, 이다, Auxiliary

Meanings

  1. 1

    A connective ending used to talk in advance about a past situation that is related to the subject in order to say the following statement.

    뒤의 말을 하기 위하여 그 대상과 관련이 있는 과거의 상황을 미리 말함을 나타내는 연결 어미.

  2. 2

    (informal addressee-lowering) A sentence-final ending used to admire something in the past while anticipating the listener's response.

    (두루낮춤으로) 듣는 사람의 반응을 기대하며 과거의 어떤 일에 대해 감탄함을 나타내는 종결 어미.

Examples

  • 민준아, 너 내가 어제 사 온 책 못 봤어?

    Minjun, have you seen the book I bought yesterday?

  • 그거 형 책꽂이에 있는 것 같던데 다시 한번 살펴봐.

    I think it's on your brother's bookshelf -- take another look.

  • 어제 보니까 자전거를 잘 타던데 언제 배운 거니?

    I saw you riding a bike well yesterday -- when did you learn?

  • 지수가 기침을 계속하던데 감기에 걸린 것은 아닌지 걱정이다.

    Jisu kept coughing, so I'm worried she might have caught a cold.

  • 지난번에 학교 앞에서 유민이가 너를 기다리던데 그때 유민이 만났어?

    I saw Yumin waiting for you in front of the school last time -- did you end up meeting her?

Examples: 한국어기초사전, CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.

Don’t confuse with

Forms with a close meaning — a favourite source of wrong answers on TOPIK.

Quick check

  1. 1. What does ‘-던데’ mean?

  2. 2. Which form means “...but; so (background)”?