Korean grammar patterns › Level 3
-았/었던
that (once) did / was — completed past, often no longer true
Level 3 · TOPIK II · intermediate
How to use it
Noun modifier for an action completed in the past (often one time) or a past state that has since changed. 지난번에 봤던 영화 = the movie I saw last time.
Forming it
| 가다 | → 갔던 |
| 먹다 | → 먹었던 |
| 학생 | → 학생이었던 |
| 가수 | → 가수였던 |
With adjectives, -(으)ㄴ is present (작은 방 = a small room); use -았/었던 or -던 for a past state: 작았던 방.
Examples
작년에 갔던 식당에 다시 가 보고 싶어요.
I want to go again to the restaurant we went to last year.
학교 다닐 때 친했던 친구를 길에서 만났어요.
I ran into a friend I was close to in my school days.
Compared with similar patterns
-던 suggests a repeated or unfinished past action; -았/었던 suggests completion. -았/었었- is a tense in the predicate, not a noun modifier.