380 words
2 minutes
-더라: Recollection or Discovery
2024-12-09
2025-10-26
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Example Sentences#

  1. 나연: 야, 너 인스타 보니까 최근에 콘서트 갔다 왔더라?1
    Nayeon: Hey, I saw on your Instagram that you went to a concert recently?

    • 오다 means ‘to come’.
    • 갔다(가) 오다 is a construction meaning ‘to go and come back’, emphasizing the completion of a round trip and often corresponding to ‘have been to’ in English.
    • -았- is a past tense marker.
    • -더라 is a grammar pattern used to state a fact the speaker has realized through personal experience or observation, often conveying a sense of newfound understanding. It’s composed of -더- (a retrospective suffix conveying past personal experience or observation) and -라 (an exclamatory declarative sentence-ending used to state a fact or observation).
  2. 지수: 맞아, 성격이랑 행동이 보통 드라마 주인공이랑 좀 다르더라.2
    Jisoo: Right, her personality and behavior were a bit different from usual drama main characters.

    • 다르다 means ‘to be different’.
    • -더라 is a grammar pattern used to state a fact the speaker has realized through personal experience or observation, often conveying a sense of newfound understanding. It’s composed of -더- (a retrospective suffix conveying past personal experience or observation) and -라 (an exclamatory declarative sentence-ending used to state a fact or observation).
  3. 분위기도 참 따뜻해서 계속 보고 싶어지더라.2
    The atmosphere was so heartwarming that I found myself wanting to keep watching.

    • 싶다 is an adjective meaning ‘to be desirous of’, and when used after the connective ending -고, it expresses a desire to do something or to be in a certain state.
    • -어지다 is a grammatical pattern indicating a change of state or gradual becoming.
    • -더라 is a grammar pattern used to state a fact the speaker has realized through personal experience or observation, often conveying a sense of newfound understanding. It’s composed of -더- (a retrospective suffix conveying past personal experience or observation) and -라 (an exclamatory declarative sentence-ending used to state a fact or observation).

Footnotes#

  1. Sentence from Concert Tales Across Borders.

  2. Sentence from Exploring K Drama Favorites. 2

-더라: Recollection or Discovery
https://koreanstorylab.com/posts/grammar/-더라-recollection-or-discovery/
Author
Korean Story Lab
Published at
2024-12-09
License
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0