그러던

[Anatoli]

What form is 그러던? It must be from 그러다 but which form is it? An example: 그러던 어느 날, ...

 

[pcy0308]

Hello @Anatoli
The "-던" ending is in use here. For example, "하루도 쉬지않고 일을 하던 친구가 갑자기 직장을 그만뒀어요" (a friend of mine who used to/would work without a day of rest suddenly quit her job".

 

[azipkaone]

"그러던 어느날" is often used in Korean novels with the meaning of "Then one day".
"그러던" can be combined like "그러던 중", "그러던 무렵" or "그러던 어느날", usually with the words of time.

When a writer says "그러던" in his/her text, he wants to say something on the same timeline of previous story.

Thank you

 

[Anatoli]

Thanks, it sort of makes sense but still not so clear.

 

[pcy0308]

"-던" may imply a temporal interruption in whatever action or process in question. In all the aforementioned examples, their respective "-던" clause either precedes and introduces or describes a rupture in time, an interruption of some sort or just an event that happens unexpectedly, counterintuitively, etc.

"그러던" by itself in your given example implies first, how things were going normally, predictable and second (thanks to "-던",) introduces a rather sudden, unexpected interruption or just new information that has not been mentioned. Could you clarify what is confusing you in particular?

 

[Anatoli]

Thank you! It's something of a complex concept, which is not intuitive and hard to describe. I have found this: Lesson 27: Using ~던/었던 to Describe Past Tense (the section Describe Past Tense with ~던 and ~았/었던), which is an attempt. I guess, I need to see more examples to make it sink but I like the challenge.

 

[Anatoli]

I have come across another usage of "-던" in a language app (Beelinguapp). The Snow White story (part 2):
"누가 내 잔에 있던 와인을 마셨나?" 다섯 번째 난쟁이가 말했다.
“Who has been drinking from my glass?” The fifth dwarf said.