TOPIK II · LEVEL 5
-다 (표제·제목)
In headlines, titles, captions and chapter headings, a verb in its bare dictionary form (stem + 다) states an event briefly and impersonally, usually one that has just happened: 'X wins', 'X opens'.
격식 표현Formal & written phrasesHan: In an ordinary sentence the bare -다 form is wrong; it belongs only in titles and headlines.
Examples
국내 연구진, 치매 조기 진단 기술 개발하다Domestic researchers develop early dementia-diagnosis technology
제3장 낯선 도시에서 다시 시작하다Chapter 3: Starting over in a strange city
70년 된 동네 빵집, 마침내 문을 닫다Seventy-year-old neighbourhood bakery finally closes its doors
Don’t mix up
-다 (표제·제목)vs-(느)ㄴ다/-다 (해라체)In running text action verbs need ㄴ/는: 봄이 온다 (a sentence in an essay) vs 봄이 오다 (a title).-다 (표제·제목)vsN / -(으)ㅁ (명사 종결)Ending in a noun or -(으)ㅁ is shorter and more report-like: 신약 개발 성공 / 신약 개발에 성공함; -다 adds a narrative, literary feel: 신약 개발에 성공하다.
How to build it
V+다 (bare stem, no ㄴ/는)
often N, … V다
진출하다 → 결승 진출하다; 열다 → 문을 열다; 오다 → 봄이 오다; 개발하다 → 신기술 개발하다
- Unlike the 해라체 sentence ending (간다, 먹는다), action verbs keep the dictionary form here: 봄이 오다, 문을 열다. Tense is not marked; the event is usually past or just happened.
- Only for titles, headlines, captions, posters and chapter names; never in the running text of an essay or a TOPIK writing answer, where -(느)ㄴ다 / -았/었다 is required.
- The subject is often set off with a comma instead of its particle 이/가 (other particles may stay): 국내 연구진, 신약 개발에 성공하다.
- Daily news headlines more often end in a noun (…개발 성공); the -다 form sounds literary and dignified, typical of book and film titles, feature headlines and photo captions.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 어제 우리 학교 축구부가 결승에 진출하다.
Right: 어제 우리 학교 축구부가 결승에 진출했다.
In an ordinary sentence the bare -다 form is wrong; it belongs only in titles and headlines.
Practise -다 (표제·제목) on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)ㅁ에 따라Use -(으)ㅁ에 따라 in formal writing to say that as one situation changes or progresses, another change follows from it.
- -(으)ㅁ으로써-(으)ㅁ으로써 presents the first action as the means or method that brings about the result in the second clause: 'by doing A, B happens'.
- -에 걸쳐-에 걸쳐 shows that an action or state stretches over a whole span of time, an area, or a series of occasions.
- -에 달려 있다N에 달려 있다 means that the outcome in the subject is decided by N: 'it all depends on N'.
- -에 이르기까지N에 이르기까지 marks the far end of a wide range, stressing that everything from one point all the way to N is included.
- -을/를 두고N을/를 두고 marks the issue that people argue about, debate, worry over or judge, like 'over / concerning N'.
- -을/를 계기로N을/를 계기로 means that an event or experience became the turning point that started a new action, decision or change.
- -을/를 비롯해N을/를 비롯해 puts the most important or representative member of a group first and then includes the others: 'including, above all, from N to the rest'.
- -을/를 바탕으로N을/를 바탕으로 means using N as the foundation or source material for creating, developing or judging something.