TOPIK II · LEVEL 6
-던가 (혼잣말·추측)
Used when talking to oneself about the past: the speaker wonders about something remembered only vaguely, or makes a tentative guess about it: 'was it …?', 'I wonder if …'. Reflective; common in essays, lyrics and inner monologue.
문장 끝·말투Endings & speech styleHan: After a noun ending in a consonant, 이 cannot drop: (이)던가, and for a finished past state (이)었던가.
Examples
혹시 내가 회의 때 말실수를 했던가 싶어 하루 종일 마음이 쓰였다.I kept wondering all day whether I had said something wrong at the meeting.
우리가 이 길을 처음 함께 걸었던 게 벌써 이십 년 전이었던가.Was it already twenty years ago that we first walked this road together?
돌이켜 보면 그 시절 우리는 무엇을 그토록 두려워했던가.Looking back, what were we so afraid of in those days?
Don’t mix up
-던가 (혼잣말·추측)vs-더라?-더라? is the everyday spoken way to search memory: 그 사람 이름이 뭐였더라? -던가 sounds more reflective or written: 그 사람 이름이 뭐였던가.
-던가 (혼잣말·추측)vs-았/었나 싶다-았/었나 싶다 is the neutral guess: 내가 실수했나 싶다. -았/었던가 싶다 adds a remembering, looking-back tone: 내가 실수했던가 싶다.
-던가 (혼잣말·추측)vs-던가 (회상 의문)The 하게체 -던가 asks a listener what they saw: 사람이 많던가? This one is addressed to oneself.How to build it
V/A+던가
N+(이)던가
most often past: V/A+았/었던가, N+(이)었던가
그렇다 → 그랬던가; 하다 → 했던가; 언제 → 언제였던가; 몇 살 → 몇 살이었던가; 두려워하다 → 두려워했던가
- No answer is expected; the speaker is searching memory: 우리가 처음 만난 게 언제였던가. In writing it is often closed with a full stop rather than a question mark.
- For a tentative guess about one's own past behaviour it often takes 싶다 or 하다: 내가 말이 너무 심했던가 싶었다 'I wondered if I had gone too far'.
- It can also be a rhetorical sigh about the past: 그때 우리는 무엇을 그토록 두려워했던가 'what were we so afraid of back then?'
Classic mistake
Wrong: 그때 내가 몇 살던가? 잘 기억이 안 난다.
Right: 그때 내가 몇 살이었던가? 잘 기억이 안 난다.
After a noun ending in a consonant, 이 cannot drop: (이)던가, and for a finished past state (이)었던가.
Practise -던가 (혼잣말·추측) on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(이)라 (예스러운 서술)An archaic plain (해라체) statement ending attached to 이다 and 아니다: 'X is Y.' It sounds solemn and old, as in classical texts, proverbs, historical-drama narration and poetry; modern Korean uses -(이)다.
- -(으)오/-소Ending of the 하오체, an old-fashioned semi-formal style: one form serves statements and questions, and with -(으)시오 commands. Heard in period dramas, between older spouses, and in written notices such as 손대지 마시오.
- -(으)리오An archaic, literary rhetorical-question ending: 'how could …? who would …?'. The question implies the opposite (누가 알리오 = nobody knows). Found in classical poetry and prose, speeches and period dramas.
- -나 (의문)A question ending without 요 with two uses: the 하게체 question an older speaker asks an adult junior ('are you …?'), and a casual question to oneself ('did I …?', 'is it …?').
- -네 (하게체 서술)Statement ending of the 하게체: an older speaker telling an adult junior (son-in-law, grown-up former student) a fact or an intention, plainly but with courtesy. Old-fashioned; today mostly heard from elderly men and in novels and dramas.
- -그려Added after another sentence ending (-네, -구먼, -세, -ㅂ시다…) to give an old-fashioned emphatic or exclamatory touch: '…, indeed / you know'. Now found mainly in novels, period dramas and the speech of very old people.
- -던가 (회상 의문)A 하게체 question ending asking the listener about something they saw or experienced in the past: 'was it …? did you find that …?'. Old-fashioned, used by older speakers to adult juniors.
- -구려 (권유·명령)A 하오체 ending after an action verb that gently urges or advises the listener: 'do …, why don't you …'. Old-fashioned; heard from elderly speakers (often between spouses), in period dramas and novels.
- -구려/-는구려Exclamatory ending of the old-fashioned 하오체: the speaker remarks on something just realised, with feeling: '…, I see / how …!'. Today heard mostly from elderly speakers (for example between older spouses) and in period dramas and novels.