Last, This, Next: 지난 / 이번 / 다음

English pins a moment to the present with three little words in front of a time period: last week, this week, next week. Korean does exactly the same thing with 지난 (last/past), 이번 (this), and 다음 (next) — you slot one in front of a period noun (주 week, 달 month) and you've located it relative to now. The system is refreshingly regular, with two wrinkles worth learning up front: years have their own tidy one-word set (작년·올해·내년), and Korean spelling fuses some of these combinations into single words while spacing others, for reasons that are pure orthographic history rather than logic.

The core three: 지난 / 이번 / 다음

These three words are determiners — they attach directly in front of the period they modify. Their literal senses are worth knowing because they make the meanings obvious: 지난 is actually the past-tense form of 지나다 ("to pass"), so 지난주 is literally "the week that passed"; 이번 means "this time / this instance"; 다음 means "next / following."

Notice the particle: because these are all points in time, they take 에 ("at/in") — 지난주에, 이번 달에, 다음 주에 — the same location-in-time 에 you meet on the time and destination particle page.

The spelling quirk: solid vs. spaced

Here is the wrinkle that catches everyone. Look again at the table. 지난주 and 지난달 are written solid, as single words. But 이번 주, 이번 달, 다음 주, and 다음 달 are written with a space. Why the inconsistency?

The answer is lexicalization, not rule. 지난주, 지난달, 지난해, 지난밤 have been used so relentlessly that Korean dictionaries have swallowed each into a single registered headword — 지난 there is no longer felt as a separate determiner. 이번 and 다음, by contrast, are still full-blooded nouns ("this time," "the next"), so a following period noun is a separate word and keeps its space. There's no deeper logic; you simply have to know that the 지난- forms are solid and the 이번/다음 forms are spaced.

Years: a one-word Sino set takes over

Weeks and months use the 지난/이번/다음 frame, but years mostly don't. Korean has crisp single-word names for the years around now, borrowed from Sino-Korean, and these are what native speakers actually reach for.

There is a parallel native-frame word for "last year" — 지난해 — and it is perfectly correct, sitting right alongside 작년. Both are used; 작년 is a touch more common in speech, 지난해 slightly more common in news writing. What's different is "next year": the frame form ×다음 해 is grammatically buildable but sounds unidiomatic — Koreans overwhelmingly say 내년. And "this year" has no 이번 해 in normal use; it's simply 올해.

Days: 어제 / 오늘 / 내일 / 모레

The day-sized set is likewise a batch of standalone words, not a frame construction, and it reaches two steps out in each direction:

Two small notes. 내일 ("tomorrow") is Sino-Korean (來日), which is why it looks nothing like 오늘 or 어제 — it's a borrowing, not part of a native series. And there's no everyday native word for "the day before yesterday" that patterns like the others; 그저께 (or its clipped form 그제) fills that slot.

Putting the frame to work

The real value of 지난/이번/다음 is that they combine freely with any period noun, not just 주 and 달 — 지난 학기 (last semester), 이번 시험 (this exam), 다음 방학 (next vacation), 다음 정류장 (the next stop). Once you own the three determiners, you can locate almost anything relative to now.

Common Mistakes

1. Spacing 지난주 / 지난달. These are lexicalized single words — no space.

• ✗ 지난 주에 만났어요.
• ✓ 지난주에 만났어요. — jinanjue mannasseoyo — "I met (them) last week."

2. Gluing 다음 주 / 이번 달 together. These stay spaced, because 다음 and 이번 are still full nouns.

• ✗ 다음주에 봐요. / ×이번달에
• ✓ 다음 주에 봐요. — da-eum jue bwayo — "See you next week."

3. Saying ×다음 해 for "next year." Grammatically formable, but not what Koreans say. Use 내년.

• ✗ 다음 해에 갈 거예요.
• ✓ 내년에 갈 거예요. — naenyeone gal geoyeyo — "I'll go next year." (지난해 for "last year" is fine, though.)

4. Building ×이번 해 for "this year." There's no frame form here; it's just 올해.

• ✗ 이번 해는 바빠요.
• ✓ 올해는 바빠요. — olhaeneun bappayo — "I'm busy this year."

5. Dropping the 에 particle on a time point. 지난주, 이번 달, and friends are moments in time and want 에.

• ✗ 다음 주 여행 가요.
• ✓ 다음 주에 여행 가요. — da-eum jue yeohaeng gayo — "I'm going on a trip next week."

Key Takeaways

• 지난 (last) · 이번 (this) · 다음 (next) sit before a period noun (주, 달, 주말, 학기…) to place it relative to now; the whole phrase takes 에 for "at/in."
• Spelling splits: 지난주 · 지난달 · 지난해 are written solid; 이번 주 · 이번 달 · 다음 주 · 다음 달 are spaced. It's lexical history, not logic — just memorize it.
• Years prefer the one-word Sino set — 작년, 올해, 내년 (with 재작년 / 내후년 further out). 지난해 = 작년, but for "next year" say 내년, not ×다음 해; "this year" is 올해, never ×이번 해.
• Days are standalone words: 어제, 오늘, 내일, 모레 (그저께 further back). 내일 is Sino-Korean, which is why it looks unrelated to 오늘/어제.