Present Verb Relative Clauses: -는 | Korean Grammar

English builds "a person who eats" by hanging a whole clause — who eats — after the noun. Korean does the opposite: it takes the verb, dresses it in a modifier ending, and stands it in front of the noun, with no relative pronoun like "who" or "that" anywhere. The ending that does this for an action verb in the present is -는, and it is one of the highest-value pieces of grammar at the TOPIK 2 level, because it unlocks the entire head-final modifier system: everything that describes a noun — a single word or a ten-word clause — comes before it. This page teaches -는 for verbs; its siblings for the past (-(으)ㄴ), the future (-(으)ㄹ), and for adjectives (-(으)ㄴ) each have their own page.

The rule: plain stem + 는

For an action verb (동사), the present attributive is dead simple: take the dictionary stem (the word minus -다) and add -는. There is no vowel-harmony choice and no consonant/vowel split — it is always just -는.

저기 먹는 사람이 누구예요?

jeogi meongneun sarami nuguyeyo

Who's the person eating over there?

시청에 가는 버스가 몇 번이에요?

sicheong-e ganeun beoseuga myeot beonieyo

Which bus goes to City Hall?

지금 읽는 책이 정말 재미있어요.

jigeum ingneun chaegi jeongmal jaemiisseoyo

The book I'm reading right now is really interesting.

Note the sound-changes baked into the pronunciation, which the romanization shows: 먹는 is pronounced meongneun (the ㄱ nasalizes to [ŋ] before the ㄴ of -는), and 읽는 becomes ingneun (the ㄺ cluster reduces to [k], then nasalizes). This is regular stop-before-nasal nasalization, not something special about the ending.

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The whole modifying clause sits to the left of the noun and the verb loses its sentence-ending — 밥을 먹는 사람 is literally "rice-eats person," i.e. "the person who eats rice." Read Korean noun phrases right-to-left into English: find the noun first, then unpack the clause piled up in front of it.

One ending for "eats" AND "is eating"

Here is the reframing that saves English speakers real trouble. English forces you to choose between "a baby that cries" (habitual) and "a baby that is crying" (right now). Korean makes no such split in a relative clause: -는 covers both. 우는 아기 is "a baby that cries" or "a baby that is crying" — context decides, and Korean is perfectly comfortable leaving it open.

저기서 우는 아기가 우리 조카예요.

jeogiseo uneun agiga uri jokayeyo

The crying baby over there is my niece. (crying right now)

매일 아침 운동하는 사람은 건강해요.

maeil achim undonghaneun sarameun geonganghaeyo

People who exercise every morning are healthy. (habitual)

The first is a live event; the second is a general habit. Same ending. If you feel you must stress the in-progress reading, Korean has the progressive -고 있는 (달리고 있는 사람, "the person who is running"), but plain -는 already does that job in the overwhelming majority of cases. Don't reach for the longer form by reflex.

The ㄹ-drop: 살다 → 사는, not ×살는

Verbs whose stem ends in ㄹ (살다, 팔다, 만들다, 알다, 울다, 열다) drop that ㄹ before -는. This is the same ㄹ-stem behavior you meet across the conjugation: ㄹ vanishes before ㄴ, ㅂ, ㅅ. So the attributive is 사는, 파는, 만드는 — never ×살는, ×팔는, ×만들는.

제가 지금 사는 곳은 조금 시끄러워요.

jega jigeum saneun goseun jogeum sikkeureowoyo

The place where I live now is a little noisy.

여기서 파는 물건은 다 국산이에요.

yeogiseo paneun mulgeoneun da guksanieyo

Everything sold here is domestically made.

할머니가 만드는 김치가 제일 맛있어요.

halmeoniga mandeuneun gimchiga jeil masisseoyo

The kimchi my grandmother makes is the tastiest.

Notice 우는 아기 above is itself a ㄹ-drop (울다 → 우는): "cry" is a ㄹ-stem, so its final ㄹ disappears just like the others. If you catch yourself writing ×울는 or ×살는, you've forgotten the rule — the ㄹ is simply gone.

있다 and 없다 side with the verbs

A crucial exception among the "adjective-looking" words: 있다, 없다, and the whole family of 있다-compounds (맛있다 "tasty," 재미있다 "fun," 멋있다 "cool") take -는, not the adjective ending -(으)ㄴ. So it is 맛있는 음식, 재미있는 영화, 없는 것 — never ×맛있은, ×재미있은. Their behavior patterns with verbs here even though they translate as English adjectives.

맛있는 김치찌개 집을 하나 알아요.

masinneun gimchijjigae jibeul hana arayo

I know a place with delicious kimchi stew.

어제 재미있는 영화를 봤어요.

eoje jaemiinneun yeonghwareul bwasseoyo

I watched a fun movie yesterday.

냉장고에 먹을 게 하나도 없는 날이 제일 슬퍼요.

naengjanggoe meogeul ge hanado eomneun nari jeil seulpeoyo

A day when there's nothing to eat in the fridge is the saddest.

There's a clean reason: 있다/없다 are, historically and grammatically, existence verbs, not descriptive adjectives — so they inflect like verbs for the attributive. Learn 맛있는, 재미있는, 없는 as fixed shapes and you'll never trip on them. (See 있다/없다 attributive for the full story.)

-는 is for VERBS only

This is the single most important boundary on the page. -는 attaches to action verbs. It does not attach to descriptive verbs (adjectives). An adjective's present attributive is -(으)ㄴ: 좋은 사람 ("a good person"), 작은 집 ("a small house"), 예쁜 꽃 ("a pretty flower") — never ×좋는, ×작는, ×예쁘는.

좋은 사람 만나서 결혼하고 싶어요.

joeun saram mannaseo gyeolhonhago sipeoyo

I want to meet a good person and get married.

작은 가방 하나 사려고 해요.

jageun gabang hana saryeogo haeyo

I'm planning to buy a small bag.

So before you attach -는, ask one question: is this word an action or a description? If it's an action (먹다, 가다, 만들다, 살다), it takes -는. If it's a description (좋다, 작다, 예쁘다), it takes -(으)ㄴ. Getting the word's class right is the whole game — see the adjective-vs-verb attributive contrast for a side-by-side drill.

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Quick test: put the word in the plain present sentence-ender. If "X-한다/먹는다" (한다-che verb form) sounds right, it's a verb → -는. If only "X-다" works and never "X-ㄴ다," it's an adjective → -(으)ㄴ. 먹다 → 먹는다 (verb) → 먹는; 좋다 → ×좋는다, only 좋다 (adjective) → 좋은.

Register and scope

The attributive -는 is completely register-neutral: it is identical in casual speech (반말), polite 해요체, and formal writing. Politeness lives on the final predicate of the sentence, not on the internal modifier — so 가는 버스 is the same whether the sentence ends in -어, -어요, or -습니다. That is why the examples on this page swap speech levels freely while the -는 clause never changes.

지금 통화하는 사람이 제 상사예요.

jigeum tonghwahaneun sarami je sangsayeyo

The person I'm on the phone with is my boss.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1 — Attaching -는 to an adjective. Descriptive verbs take -(으)ㄴ, never -는.

❌ 작는 집에서 살아요.

Wrong — 작다 is an adjective; the attributive is 작은, not 작는.

✅ 작은 집에서 살아요.

jageun jibeseo arayo

I live in a small house.

Mistake 2 — Forgetting the ㄹ-drop. A ㄹ-stem loses its ㄹ before -는.

❌ 서울에 살는 친구가 있어요.

Wrong — 살다 is a ㄹ-stem; the ㄹ drops before -는 → 사는.

✅ 서울에 사는 친구가 있어요.

seoure saneun chinguga isseoyo

I have a friend who lives in Seoul.

Mistake 3 — Putting -은 on 맛있다 / 재미있다. The 있다-family takes -는, siding with verbs.

❌ 맛있은 음식을 먹고 싶어요.

Wrong — 있다-compounds take -는 → 맛있는.

✅ 맛있는 음식을 먹고 싶어요.

masinneun eumsigeul meokgo sipeoyo

I want to eat delicious food.

Mistake 4 — Building the clause English-style, after the noun. There is no relative pronoun and the clause goes in front.

❌ 사람 먹는 저기.

Word salad — the modifying clause must precede the noun: 먹는 사람.

✅ 저기 먹는 사람이 제 동생이에요.

jeogi meongneun sarami je dongsaeng-ieyo

The person eating over there is my younger sibling.

Key Takeaways

Action verb + -는 = present relative clause: 먹는 사람, 가는 버스, 읽는 책. No vowel/consonant split — always -는.
One ending, two English meanings: -는 covers both "eats" and "is eating"; Korean doesn't distinguish them in a relative clause.
ㄹ drops before -는: 살다 → 사는, 팔다 → 파는, 만들다 → 만드는.
있다/없다 and 맛있다/재미있다 take -는, not -(으)ㄴ, because they inflect like verbs.
-는 is verbs only. Adjectives take -(으)ㄴ (좋은, 작은). Identify the word's class before choosing the ending.

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