-곤 하다 / -(으)ㄹ 때가 있다: Habitual and Iterative Patterns | Korean Grammar

English collapses several ideas into one little phrase, "used to": I used to smoke (a discontinued habit), I used to live there (a discontinued state), I would sit for hours (a repeated action). Korean pulls these apart and gives each its own machinery. This page covers the two patterns for repeated or occasional occurrence: -곤 하다, "would / used to (do again and again)," for a recurring habit, and -(으)ㄹ 때가 있다, "there are times when…," for something that happens now and then. Getting them right — and knowing when neither is the answer — is a real intermediate milestone.

-곤 하다: a recurring habit

-곤 하다 attaches to a verb stem and means the action was (or is) done repeatedly, as a habit. It is a contraction of -고는 하다, and its single most important feature is iterativity: the action happened again and again, not once. It is most common in the past, as -곤 했다, painting a picture of "back then, I would regularly…"

어렸을 때 여기서 놀곤 했어요.

eoryeosseul ttae yeogiseo nolgon haesseoyo

I used to play here (all the time) as a kid.

주말마다 등산을 가곤 했어요.

jumalmada deungsaneul gagon haesseoyo

I would go hiking every weekend.

예전에는 담배를 피우곤 했어요.

yejeoneneun dambaereul piugon haesseoyo

I used to smoke back in the day.

The ending attaches to any verb stem unchanged — no vowel harmony, no -(으) insertion. 놀다 → 놀곤, 가다 → 가곤, 피우다 → 피우곤, 듣다 → 듣곤. It also works in the present, describing a current habit, though the past is far more frequent:

가끔 그 카페에 가곤 해요.

gakkeum geu kape-e gagon haeyo

I go to that café now and then.

지금도 가끔 그 노래를 듣곤 해요.

jigeumdo gakkeum geu noraereul deutgon haeyo

Even now I still listen to that song sometimes.

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-곤 하다 always ends in 하다 — the 곤 never stands on its own and never combines with 있다 or another auxiliary. Think of it as a fixed frame: [verb stem] + 곤 + 하다.

-(으)ㄹ 때가 있다: "there are times when…"

The second pattern uses the prospective adnominal -(으)ㄹ on the verb, plus the bound noun 때 ("time / occasion"), plus 있다: "there are times when I…" It describes something that happens occasionally, not as a settled habit but as an intermittent occurrence — often an emotion, an urge, or a lapse.

혼자 울 때가 있어요.

honja ul ttaega isseoyo

There are times I cry by myself.

실수할 때도 있어요.

silsuhal ttaedo isseoyo

There are times I mess up too.

비가 오면 옛날 생각이 날 때가 있어요.

biga omyeon yennal saenggagi nal ttaega isseoyo

When it rains, there are moments the old memories come back.

Because the modifier is the prospective -(으)ㄹ, its allomorphy is the usual one: after a vowel → -ㄹ 때 (갈 때, 울 때), after a consonant → -을 때 (먹을 때, 읽을 때), and a ㄹ-stem simply keeps its ㄹ (만들 때, not ×만들을 때). See the prospective relative -(으)ㄹ for the full picture.

Stem ends in…	Ending	Example
a vowel	-ㄹ 때	갈 때 (when going)
a consonant	-을 때	먹을 때 (when eating)
ㄹ	-ㄹ 때 (keeps ㄹ)	만들 때 (when making)

The two 있다-patterns are cousins: -(으)ㄴ 적이 있다 (its own page) asserts a completed lifetime experience, while -(으)ㄹ 때가 있다 asserts a recurring type of moment. Past adnominal = experience; prospective adnominal = recurring occasion.

How Korean splits English "used to"

Here is the reframing that saves English speakers real grief. English "used to / would" fuses two very different meanings that Korean keeps separate:

A repeated action ("I would play here every day") → -곤 하다, which foregrounds the repetition.
A discontinued single state ("I used to live here," "I used to be shy") → -았었-, the "remote past" that says a state held before but no longer does. (See -았었- the remote past.)

어렸을 때는 시골에서 살았었어요.

eoryeosseul ttaeneun sigoreseo sarasseosseoyo

I used to live in the countryside as a child (but not anymore).

옛날에는 여기서 자주 놀곤 했어요.

yennareneun yeogiseo jaju nolgon haesseoyo

Back then I would often play here.

The first is a state that ended: use -았었-. The second is a repeated action: use -곤 하다. Trying to cover both with -곤 하다 is the classic transfer error, because in English one phrase does both jobs.

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Before translating "used to," ask: is it a repeated action or a discontinued state? Action done again and again → -곤 하다. A state that simply no longer holds → -았었-. English hides the difference; Korean forces you to pick.

Common Mistakes

1. Using -곤 하다 for a one-off past event. The pattern requires repetition; a single event just takes the plain past.

❌ 어제 그 영화를 보곤 했어요.

eoje geu yeonghwareul bogon haesseoyo

Wrong — one showing yesterday isn't a habit.

✅ 어제 그 영화를 봤어요.

eoje geu yeonghwareul bwasseoyo

I watched that movie yesterday.

2. Using -곤 하다 for a discontinued state. A state that no longer holds takes -았었-, not the iterative habit frame.

❌ 어렸을 때 뚱뚱하곤 했어요.

eoryeosseul ttae ttungttunghagon haesseoyo

Wrong — being chubby is a state, not a repeated action.

✅ 어렸을 때 뚱뚱했었어요.

eoryeosseul ttae ttungttunghaesseosseoyo

I used to be chubby as a kid (but not now).

3. Using -는 때 instead of -(으)ㄹ 때. 때 takes the prospective adnominal, never the present -는.

❌ 밥을 먹는 때 조용히 하세요.

babeul meongneun ttae joyonghi haseyo

Wrong modifier — 때 needs -(으)ㄹ, not -는.

✅ 밥을 먹을 때 조용히 하세요.

babeul meogeul ttae joyonghi haseyo

Please be quiet when (you're) eating.

4. Pairing 곤 with 있다 instead of 하다. The 곤 frame is completed only by 하다.

❌ 자주 그 카페에 가곤 있어요.

jaju geu kape-e gagon isseoyo

Wrong — 곤 combines only with 하다.

✅ 자주 그 카페에 가곤 해요.

jaju geu kape-e gagon haeyo

I often go to that café.

Key Takeaways

-곤 하다 (= 고는 하다) = a recurring habit, "would / used to (again and again)"; attaches to any stem unchanged and always ends in 하다. Most common as past -곤 했다.
-(으)ㄹ 때가 있다 = "there are times when…," an occasional occurrence; built on the prospective adnominal + 때 + 있다.
Korean splits English "used to": repeated action → -곤 하다, discontinued state → -았었-.
때 always takes -(으)ㄹ, never -는; and 곤 always takes 하다, never 있다.

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