English builds a relative clause after its noun and marks the tense inside it with a verb: "the person who eats," "the person who ate," "the person who will eat." Korean does the mirror image. The modifying clause comes before the noun, and the tense is packed into a special 관형사형 어미 (attributive ending) on the predicate: 먹는 사람, 먹은 사람, 먹을 사람 — literally "eats-person," "ate-person," "will-eat-person." This page is the reference grid, crossing the four predicate types by the tenses they can express, so you can look up any cell. The whole system has one genuinely tricky move, and this page is built around making it clear.
The reference grid
Notation: -(으)ㄴ and -(으)ㄹ take the buffer 으 after a consonant stem and bare ㄴ/ㄹ after a vowel stem; -던 is the "recalled" (retrospective) ending; -았/었던 adds completion.
| Predicate type | Present | Past | Future / prospective | Recalled (-던) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action verb 먹다 (eat) | -는 먹는 사람 (meongneun) | -(으)ㄴ 먹은 사람 (meogeun) | -(으)ㄹ 먹을 사람 (meogeul) | -던 / -았던 먹던 · 먹었던 (meokdeon · meogeotdeon) |
| Descriptive verb / adjective 예쁘다, 좋다 | -(으)ㄴ 예쁜 꽃 (yeppeun) · 좋은 사람 (joeun) | — (uses -던 / -았던) 예뻤던 (yeppeotdeon) | -(으)ㄹ 예쁠 · 좋을 (yeppeul · joeul) | -던 예쁘던 · 좋던 (yeppeudeon · joteon) |
| 이다 copula 학생이다 | -ㄴ 학생인 사람 (haksaeng-in) | 였던 / 이었던 학생이었던 (haksaeng-ieotdeon) | 일 학생일 사람 (haksaeng-il) | -던 학생이던 (haksaeng-ideon) |
| 있다 / 없다 재미있다, 없다 | -는 재미있는 (jaemiinneun) · 없는 것 (eomneun) | -던 있던 · 없던 (itdeon · eopdeon) | -을 있을 · 없을 (isseul · eopseul) | -던 / -었던 있었던 (isseotdeon) |
Read a modifier as carrying its whole clause: 제가 어제 산 책 = "the book [that I] bought yesterday." Everything before 책 is the relative clause, its tense compressed into 산 (past of 사다). The head noun always comes last.
저기서 노래 부르는 사람 알아요?
jeogiseo norae bureuneun saram arayo?
Do you know the person singing over there? (present verb 부르다 → 부르는)
어제 만난 사람 이름이 기억 안 나요.
eoje mannan saram ireumi gieok an nayo
I can't remember the name of the person I met yesterday. (past verb 만나다 → 만난)
내일 발표할 자료 다 준비했어요?
naeil balpyohal jaryo da junbihaesseoyo?
Did you prepare all the material you'll present tomorrow? (prospective 발표하다 → 발표할)
The one trap: -는 for verbs, -(으)ㄴ for adjectives
Everything hard about this table lives in the present column. To modify a noun in the present tense:
- an action verb uses -는: 가는 (going), 먹는 (eating), 읽는 (reading).
- an adjective uses -(으)ㄴ: 좋은 (good), 예쁜 (pretty), 작은 (small).
But -(으)ㄴ is also the verb's PAST modifier. So 먹은 (verb, "ate") and 예쁘ㄴ → 예쁜 (adjective, "pretty") wear the identical -(으)ㄴ shape for two unrelated reasons: one is a past-tense verb, the other is a present-tense adjective. The ending alone won't tell you the tense — you must first know whether the word is an action verb or a descriptive verb / adjective.
예쁜 카페를 하나 찾았어요.
yeppeun kapereul hana chajasseoyo
I found a pretty café. (adjective present 예쁘다 → 예쁜)
제가 읽은 책 중에서 이게 제일 재미있었어요.
jega ilgeun chaek jung-eseo ige jeil jaemiisseosseoyo
Of the books I've read, this one was the most fun. (past verb 읽다 → 읽은)
있다 / 없다 behave like verbs
The existence words 있다 / 없다 and everything built on them (재미있다, 맛있다, 맛없다) take the verbal -는 for the present, never the adjectival -(으)ㄴ. So it is 맛있는 음식, 재미있는 영화, 없는 것 — never ×맛있은. They mean adjective-ish things but conjugate their modifier like verbs, which is exactly why they get their own row.
맛있는 거 먹으러 가고 싶어요.
masinneun geo meogeureo gago sipeoyo
I want to go eat something tasty. (있다-compound → verbal -는)
아무도 없는 방에서 혼자 울었어요.
amudo eomneun bang-eseo honja ureosseoyo
I cried alone in an empty room with nobody in it. (없다 → 없는)
The copula and the "recalled" -던
The copula 이다 contributes 학생인 사람 ("a person who is a student") in the present and 학생이었던 ("who used to be a student") in the past. The retrospective -던 column, across all predicate types, colours a modifier with personal recollection — something you used to do, a state you remember. 살던 동네 is "the neighbourhood I used to live in," recalled from experience; the plain past 산 동네 would just be "a neighbourhood [I] lived in" as a bare fact. The difference between -던 and plain -(으)ㄴ is worth its own study on the -던 vs -(으)ㄴ page.
학생인 친구는 할인을 받을 수 있어요.
haksaeng-in chinguneun harineul badeul su isseoyo
Friends who are students can get a discount. (copula present 이다 → 학생인)
여기가 제가 어릴 때 살던 동네예요.
yeogiga jega eoril ttae saldeon dongneyeyo
This is the neighbourhood I lived in as a kid. (recalled 살다 → 살던)
대학생이었던 시절이 가끔 그리워요.
daehaksaeng-ieotdeon sijeori gakkeum geuriwoyo
I sometimes miss my college days. (copula past 이었던)
The 으 buffer, vowel stems, and ㄹ-stems
-(으)ㄴ and -(으)ㄹ insert the buffer 으 after a consonant stem (먹은, 먹을; 좋은, 좋을) but attach bare ㄴ/ㄹ to a vowel stem (가 → 간, 갈). A ㄹ-stem drops its ㄹ before -는 and -(으)ㄴ and adds nothing: 살다 → 사는, 산, 살; 만들다 → 만드는, 만든, 만들. See the batchim-allomorphy reference for the full attachment rule.
지금 만드는 요리가 뭐예요?
jigeum mandeuneun yoriga mwoyeyo?
What's the dish you're making right now? (ㄹ-stem 만들다 → 만드는, ㄹ drops)
Common Mistakes
1. Using -는 to make an adjective present. Adjectives form the present modifier with -(으)ㄴ.
❌ 그분은 정말 좋는 사람이에요.
Wrong — an adjective's present modifier is -(으)ㄴ, not -는: 좋은 사람.
✅ 그분은 정말 좋은 사람이에요.
geubuneun jeongmal joeun saramieyo
She's a really good person.
2. Using -(으)ㄴ for a present-tense verb. On an action verb, -(으)ㄴ is the past; the present is -는.
❌ 저기 밥 먹은 사람이 제 친구예요.
Wrong for 'the person eating' — 먹은 means 'who ate.' The present is 먹는: 밥 먹는 사람.
✅ 저기 밥 먹는 사람이 제 친구예요.
jeogi bap meongneun sarami je chinguyeyo
The person eating over there is my friend.
3. Treating 맛있다 as an adjective for the modifier. 있다-compounds take verbal -는.
❌ 여기 맛있은 음식이 많아요.
Wrong — 맛있다 takes verbal -는: 맛있는 음식.
✅ 여기 맛있는 음식이 많아요.
yeogi masinneun eumsigi manayo
There's a lot of tasty food here.
4. Keeping ㄹ before -는. A ㄹ-stem drops its ㄹ: 살다 → 사는, not ×살는.
❌ 서울에 살는 친구가 있어요.
Wrong — ㄹ-stem 살다 drops ㄹ before -는: 사는 친구.
✅ 서울에 사는 친구가 있어요.
Seoure saneun chinguga isseoyo
I have a friend who lives in Seoul.
Key Takeaways
- Attributive endings turn a clause into a pre-nominal modifier (Korean's relative clause); the tense sits in the ending, in front of the noun.
- Verbs: -는 (present), -(으)ㄴ (past), -(으)ㄹ (prospective), -던 / -았던 (recalled).
- Adjectives: present is -(으)ㄴ (좋은, 예쁜) — the same shape as a verb's past, so 먹은 (ate) vs 좋은 (good) look parallel but differ in tense and word class.
- 있다 / 없다 and their compounds take the verbal -는 (맛있는, 없는), never ✗맛있은.
- Buffer 으 appears after a consonant stem; vowel stems take bare ㄴ/ㄹ; ㄹ-stems drop ㄹ before -는 / -(으)ㄴ (사는, 산).
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- Attributive (Noun-Modifying) Forms Table: -는 / -(으)ㄴ / -(으)ㄹ / -던TOPIK 2 — The 관형사형 endings that turn a whole clause into a modifier sitting in front of a noun — Korean's relative clauses, which carry tense inside the ending. The core trap: verbs form the present with -는 but adjectives form it with -(으)ㄴ, the very shape that marks a verb's past — so 먹은 (ate) and 좋은 (good) look parallel yet differ in tense and class.
- THE Key Contrast: Adjective -(으)ㄴ vs Verb -는TOPIK 2 — In the present tense, adjectives and action verbs choose DIFFERENT endings to modify a noun: a descriptive verb takes -(으)ㄴ (예쁜 꽃), an action verb takes -는 (먹는 사람). Getting it wrong (×좋는 사람) instantly marks a learner — and the split is the verb/adjective divide made visible.
- The Modifier-Before-Noun Principle (No Relative Pronouns)TOPIK 2 — Every Korean modifier — adjective, possessor, or an entire relative clause — comes BEFORE its noun, and there are no relative pronouns; the described noun lands last and an attributive verb ending does all the linking work.
- -던 vs -(으)ㄴ: The Retrospective Attributive ContrastTOPIK 3 — Two past adnominal endings that modify a noun: -던 recalls a witnessed past action as ongoing, repeated, or interrupted, while plain -(으)ㄴ marks a completed one — plus -았/었던 for a distinctly recalled or discontinued past.
- Ending Attachment After Batchim (받침 이형태): Allomorphy ReferenceTOPIK 2 — The single rule sheet behind dozens of particles and endings — which allomorph attaches after a vowel-final stem versus a consonant-final (받침) stem — reduced to one idea: after a batchim insert 으/은/을/이, after a vowel don't, and ㄹ behaves half like a vowel.