V~(으)려던 참이다 [ Korean Grammar ]

November 22, 2021

Smriti

Today, we'll be looking at the usage of "V~(으)려던 참이다" with some example sentences.

Usage:

It is used when a person has considered doing an action, but another action happens which overlaps with the original planned action.

It can be understood as “was about to” , “on the verge of" or "intending to.”

It might take some time to understand the usage completely but after a few usages you'll be able to figure it out.

Let's try to understand the usage with the following examples :

사려던 참이다
열려던 참이다
잠을 자려던 참이다
나가려던 참이다
전화하려던 참이다

Now let's look at the conjugation rule :

When the verb stem ends with a consonant, add 으려던 참이다 after removing 다 from the root verb.

1) I was just about to eat.

막 밥을 먹으려던 참이었다.

2) I was just about to have lunch, care to join me?

막 점심을 먹으려던 참인데 같이 갈래요?

When the verb stem ends with a vowel, add 려던 참이다 after removing 다 from the root verb.

1) We were about to go home anyway.

막 집에 가려던 참이었어요.

2) I was about to go to New York shortly.

난 짧게나마 뉴욕에 가려던 참이었다.

3) I was just about to leave.

막 나가려던 참이었다

4) We were about to call the police.

우리는 경찰에 전화하려던 참이었다.

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Learning Korean can be tricky, especially when the goal of your learning is conversation. If you’ve ever attempted to speak Korean but were unable to, then hopefully you’ll find this post helpful.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or suggestions. Comment down below.

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Smriti

Smriti Ekka graduated in Commerce and Library science, and currently she is working as a content writer at TOPIK Guide website. She is a Korean language and culture enthusiast and has been working across multiple disciplines which broadly addresses narratives of similarities between Korean and Indian culture. Apart from being a content writer at TOPIK Guide she manages Annyeong India website and has had her pieces published in Learn Korean in India website as well. In her other life, she is a singer, rising entrepreneur, life enthusiast and a learner.