# 았/었더라 vs 더라



## 82riceballs

Hi all,

(1) After coming back from the bathroom, my bacon was all burnt 
o 화장실에 갔다 와보니까 베이콘이 다 탔더라고
x 화장실에 갔다 와보니까 베이콘이 다 타더라고

(2) Because I lived such a busy life, I got sick often.
x 이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸렸더라고. 
o 이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸리더라고.

My question is why in sentence (1), you need to use the past tense [탔다 + 더라고 = 탔더라고], but why it would not make sense to use the past tense in sentence (2)? 

Would (2) make sense this way as well: 이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸리고 있었어요 ?

My Korean friend told me that saying 결렸더라고 is like using a double past tense, since 걸렸다 is past tense and 더라고 is also past tense. 

Any help is appreciated- thanks!!


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## dhchong

You can think '탔더라고' as  'the past perfect' and '타더라고' as 'the past'

When you came back from bathroom, you saw the bacon was burning, then you can say '타더라고'.
In case you found it was already burnt,  you can say '탔더라고'.

In my opinion, both sentences make sense and also ' 이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸리고 있었어요 ?' makes sense.


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## 82riceballs

Ah I think I get it now 

Meaning-wise, 
타더라고 = 타고 있었어. It was burning
걸리더라고 = 걸리고 있었어. I got sick often ("I was getting sick often/a lot")


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## dhchong

Right. 

You seem to be very smart.


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## 82riceballs

No, you're good at explaining!


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> Would (2) make sense this way as well: 이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸리고 있었어요 ?


 In response to your question, 국립국어원 answered the following, "빠듯하게 살다 보니 지금도 병에 자주 걸린다는 의미로 써야 하므로 '걸려요' 정도로 표현하는 것이 적절합니다." 

source : https://twitter.com/urimal365/status/559585637804699651


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## 82riceballs

Got it! Thanks!
So if I want to talk about the past (e.g. I used to be busy but because I got sick so often, I decided to stop being so busy), there is nothing weird if I use the following sentence?
이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸렸더라고

Just double checking because a Korean friend said it sounded weird.


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## Kross

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82riceballs said:


> there is nothing weird if I use the following sentence? 이렇게 빠듯하게 살다 보니까 병에 자주 걸렸더라고


 It doesn't sound like you are saying about the past event because the beginning part ranging from 이렇게 through 보니깐 describes the present situation of the speaker. So I'd say, "예전에 빠듯하게 살 땐 병에 자주 걸렸어/걸렸지." I don't think ~(걸렸)더라고 is a good choice here as a verb ending. I don't know why. It just doesn't sound right to me.


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## 82riceballs

Interesting!! I also got the feeling that you can't use 이렇게 in the present for some reason.

I have heard 보니까 used in the past in this way
엄마가 장사를 하다 보니까 요리해 줄 시간이 별로 없어서 내가 알아서 해야했지.

I might have forgotten exactly how he said it, but an 아저씨 who taught me how to cook said this to me when I asked where he learned to cook.

Does using 하다 보니까 in this way sound strange?


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> Interesting!! I also got the feeling that you can't use 이렇게 in the present for some reason.?


 What do you mean by you can't use 이렇게 in the present for some reason.?



82riceballs said:


> I have heard 보니까 used in the past in this way
> 엄마가 장사를 하다 보니까 요리해 줄 시간이 별로 없어서 내가 알아서 해야했지.


 I think ~ 보니까 here is closer to being used in the present (progressive) than in the past. The phrase 엄마가 장사를 하다 보니까 literally means, "Mom runs/is running a business" but what is written down after ~ 보니까 is telling about the speaker's past experience, taking care of meals himself/herself due to Mom not being at home. So the timeline of ~보니깐 is extended to the past to make the whole sentences sound right. we assume that his/her mom must have run a business in the past, which ~ 보니까 itself doesn't imply


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## dhchong

I'm not expert in grammar. But sometimes in korean, don't we use present tense to describe the past?
For example : 너무 아름다워서 눈을 뗄 수가 없었다. 

Can't we use '없었다' as it is the past tense while '아름다워서' is the present tense?  We usually say that way.

If I have to be strict in tense , it should be '너무 아름다웠기에 눈을 뗄 수가 없었다.'
But korean language is not so strict in tense like englih  or other indo european languages.

Of course we can say '너무 아름다웠기에 눈을 뗄 수가 없었다.' and often we say that way but for me it is more natural to say '너무 아름다워서 눈을 뗄 수가 없었다.'.


So all the sentences  seem  natural to me.


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