haru Korean › Grammar › Level 3A › V-다(가) (사고)
V-다(가) (사고) — while I was …, something happened — small accidents on the way
While I was …, something happened — small accidents on the way. Korean grammar for intermediate learners — Level 3A, lesson 8: 교통사고가 났다고요? (A traffic accident? — accidents and what followed).
What it means
V-다가 tells what happened while you were in the middle of doing something — usually something you didn't plan, such as an accident or a mistake: 자전거를 타고 오다가 넘어졌어요 'I fell off my bike on the way back', 요리하다가 손을 다쳤어요 'I hurt my hand while I was cooking'. 받침 does not matter: take 다 off the verb and add 다가. It is the same -다가 you met in Lesson 2A-7 (걷다가 카페에 들어갔어요), where the first action stops and another begins; today the 'something else' is an accident that cuts in. The subject of both halves is usually the same person. -았/었- does not go before -다가 here — the tense sits at the very end: 타다가 넘어졌어요. (탔다가, with the past, is the Lesson 3A-7 form: you finished A and then did the opposite.) In speech the 가 often drops — 가다 넘어졌어요 — and news reports say 운전하다 사고가 났습니다. 도중에 says the same thing a little more formally: 집에 오는 도중에 넘어졌어요.
Forms
| Pattern | When | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -다가 | 동사 — 받침 O · X 모두 (하는 중에 생긴 일) | 타다 + 다가 → 타다가 |
Key points
- V-다가 + what happened = while I was …, (something unplanned) happened: 오다가 넘어졌어요 · 요리하다가 다쳤어요 — one form for every verb
- The first action was still going on when the accident cut in, and the subject stays the same. In speech 가 can drop: 가다 넘어졌어요. (Lesson 2A-7: 걷다가 카페에 들어갔어요 — stop A, do B.)
Examples
- 어떤 일을 하고 있었어요. 그 중간에 생각하지 못한 일이 생겼어요 → -다가: 자전거를 타고 오다가 넘어졌어요.
- 받침 O · X 모두 -다가: 걷다가 · 타다가 · 요리하다가.
- 뒤에는 사고 · 실수가 많이 와요: 넘어졌어요 · 다쳤어요 · 삐었어요 · 잃어버렸어요.
- 앞과 뒤의 주어는 같아요: (저는) 계단을 내려가다가 (제가) 미끄러졌어요.
- 말할 때는 가를 빼기도 해요: 가다 넘어졌어요 = 가다가 넘어졌어요.
Where university textbooks teach it
This point also appears in: Seoul National University Korean 3A, lesson 8; Sogang University Korean 3B, lesson 3.
Also in this lesson
- A-다고(요)? · V-ㄴ/는다고(요)? · N(이)라고(요)? — you said …? — checking what you heard, and showing surprise
- 아무리 A/V-아/어도 — no matter how … · however … — the result stays the same
- A/V-아야/어야 할 텐데(요) — I do hope … — a hope said with a little worry