-는데

Korean

Alternative forms

-은데 (-eunde) — see Usage notes
-ㄴ데 (-nde) — see Usage notes

Etymology

Possibly grammaticalized from 는 (neun, “that, which is”, present-tense adnominal suffix) +‎ 데 (de, “place”, dependent noun).

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [nɯnde̞]
Phonetic hangul: [는데]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	neunde
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	neunde
McCune–Reischauer^?	nŭnde
Yale Romanization^?	nuntey

Suffix

-는데 • (-neunde)

since; used to convey current relevant circumstances before an explanation, suggestion, question, etc.
밖 이 시끄러운데 무슨 일 있나?
Bakk-i sikkeureounde museun il inna?
It's noisy outside; is something going on?

날 이 좋던데 어디 놀러 안 갈래?
Nar-i joteonde eodi nolleo an gallae?
I saw that it was nice outside, why don't we go have fun?

야, 밖 에 눈 오는데 눈싸움하자!
ya, bakk-e nun o-neunde nunssaum-haja!
Hey, it's snowing outside! Let's have a snowball fight!
In the "intimate" speech level used between friends, by superiors to inferiors, etc., a verb-final suffix:
1. An exclamatory suffix conveying surprise or hesitation.
  여, 제법인데?
  Yeo, jebeob-i-nde?
  Oh, nice performance; better than I expected!
  
  그렇지만 나이 도 있으신데...
  Geureochiman nai-do isseu-si-nde...
  But he's quite old...
  
  이러다 금메달 도 따 겠는데?
  ireoda geummedal-do tta-gen-neunde?
  At this rate, you're going to get the gold medal!
2. An interrogative suffix urging the listener to respond, used with an interrogative.
  뭐 를 먹 었는데?
  mwo-reul meog-eon-neunde?
  So what did you eat?

Usage notes

는데 (-neunde) causes stem-final ㄹ (l) to drop out.
는데 (-neunde) is used for all verbs, for the existential adjectives 있다 (itda), 없다 (eopda), and 계시다 (gyesida), and for adjectives with tense marking with -었- (-eot-) and -겠- (-get-).
The grammatical principle of 는데 (-neunde) can be applied to adjectives. However, instead of attaching 는데 (-neunde), you must attach -ㄴ데 (-nde)/-은데 (-eunde), where -은데 (-eunde) comes after an adjective that ends in a consonant, and -ㄴ데 (-nde) attaches directly to an adjective that ends in a vowel (or with the consonant ㄹ (l)). This applies to the copula -이다 (-ida) as well. Note that 싶다 (sipda, “to want”) is an adjective.