-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다

RuleVerb stem + -(eu)n jeok-i itda: marks past experience, "have done (before)." After a consonant use -eun jeok; after a vowel use -n jeok.

Curiosity

gatda (simple past) differs from gan jeok-i itda (experience). How do you express a life experience in Korean?

Intuition

-(eu)n jeok-i itda takes the past adnominal -(eu)n and adds "jeok (a time/occasion) exists," pointing to experience: "there has been such a time (in my record)." Where the simple past is "I did it then," this is "I have ever done it."

Visualization

gada (dictionary) → ga (stem, vowel) → gan jeok-i itda. With no final consonant it takes -n jeok-i itda.

가다gadadictionary form

Essence

With a vowel use -n jeok-i itda (gan jeok-i itda); with a consonant -eun jeok-i itda (meogeun jeok-i itda). The lack of experience is -(eu)n jeok-i eopda. Use it for vague experience; it does not pair with a specific time (yesterday, last year) — those take the simple past.

Examples

저는 한국에 간 적이 있어요.

I have been to Korea.

김치를 먹은 적이 있어요?

Have you ever eaten kimchi?

그 사람을 만난 적이 없어요.

I have never met that person.

Mini-quiz

Form "have eaten (before)" from "meokda" (to eat). (consonant-final)