저 놀다 왔어요 meaning (Part 2) / How SEVENTEEN Jun says “I came after playing” in Korean (Part 2)

How to say “I came after playing” in Korean

Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn a Korean sentence pattern that is used quite often, ‘(Verb)다가 오다’ and ‘(Verb)다가 가다.’ After reading today’s post, you’ll not only be able say “come while doing (verb)” and “go while doing (verb)” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how this pattern is grammatically formed. Moreover, we’ll look at the actual expression that Jun of Seventeen used for his X post together. Let’s get started!

The connection ending ‘(Verb)-다가’

First, let’s look at the ending part, ‘-다가.’ It is used as a connection ending to indicate that one action or state is interrupted and changed to another action or state, or that the process of doing something is the cause or basis for another thing to be done.

It gives the feeling that the person was doing A initially, but changed the course of action to B in the middle of doing A although doing it is not finished yet.

(verb)-다가 오다 : come after stopping (verb) in the middle of doing it
(verb)-다가 가다 : go after stopping (verb) in the middle of doing it

Let’s look closer at how to make these expressions. The original form of Korean verbs end with ‘-다’, so all you need to do is replace that with ‘-가 오다/-가 가다’ to the end.

놀다 (to play) → 놀다가 오다 (to come after playing, but the excitement and the fun vibes still remain because the playing part was not wrapped up completely.)

먹다 (to eat) → 먹다가 가다 (to go after eating, but the eating was not complete and the person had to stop eating in the middle because he or she had to go)

Also, keep in mind that in ‘-다가,’ you can omit ‘가’ and just use it as the shortened form of ‘-다 가다/-다 오다.’

자다 (to sleep) → 자다가 오다 = 자다 오다 (to come after sleeping, but the drowsiness still remains now because the sleeping part was not wrapped up completely)

놀다 (to play) → 놀다가 가다 = 놀다 가다 (to go after playing, but the excitement and the fun vibes still remain because the playing part was not wrapped up completely.)

How to use these expressions in past tense

To use these expressions in past tense, you can use the past tense of ‘오다’ and ‘가다’ which are ‘왔다’ and ‘갔다’ respectively. Also, to use it in a conversational form, you can just remove ‘-다’ at the end and add ‘-어요’ instead. Let’s look at some examples.

놀다 : to play
놀다가 오다 : to come after playing
= 놀다 오다 : (shortened version)

놀다 왔다 : came after playing
놀다 왔어요 : I came while I was playing (conversational)

공부하다 : to study
공부하다가 오다 : to come while studying
= 공부하다 오다 (shortened version)

공부하다 왔다 : came while studying
공부하다 왔어요 : I came while I was studying (conversational)

자다 : to sleep
자다가 오다 : to come while sleeping
= 자다 오다 : (shortened version)

자다 왔다 : came while sleeping
자다 왔어요 : I came while I was sleeping (conversational)

울다 : to cry
울다가 오다 : to come while crying
= 울다 오다 : (shortened version)

울다 왔다 : came while crying
울다 왔어요 : I came while I was crying (conversational)

In conclusion, ‘저 놀다 왔어요’ means…

저 놀다 왔어요
= 저 + 놀다(가) + 오다/왔다
= (I) + (while/after playing) + (to come/came)
= I came after playing

Adding up what we have learned in today’s post so far, ‘놀다 왔어요’ is the conversational form of ‘놀다 왔다.’ It is the combination of the verb ‘놀다’ (to play) used with the sentence pattern ‘(Verb)-다가 오다’.

To wrap up, Jun of SEVENTEEN is saying to his fans, carats, that he came after playing in Spotify Japan. He posted pictures of himself playing in Spotify Japan pop-up store, so he is showing his fans what he did that day!