Korean -당하다: How to Say You Got Betrayed, Scammed, Used

Quick answer: -당하다 (danghada) attaches to an action noun and means that action was done to you, against your will — usually something bad. 배신당하다 (baesin-danghada) is "be betrayed," 사기당하다 is "get scammed," 이용당하다 is "be used." For things you simply receive, including some unpleasant ones, Korean uses 받다 instead: 의심받다 (be suspected), 조사받다 (be questioned).

If you watch crime and thriller K-dramas, you've heard 당했어 a hundred times. Subtitles turn it into "I was set up," "they got me," "he was killed," "she was used" — a different English sentence every time. That's because English spreads the idea across many passive verbs, while Korean has one compact tool that does the whole job.

Here's the one idea: 당하다 is not just "passive." It's the passive of victimhood. It says someone did this to me on purpose, and I didn't want it.

How it's built

Take a Sino-Korean action noun and stick 당하다 on the end. No space — it becomes one word. Then conjugate it like any 하다 verb.

Conjugation is easy because 당하다 is a regular 하다 verb: 당해요, 당했어요, 당하고 있어요, 당할 거예요.

믿었던 친구한테 배신당했어요. I was betrayed by a friend I trusted.

그 사람, 지금 협박당하고 있는 것 같아요. I think that person is being threatened right now.

Notice the particle: the person who did it takes 한테 (or 에게 in writing). 친구한테 배신당했어요 — "betrayed by a friend."

당하다 vs 받다 — the line natives actually draw

Learners often simplify this to "당하다 for bad, 받다 for good." That gets you 사랑받다 (be loved) and 칭찬받다 (be praised) right, but it breaks immediately on words like 상처받다 (be hurt) and 벌받다 (be punished), which are clearly not good news.

The real line is this:

• 받다 = you receive something — treatment, a feeling, a judgment, a process aimed at you.
• 당하다 = someone does something to you that you didn't agree to, and you came out worse.

So in a police-station scene, the suspect is the one receiving the procedure:

어제 경찰서에서 조사받았어요. I was questioned at the police station yesterday.

저 지금 의심받고 있는 거예요? Are you suspecting me right now? (literally, "am I being suspected?")

의심당하다 and 조사당하다 sound off to a Korean ear. Suspicion and questioning are things you receive; betrayal is something done to you. Meanwhile:

회사에서 이용만 당하다가 결국 해고당했어요. I was just used by the company and ended up getting fired.

해고되다 also exists and is the neutral, news-report version. Choosing 해고당했어요 adds a layer of grievance — they did this to me, and it wasn't fair. That tiny switch is exactly the nuance subtitles flatten into "I got fired."

A few nouns take either: 협박받다 and 협박당하다 are both normal, with 당하다 leaning more into the victim's point of view.

당하다 vs 되다 vs built-in passives

Korean has three passive systems, and crime dramas use all of them in the same scene.

되다 turns an action noun into a plain, neutral event. It's what the news and the police report use.

범인은 어제 체포됐어요. The culprit was arrested yesterday.

사건이 빨리 해결됐으면 좋겠어요. I hope the case gets solved quickly.

-이/히/리/기 are built into native verbs. 잡다 (catch) → 잡히다 (be caught). You cannot replace these with 당하다.

범인이 아직 안 잡혔어요. The culprit hasn't been caught yet.

Saying 체포당했어요 isn't wrong in casual speech, but 체포되다 is the standard form — arrest is a procedure, not a personal wrong. And 잡힘당하다 doesn't exist at all. If a verb already has its own passive shape, use it. For more of the core vocabulary in these scenes, see this list of words from crime K-dramas.

당했어 on its own

당하다 is also a verb by itself, meaning roughly "to get got." It's short, bitter, and extremely common.

아, 나 당했다. Ah, I got played. (반말, talking to yourself or a close friend)

완전히 당했어요. 처음부터 계획이었나 봐요. I was completely taken in. I guess it was planned from the start.

This is the line a character says in the car after realizing the whole meeting was a trap. No object, no explanation — just 당했어.

It pairs naturally with the "I almost..." ending, which is everywhere in thrillers:

하마터면 사기당할 뻔했어요. I almost got scammed.

If that ending is new to you, here's how -(으)ㄹ 뻔했다 works.

What a mistake sounds like

Two errors mark a learner instantly.

칭찬당했어요 for "I was praised." To a Korean ear this sounds like the praise was an attack — it's funny in a way you don't want. Say 칭찬받았어요.

당하다 stuck onto a verb stem, like 보당하다 or 먹당하다. 당하다 only joins nouns, almost always Sino-Korean ones. For native verbs, use the verb's own passive: 보이다 (be seen), 들리다 (be heard), 잡히다 (be caught).

One more thing worth knowing: you can split the noun off with 를/을 when you want emphasis. 사기를 당했어요 and 사기당했어요 are both correct; the split version sounds slightly heavier, like you're spelling out the awfulness of it.

It's not only for dramas

This isn't rare vocabulary you'll use once. 사기당하다 comes up in ordinary conversations about online shopping gone wrong. 거절당하다 covers job applications and asking someone out. 무시당하다 is what people say about bad service or a dismissive coworker.

면접에서 또 거절당했어요. I got rejected at the interview again.

직원한테 무시당한 기분이었어요. I felt like the staff member looked down on me.

If you want to ask a friend about an experience like that, pair it with -(으)ㄴ 적이 있다: 사기당한 적 있어요? — Have you ever been scammed?

FAQ

What does 당했어 mean in Korean?

On its own, 당했어 means "I got played," "I was had," or "they got me." It's 반말, so friends and family only; the polite version is 당했어요. In crime dramas it's the moment a character realizes they walked into someone else's plan.

What's the difference between 받다 and 당하다 in Korean?

받다 means you receive something — praise (칭찬받다), love (사랑받다), suspicion (의심받다), questioning (조사받다). 당하다 means someone deliberately did something harmful to you against your will — betrayal (배신당하다), fraud (사기당하다), exploitation (이용당하다). Some words accept both, like 협박받다 and 협박당하다, with 당하다 sounding more like a victim's account.

How do you say "I got scammed" in Korean?

사기당했어요 is the everyday polite way to say it. Among friends, 나 사기당했어. You can also say 사기를 당했어요, which splits the noun off and sounds a bit more emphatic. To say someone scammed you specifically, add 한테: 그 사람한테 사기당했어요.

Practice

Fill in 받다, 되다, 당하다, or the right built-in passive, then conjugate into 해요체 past tense.

1. "I was betrayed by a friend I trusted." → 믿었던 친구한테 배신____.
2. Choose one: 어제 부장님한테 칭찬( 받았어요 / 당했어요 ).
3. "The culprit hasn't been caught yet." → 범인이 아직 안 ____.
4. "I think I was used." → 이용____ 것 같아요.
5. "I almost got scammed." → 하마터면 사기____ 뻔했어요.

Answers

1. 믿었던 친구한테 배신당했어요.

2. 어제 부장님한테 칭찬받았어요. (Praise is received — 칭찬당하다 sounds like an insult.)

3. 범인이 아직 안 잡혔어요. (잡다 has its own passive, 잡히다.)

4. 이용당한 것 같아요.

5. 하마터면 사기당할 뻔했어요.