Ittara

A Korean adverb or conjugated expression indicating that an event or incident occurs continuously and repeatedly without interruption

Ittara (잇따라)

Overview

잇따라 (Ittara) is a Korean expression indicating the manner in which an event, incident, or action occurs repeatedly without interruption. It is a conjugated form of the verb '잇따르다' that has become fixed as an adverb; in sentences it modifies predicates and has a meaning similar to '연이어,' '잇달아,' and '계속해서.' It is especially frequent in news reporting style and serves to compactly convey the repetitiveness and chain-like nature of events.

Main content

Etymology and form

'잇따르다' is a compound verb combining '잇다 (to connect)' and '따르다 (to follow),' originally from the image of 'following closely behind.' The ending '-아/어' was attached to form '잇따라,' and in modern Korean the conjugated form has become fixed as an adverb and is used independently. The adnominal form is '잇따른' (e.g., 잇따른 사고), and the connective forms '잇따라서' and '잇따라' are both possible.

Meaning and usage

Its basic meaning is 'events of the same nature occurring multiple times at short intervals.' For example, it is used as in '대형 산불이 잇따라 발생했다' ('Large wildfires broke out one after another') and '합격 소식이 잇따라 들려왔다' ('News of passing came in one after another'); in such cases the predicate usually agrees with verbs of repetition or succession such as '발생하다,' '나오다,' '일어나다,' and '터지다.' A key constraint is that it is not used for a single one-off event.

Comparison with similar expressions

잇달아: The conjugated form of '잇달다.' Its meaning is almost the same as '잇따라,' and the National Institute of Korean Language recognizes both as standard. However, there is a nuance: '잇따라' is relatively better suited to chains of events or phenomena, while '잇달아' is relatively better suited to the physical succession of people or objects.
연이어 (連이어): A Sino-Korean expression used widely in formal and news styles.
연달아: Strongly colloquial and frequent in everyday conversation.
계속: Focuses on temporal continuation, so it is not completely identical to '잇따라.'

Grammatical characteristics

Because '잇따라' is an adverb, it modifies the following predicate, but since it is originally a conjugated verb form, it presupposes plurality or repetition of the subject in the sentence. In '사고가 잇따라 일어났다' ('accidents occurred one after another'), there must naturally be more than one accident. Forms with particles attached, such as '잇따라서' and '잇따라서도,' are also used.

Use in journalistic and news style

In breaking-news articles and headlines, '잇따라' functions as a device for compressing key information. Typical headlines include '○○지역 화재 잇따라…' ('Fires in ○○ area one after another…') and '전세사기 피해 잇따라' ('Jeonse fraud victims continue to appear'), immediately conveying to readers the urgency and spread of an incident. For this reason, it has also been criticized as being overused as a stock expression in headlines when similar incidents repeat.

Misuse and confusion

Common errors include incorrectly conjugating '잇따라' and '잇달아' together as a verb such as '잇따랐다,' or spelling it as '있따라.' In addition, writing '한 건의 사고가 잇따라 발생했다' ('a single accident occurred one after another') for a single event creates a semantic contradiction. Learners should also learn the rule of adding the adnominal ending '-ㄴ' to form '잇따른,' as in '잇따른 결과.'

Recent trends

In 2024–2025, as generative AI-based spelling and correction tools became widespread, search demand for distinguishing '잇따라/잇달아' increased, and many lectures explaining the subtle nuance between the two expressions were produced in content for Korean learners. At the same time, '잇따라' has been repeatedly used in reports on disasters, accidents, and economic indicators, reigniting debate over it as a 'headline cliché,' and some news organizations have even prepared guidelines for alternative expressions. On short-form platforms, quiz-style content such as '잇따라 vs 잇달아' spread and became a matter of popular interest.