구나 싶다

it hit me that ~

-구나 is the ending you use when something dawns on you, and 싶다 after it reports having had that thought inwardly: 인생 살만하구나 싶더라고요 (I found myself thinking, ah, life is worth living), 미국 파이는 완전 다른 세계구나 싶었어. Plain -구나 is said out loud in the moment of realising; -구나 싶다 narrates the realisation afterwards, which is why so many of these lines end in -더라고요 or -어서.

Register: reflective, conversational