안녕하세요! You learned the present tense ending 아/어/여요 before. How can we talk about past events then? In this lesson, I'll teach you the past tense verbs! The past tense rule is very similar to the present tense form. So, if you are familiar with it, this lesson won't be too difficult! Are you ready? Let's begin! (시작해요!😊)
<Table of Contents>
1. The informal past tense ending
았어요 [ah-sseo-yo], 었어요 [eo-sseo-yo], 였어요 [yeo-sseo-yo] are the past tense sentence-endings. Since it is too long, people shortened them to 았/었/였어요 as well. They are the combination of the past tense markers -았/었/였- and the informal ending -어요.
았/었/였어요 are friendly but still polite. So, they are good to use in most daily conversations. (That is why it is called "informal" past tense ending.) You can use these forms for the people you do not know well. It is polite enough to use to older people or who have a higher social status than you like a boss or a teacher.
았/었/였어요 ending can be used for both statements and questions. For a statement, you will use a period at the end. For a question, you'll need to use a question marker. Korean punctuation works just like English.
먹었어요. I ate.
먹었어요? Did you eat?
2. Regular conjugation rules
Changing the basic form of verbs or adjectives is called "conjugation". The conjugation is an essential matter in Korean! Here you will see how verbs are conjugated into the past tense form. It is very similar to the informal present tense form. Like the present tense forms 아/어/여요, the last vowel of the stem is the key!
1) ㅏ, ㅗ: + 았어요
Find the stem and see the last syllable. If the last vowel is eitherㅏ or ㅗ, you will add 았어요. I won't mention the "not important part; 다" and will start to talk about the stems.
살다 to live → 살 → If you look at 살, the vowel of it is ㅏ. So we will add 았어요 to it. → 살았어요. lived
앉다 to sit → 앉 → If you look at 앉, the vowel of it is ㅏ so let's add 았어요. → 앉았어요. sat
The words with the final consonants are pretty simple. Let's see what can happen for the stems don't end with the final consonants.
가다 to go → 가 → The vowel isㅏ. So, let's add 았어요. → 가았어요 → There is no final consonant to prevent the combination of 가 and 았. They have the same vowel (ㅏ) so they combine to 갔. (One absorbed the other.) → 갔어요. went
오다 to come → 오 → The vowel of it is ㅗ. So we will add 았어요 to it. → 오았어요 → There is no final consonant! 오 and 아 will stick and make the compound vowel 와. The compound vowel ㅘ came from the basic vowels ㅗ and ㅏ. → 왔어요. came
2) -하다: + 였어요 → 했어요
하다 means "do". Some action-related nouns can become verbs by adding 하다. For example, 숙제 is a noun meaning "homework". 숙제하다 is a verb now and means "do homework." The conjugation rule for 하다 is like below.
하다 to do → 하 → We add 였어요 to this 하다. → 하였어요 → Overtime, this 하였어요 shortened. → 했어요.
People use 했어요 these days. You can use 하였어요 too but it sounds a bit more old and quaint. The conjugation rule for 하다 verbs is easy. You can simply add 했어요 to a noun instead of 하다.
숙제하다 to do homework → 숙제하 → 숙제하였어요 → 숙제했어요. did homework
공부하다 study → Change 하다 to 했어요. → 공부했어요. studied
More to read!
Since these 하다 verbs are made with noun+하다, we can add an object marker to a noun and separate noun and verb.
숙제하다 = 숙제를 하다 ⇒ 숙제를 했어요.
공부하다 = 공부를 하다 ⇒ 공부를 했어요.
3) Others: + 었어요
The vowels that do not follow rules 1 and 2 above will follow this rule number 3. So, for verbs that don't have ㅏ or ㅗ as the last vowels or end with 하다, you will add 었어요. Easy, right?
먹다 to eat → 먹 → The vowel is "ㅓ." It does not follow the rule 1. It also does not end with 하다. So, let's add 었어요 to the stem. → 먹었어요. ate
The final consonant made conjugating 먹다 pretty easy. When there are no final consonants, the combinations will happen! Look how syllables combine below.
서다 to stand → 서 → 서었어요 → Nothing can prevent their sticking! Also, 서 and 었 have the same vowel! So, they will be shortened. → 섰어요. stood
주다 to give → 주 → 주었어요 → No final consonant! Vowels are combining! ㅜ and ㅓ combines and make ㅝ (wo). → 줬어요. gave
Here is one more thing you have to pay attention to. If the last vowel is "ㅣ" and when you conjugate it with "었어요", they become 였어요.
그리다 to draw/paint → 그리 → 그리었어요 → 리 and 었 combines and become 렸. → 그렸어요. drew/painted
마시다 to drink → 마시 → 마시었어요 → 시 and 었 combines and become 셨. → 마셨어요. drank
3. Irregular conjugation rules
There are irregular verbs too. Those rules are repetitive, so you will often see them during the grammar lessons! By the way, irregular is called 불규칙 [bul-gyu-chik] in Korean.
1) 불규칙 ㄷ: ㄷ → ㄹ +았/었어요
When the verb stem ends with the final consonant ㄷ and if that word is an irregular verb, you will erase that ㄷ and add ㄹ! Then, you will add the past tense ending 았어요 or 었어요 depending on the regular rules. To know which one to add, you have to use the regular past tense rule!
걷다 to walk → 걷 → Replace ㄷ to ㄹ. → 걸 → The vowel is ㅓ. Since it is not ㅏ or ㅗ, let's use the regular rule number 3. → 걸어요. walked
깨닫다 to realize → 깨닫 → 깨달 → The important thing is the last vowel and it is ㅏ here. So add 았어요. → 깨달았어요. realized
2) 불규칙 ㅅ: Erase ㅅ + 았/었어요
When the stem ends with ㅅ, you drop that ㅅ out first. Then, you will add 았어요 or 었어요 depending on the vowel. See? It is pretty repetitive.
붓다 to pour → The stem is 붓. → Erase ㅅ. → 부 → The vowel is ㅜ. It's not ㅏ or ㅗ. We need 었어요 then. → 부었어요. poured
긋다 to draw (lines) → 긋 → 그 → The vowel is ㅡ. We need to add 었어요. → 그었어요. drew
3) 불규칙 ㅂ: Erase ㅂ + 왔/웠어요
For irregular ㅂ words, you will erase that ㅂ first. However, this time, you need to add some special forms. Instead of 았어요, you will use 왔어요. Instead of 었어요, you will add 웠어요. Like this, ㅂ rules always have their special forms!
돕다 to help → 돕 → Erase ㅂ first. → 도 → Since the vowel is ㅗ. It is the vowel of rule number one! → 도왔어요. helped
깁다 to sew, mend → 깁 → 기 → 기웠어요. sewed
4) Others
Here are some other basic verbs that are irregular but not following ㄷ, ㅅ, or ㅂ. Those are called irregular ㅡ or 르. Since it is a bit heavy grammar for a beginner, you can just memorize these words separately for now. However, if you are curious and want to know, please click here and read my other post about them.
쓰다 to write → 썼어요. wrote
부르다 to call (a name) / to sing → 불렀어요. sang/called
4. Examples
Let's use the conjugated words and see them in sentences! Use my examples and try to make them on your own. If you have any questions about it, please use the comment section.
1
A: 뭐 했어요? What did you do?
B: 책을 읽었어요. I read a book.
↪ 뭐 means "what" in Korean. So, to ask "What did you do?" you can say "뭐 했어요?" The "you" part is omitted in the question. It is because the "you" part is pretty obvious. The person A is asking directly to B, so B knows it is about him or her.
2
Q: 어제 뭐 했어요? What did you do yesterday?
A: 영화를 봤어요. I watched the movie.
↪ 어제 means yesterday. You can attach these time words to ask about a specific day. 영화 means a movie in Korean.
3
Q: 오늘 뭐 했어요? What did you do today?
A: 학교에 갔어요. I went to school.
↪ 오늘 means today. 학교 is a school. When you mention a place, you have to attach a proper marker. If you are curious about the place marker 에, please click here.
4
Q: 이 음악을 들었어요? Did you listen to this music?
A: 네, 들었어요. Yes, I did.
↪ 음악 is music. We need an object marker 을 because it ends with the final consonant. By the way, the word 이 in front of 음악 is a pronoun meaning "this."
5
Q: 어제 편지를 썼어요? Did you write the letter yesterday?
A: 네, 썼어요. Yes, I did.
↪ 편지 means a letter. It ends with no final consonant. Then which object marker do you need? Yes, the answer is 를.
5. Wrap up & Worksheets: Korean past tense
You change the verbs with 았/었/였어요 to make the past tense verbs.
The past tense forms will always have the final consonant ㅆ after conjugation.
The key to changing the verbs is the last vowel of the stem.
But some special final consonants will need your extra attention!
How was the lesson today? (수업이 어땠어요?) The past tense is one of the basic and important grammar. When you understand the rules, please memorize both the basic and past tense forms! Here are some worksheets you can use to practice with.
If you liked my lesson, please click the like👍 button. Don't forget to subscribe for the new lessons as well! Thanks for studying with My Korean Lesson! 감사합니다!🤗
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