KOREAN PAST TENSE
In this lesson we will teach you about the Korean Past Tense, and how to master this dreaded conjugation!
Make sure to also check these lessons:
- Korean Present Tense
- Korean Future Tense
INTRODUCTION
To make a sentence in the past tense, you can make a small change on predicates of the present tense verbs. The logic is almost the same as the present tense conjugation.
We’ll explain how to conjugate each type of verbs in more details further down below.
Let’s dive into the examples.
CASE 1 || CONJUGATION EXAMPLES
INFINITIVE | MEANING | CONJUGATION |
---|---|---|
앉다 | sit | 앉았어요 |
오다 | come | 왔어요 |
자다 | sleep | 잤어요 |
가다 | go | 갔어요 |
만나다 | meet | 만났어요 |
보다 | see/look | 봤어요 |
받다 | get/receive | 받았어요 |
사다 | buy | 샀어요 |
닫다 | close | 닫았어요 |
놀다 | play | 놀았어요 |
막다 | stop | 막았어요 |
잡다 | hold | 잡았어요 |
알다 | know | 알았어요 |
CASE 2 || CONJUGATION EXAMPLES
Infinitive | meaning | Conjugation |
---|---|---|
열다 | open | 열었어요 |
읽다 | read | 읽었어요 |
먹다 | eat | 먹었어요 |
만들다 | make | 만들었어요 |
배우다 | learn | 배웠어요 |
서다 | stand | 섰어요 |
멈추다 | stop | 멈췄어요 |
바꾸다 | change | 바꿨어요 |
지다 | lose | 졌어요 |
보내다 | send | 보냈어요 |
움직이다 | move | 움직였어요 |
기다리다 | wait | 기다렸어요 |
마시다 | drink | 마셨어요 |
CASE 3 || CONJUGATION EXAMPLES
Infinitive | meaning | Conjugation |
---|---|---|
공부하다 | study | 공부했어요 |
말하다 | talk/speak | 말했어요 |
청소하다 | clean | 청소했어요 |
노래하다 | sing | 노래했어요 |
설명하다 | explain | 설명했어요 |
운동하다 | exercise | 운동했어요 |
일하다 | work | 일했어요 |
요리하다 | cook | 요리했어요 |
운전하다 | drive | 운전했어요 |
생각하다 | think | 생각했어요 |
전화하다 | call | 전화했어요 |
기록하다 | record | 기록했어요 |
참여하다 | participate | 참여했어요 |
CASE 1 || VERBS ENDING WITH -았어요
When a vowel of the word stem ends in ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’, we add ‘-았어요’.
When the word stem has a final consonant
For example, the word stem of 앉다 would be ‘앉-’.
Then you can combine ‘앉-’ with ‘-았어요’, and it would be ‘앉았어요’.
INFINITIVE | CONJUGATION |
---|---|
닫다
to close | 닫았어요 |
받다
to receive | 받았어요 |
When the word stem doesn’t have a final consonant and ends with ‘ㅏ’
For example, the word stem of 자다 would be ‘자-’.
Then you can combine ‘자-’ with ‘-았어요,’ and it would be ‘자았어요’.
However, ‘자았-’ changes to ‘잤-’, so it should be ‘잤어요’.
INFINITIVE | → | CONJUGATION |
---|---|---|
가다
to go | 가았어요 | 갔어요 |
사다
to buy | 사았어요 | 샀어요 |
When the word stem doesn’t have a final consonant and ends with ‘ㅗ’:
For example, the word stem of 오다 would be ‘오-’.
In this case, you can combine ‘오-’ with ‘-ㅏㅆ어요’ without the consonant ‘ㅇ’ of ‘-았어요’.
So, it would be ‘왔어요’.
INFINITIVE | CONJUGATION |
---|---|
보다
to see/look | 봤어요 |
NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 1!
CASE 2 || VERBS ENDING WITH -었어요
When a final vowel of the word stem ends in something else rather than ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’, we add ‘-었어요’.
When the word stem has a final consonant
For example, the word stem of 열다 would be ‘열-’.
Then you can combine ‘열-’ with ‘-었어요’, and it would be ‘열었어요’.
INFINITIVE | CONJUGATION |
---|---|
읽다
to read | 읽었어요 |
먹다
to eat | 먹었어요 |
When the word stem especially ends in the vowel ‘ㅜ’
For example, the word stem of 배우다 would be ‘배우-’.
In this case, you can combine ‘배우-’ with ‘-ㅓㅆ요’ without the consonant ‘ㅇ’ of ‘-었어요’.
So, it would be ‘배웠어요’.
INFINITIVE | CONJUGATION |
---|---|
바꾸다
to change | 바꿨어요 |
멈추다
to stop | 멈췄어요 |
When the word stem especially ends in the vowel ‘ㅣ’
For example, the word stem of 기다리다 would be ‘기다리-’.
When ‘-었어요’ is combined with the word stem ends with ‘ㅣ’, it changes to ‘-였어요’.
Then ‘-리였-’ would be ‘-렸-’. Therefore, it becomes ‘기다렸어요’.
INFINITIVE | → | CONJUGATION |
---|---|---|
마시다
to drink | 마시였어요 | 마셨어요 |
지다
to lose | 지였어요 | 졌어요 |
When the word stem ends in the vowel ‘ㅐ’, ‘ㅓ’, or ‘ㅕ’
For example, the word stem of 보내다 would be ‘보내-’.
Then you can combine ‘보내-’ with ‘-었어요,’ and it would be ‘보내었어요’.
However, you can change ‘-내었-’ to ‘-냈-’, so it should be ‘보냈어요’.
INFINITIVE | → | CONJUGATION |
---|---|---|
캐다
to dig | 캐었어요 | 캤어요 |
서다
to stand | 서었어요 | 섰어요 |
펴다
to spread | 펴었어요 | 폈어요 |
NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 2!
CASE 3 || VERBS ENDING WITH -헀어요
When the vowel ends in -하다, simply replace it with ‘-했어요’.
For example, 공부하다 ends in ‘-하다.’ You can remove ‘-하다’ and put ‘-했어요’ to ‘공부-’.
It would be ‘공부했어요’.
INFINITIVE | CONJUGATION |
---|---|
말하다
to talk/speak | 말했어요 |
청소하다
to clean | 청소했어요 |
NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 3!
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MORE RESOURCES
Want to learn more? Check out these other free resources:
- Past tense in Japanese
- Past tense in Vietnamese
FAQs
Is Korean SVO or SOV?
Korean is a SOV language, meaning the basic language structure is:
Subject + Object + Verb
Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish are also SOV languages for example.
English is a SVO language: subject + verb + object
—
Learn more about basic sentence structures in Korean here.
How to conjugate verbs in the past tense?
Before you conjugate the verbs, drop the ‘-다’ from the infinitive verb.
For example:
앉다 would be ‘앉-’
읽다 would be ‘읽-’
Then, add the corresponding conjugation form according to the type of Korean.
There are three types of Korean verbs, and all are conjugated differently:
Case 1 || Verbs ending with –았어요
Case 2 || Verbs ending with –었어요
Case 3 || Verbs ending with -헀어요
Make sure to read our lesson for more detailed explanations.
What is the infinitive form of a Korean verb?
Korean verbs in their infinitive form end with -다 or -하다.
Some examples:
알다 to know
마시다 to drink
참여하다 to participate
사다 to buy
What are some Korean sentence structure?
Here are the 3 most basic Korean sentence structure:
#1 || Subject + Verb
#2 || Subject + Object + Verb
#3 || Subject + Noun / Adjective
—
Learn more about basic sentence structures in Korean here.
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