Posted in Korean grammar , korean language , Korean lesson , Korean verb tense
In our daily conversation we talk about past, present and future. The past tense in Korean language is not as hard in English with many irregular, and the rule of stating the past tense is actually quite simply. Putting verb or adjective in past tense involve conjugation by combining with 았다 and 었다.
1. For verbs that contain "ㅏ" or "ㅗ" in its syllable, add 았. If the verb contains vowel "ㅓ","ㅜ" or "ㅣ" in its syllable then add 었. This rule is very useful and important to remember.
Example:
- 가다 mean "to go". To turn 가다 into past tense, add the 았 and ~어요 form to make it into spoken form 갔어요(to went). When adding the 가 with ~았어요, both the 가 and 았 have vowel "ㅏ" , therefore the two word get mesh together and become 갔.
- 사다 mean "to buy". To turn 사다 into past tense, just add ~았어요 like what we did with 가다. As both 사 and 았 contain vowel "ㅏ", therefore both word get mesh together and become 샀어요 (to brought).
- 오다 mean "to come". To turn 오다 into past tense, add on ~았어요 because the verb contains the vowel "ㅗ". When 오 and 았 is added together, we didn't put it as 오았, instead we mesh the two together and become 왔어요(to came). It sounds just like 오았 when you pronounce it faster.
What if there is final consonant in the verb?
- 먹다 mean "to eat". From the verb we notice that 먹 contains vowel "ㅓ" in its syllable and therefore add on ~었어요 to it. This become 먹었어요(ate).
- 놀다 mean "to play". The word 놀 contains vowel "ㅗ" in its syllable and therefore add on ~았어요 to it. 놀다 in past tense will be 놀았어요(played)
2. For verbs with vowel "ㅣ" as a final vowel, add on ~었어요 and become ~였어요.
Example:
- 마시다 mean "to drink". As the verb end with final vowel "ㅣ", 마시 add on with 었어요 and combine to form 마시었어요. As 마시었어요 is hard to pronounce, Korean make it easier by meshing the 시었 to become 셨 and therefore become 마셨어요(drank).
빌리다(to borrow): 빌리다 → 빌리었어요 → 빌렸어요(borrowed)
3. For verbs with "ㅡ" as a final vowel, throw away the vowel and add on ~었어요.
Example:
- 쓰다 mean "to write". As the verb end with final vowel "ㅡ", the vowel is throw away and combine with ~었어요 to become 썼어요(wrote)
트다(to sprout): 트 → 텄어요(sprouted)
The END~
Thank you for helping me make sense if the past tense conjugation.
ReplyDeleteThanks to your post, I finally understand how to conjugate verbs with 었어요 and 았어요. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThx, a-lot you have showed me a lot in a little time, this is how you should learn the system.
ReplyDeletethis makes much more sense now. Thanks I will try to remember these facts when I speak korean so that itll be easier for me ^^
ReplyDeletegood job on your articles too. Keep it up! I've saved all your articles to favorites. I just love this website!!
Wow. Im a korean and you explained it very well! I was surprised because I dont even know how to explain korean grammars to others coz actually when i speak korean it just naturally comes out from my mouth without comsidering grammars..
ReplyDeleteAnyway this would be very helpful to the foreigners who want to study korean! Kee it up! 아자 아자 파이팅!!
Hi, I am Korean..
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post..
And I found quite weired sentence.
You have to write "여러분 사랑해요"
여로분(x) ^_^
anyway after I found your blog, I can teach my friends Hangul better than before. :)