◼ Endings (past tense marker)
For the following couple of weeks, we are going to study in detail about past tense and double past tense
marker of Endings that we couldn’t mention last week.
To briefly summarize what we learned last week, the stems of verbs and adjectives always used with endings
which convey much of the grammatical functions since they cannot be used alone. And there were two types
of endings: “final endings” which include various speech level endings such as the polite level ‘-어/아요 [-eo /
a yo]’, and “pre-final endings” which are inflectional elements that come between the stem and the final
ending. As “pre-final endings include the past tense marker ‘-었/았 [-eot / at]’ and the honorific suffix ‘-(으)시
[-(eu)si]’, we will begin to learn about past tense in detail.
1. past tense marker ‘-었/았 [-eot / at]’
The past tense marker 었/았 [ eot / at ] is a two- form of pre-final ending in that 았 [at] is used after a stem that
ends in a bright vowel ( e.g., 아 [a] or 오 [o] ), while 었 [eot] is used after a stem that ends in all other vowels.
Let's make an example for easy understanding.
e.g. 선생님이 영어를 가르치셨어요 “Teacher taught English”
[ Seon saeng ni mi yeong eo leul ga reu chi syeo sseo yo ]
Notice the past tense marker ‘-었 [-eot]’ and the honorific suffix ‘-시 [-si]’ appear between the stem ‘가르치 [ga
reu chi]’ and the speech level endig ‘-어요[eo yo]’, as in ‘ 가르치셨어요 [ ga reu chi syeo sseo yo ] ( contracted
from 가르치+시었+어요 [ga reu chi + si eot + eo yo] ) = “taught”.
The following list shows how the marker is placed between the stem and the polite speech level ending -어/아요
[-eo / a yo].
Verb stem Past Polite speech level ending
가 [ga] "go" 았 [at] 어요 [eo yo]= 갔어요 [ga sseo yo] "went" (from 가았어요)
오 [o] "come" 았 [at] 어요 [eo yo]= 왔어요 [wa sseo yo] "came" (from 오았어요)
보 [bo] "see" 았 [at] 어요 [eo yo]= 봤어요 [bwa sseo yo] "saw" (from 보았어요)
받 [bat] "receive" 았 [at] 어요 [eo yo]= 받았어요 [ba da sseo yo] "received"
먹 [meug] "eat" 었 [eot] 어요 [eo yo]= 먹었어요 [meu geo sseo yo] "ate"
Note that -어요 [-eo yo] is used after the past tense marker, 았/었 [at / eot]. In addition, the conjugation of the
verb 하다 [ha da] “do” is irregular in that the stem 하 [ha] is changed to 해 [hae], when it is combined with the
past tense marker, as in 했어요 [hat sseo yo] “did”.
Korean language class in MUNI
week
3
Exercise 1. Fill out the blanks with proper answers in Korean
Verb stem Past Polite speech level ending
크 [keu] “big”
배우 [bae u] “learn”
Exercise 2. Change the following sentence into past tense and translate the sentences into English.
1) 넥타이를 매다. “wear a tie” [neg ta I leul mae da] → ___________
2) 아침 8 시에 해가 뜨다. “The sun rises at 8 in the morning” [a chim 8 si e hae ga tteu da]→____________
2. Subtle differences between English and Korean
In general, the Korean past tense is similar to the English past tense in that it informs of the past behavior or
situation. But there is one subtle differences between them : English past tense mainly represents what
happened in the past, and the Korean past tense not only did it happen in the past, also consider whether an
action or event is completed.
Let's make an example for easy understanding.
e.g.
(1) 집에 왔어요 [ji be wa sseo yo]
→ “(I) came home” or “(I) am home” (As a result of the complete action of coming home)
(2) 바지를 입었어요 [ba ji leul i beo sseo yo]
→ “(I) wore a pants” or “(I) am wearing a pants” (As a result of the complete action of wearing pants)
Notice that the above examples all have two interpretations. The first interpretation simply indicates something
happened in the past. The second interpretation expresses the completion of an action or event.
Exercise 3. Look at the following sentence and write two corresponding interpretations in English
(1) 커피를 마셨어요. [keo pi leul ma syeo sseo yo]
→ ____________ / _____________
(2) 한국어 수업 숙제를 했어요. [han gug eo su eob sug je leul hae sseo yo]
→ ____________ / ______________
◼ Conversation 3
하윤: 너 어제 뭐 했어?
민준: 친구랑 집에서 저녁 먹고 영화 봤어.
하윤: 진짜? 어떤 영화 봤어?
민준: 강도가 시민들을 인질로 잡고 도둑질 하는 액션
영화를 봤는데 생각보다 별로였어.
하윤: 그렇구나. 밥은 맛있었어?
민준: 정말 맛있었어. 다음에 내가 요리해 줄게!
HaYun: What did you do yesterday?
MinJun: I had dinner at home with a friend and watched a
movie.
HaYun: Really? Which movie did you watch?.
MinJun: I watched an action movie that robbers took
citizens as hostages and steal money, but it wasn't
as good as I thought.
HaYun: I see. How was the meal?
MinJun: It was really delicious. I will cook it next time.
하윤: 너 어제 뭐 (1)했어?
[neo eo je mwo hae sseo?]
민준: (2)친구랑 집에서 저녁 (3)먹고 영화 (4)봤어.
[chin gu lang jib e seo jeo nyeog meog go yeong
hwa bwa sseo]
하윤: 진짜? 어떤 영화 봤어?
[jin jja? Eo tteon yeong hwa bwa sseo?]
민준: 강도가 시민들을 인질로 (5)잡고 도둑질 하는
액션 영화를 (6)봤는데 (7)생각보다 별로였어.
[gang do ga si min deul eul in-jil lo jab go do dug jil
ha neun aeg syeon yeong hwa leul bwat neun de
saeng gag bo da byeol lo yeo sseo.]
하윤: 그렇구나. 밥은 (8)맛있었어?[geu leoh gu na.
bab eun mas Is seo sseo?]
민준: 정말 맛있었어. 다음에 내가 (9)요리해 줄게!
[jeong mal ma sis seo sseo. Da eum e nae ga yo li
hae jul kke!]
(1) As 했다[haet-da] is past tense of 하다 [hada,
해 [hae][irregular statement of 하]+ -었 [eot] +-어 [o]
becomes to 했어 [hae sseo]
(2) 친구 [chin gu] “friend”+ -랑 [lang ]means with
friend. -랑 is ‘and, or, and so on, (together) with.
(3) 먹고 [meo ggo] is sum of 먹(다) [meok
dda]”eat”+(그리)고 [gu ri go]”and”
(4) 보(다) [bo da]”watch, see”+ -았[at]+ -어 [o]
becomes 봤어 (contracted from 보았어) as past
tense of 보다.
(5) 잡고 [jab go]”take, hold, grab” is sum of 잡
(다)+(그리)고[gu ri go]”and”
(6) 봤는데[bwat neun de] is sum of 봤[bwat](past
tense of 보다)+ -는데[neun de], and -는데 can used
in the following section, a linking ending used to
prescribe a situation that correlates with the object in
order to explain, ask, ask, or suggest something.
(7) 생각보다 [saeng gag bo da]is sum of 생각
[saneg gag]”think” +-보다[bo da]. -보다[bo da] is and
adverb which is used when you want to attach more
meaning to a certain level.
(8) 맛있었어 [mas is seo sseo] is sum of 맛있(다 )
[mas is dda]+-었[eot] +-어[o] as past tense of 맛있다
[mas is dda]”delicious”
(9) 요리해줄께[yo li hae jul kke] is sum of 요리 [yo
li]+-해[hae]-+-주다[ju da]. - 주다[ju da] is verb which
is used when you have time to allow or enjoy it.
◼ Vocabulary
선생님 [seon saeng nim] n.teacher
아침 [a chim] n.morning, breakfast
점심 [jeom sim] n.lunch
저녁 [jeo nyeog] n.dinner, evening
해 [hae] n. the sun
집 [jib] n. house, home
바지 [ba ji] n. pants
커피 [keo pi] n. coffee
어제 [eo je] n. yesterday
영화 [yeong hwa] n. movie
친구 [chin gu] n. friend
강도 [gang do] n. robber/ v. robbery
시민 [si min] n.citizen
인질 [in jil] n. hostage
도둑질 [do dug jil] n.theft / v. rob
요리하다 [yo li ha da] v. cook
수업 [su eob] n. class, course, lesson
숙제 [sug je] n. homework,
assignment
밥 [bab] n. rice, meal, food
영어 [yeong eo] n. English
넥타이 [neg ta i] n.necktie
◼ Answer
Exercise 1.
(1) 었 [eot] / 컸어요 [keo sseo yo] “was big” (contracted from 크었어요 [keu eo sseo yo]
(2) 었 [eot] / 배웠어요 [bae wo sseo-yo]
Exercise 2.
(1) 넥타이를 맸다. [ neg ta I leul maet da] (contracted from 매-었다), “wore a tie”
(2) 아침 8시에 해가 떴다. [a chim 8 si e hae ga tteot-da] (contracted from 뜨-었다) “The sun rose at 8 in
the morning”
Exercise 3.
(1) (I) drank coffee/ (I) am drinking coffee
(2) (I) did Korean class assignment./ (I) am doing Korean class assignment.