Lesson 17
In the previous lesson, we looked at the basic way of conjugating the verbs in the infinitive form into the present tense form. Do you remember how?
Conjugation
Verb stems ending with vowels ㅗ [o] or ㅏ [a] are followed by -아요 [-a-yo].
Verb stems ending with vowels OTHER THAN ㅗ or ㅏ are followed by -어요 [-eo-yo].
Verb stem 하 is followed by -여요 [-yeo-yo].
Great! Now let us learn how to conjugate verbs into the past tense.
If you understand how to change verbs into the present tense, understanding how to change them into the past tense is just as easy. A similar rule is applied to making past tense sentences, and the endings are as follows:
-았어요
-었어요
-였어요
You can add those to the verb stems, or you can think of it as just replacing the “요” at the end of present tense sentences with -ㅆ어요.
Conjugation
Verb stems ending with vowels ㅗ [o] or ㅏ [a] are followed by -았어요 [-a-sseo-yo].
Verb stems ending with vowels other than ㅗ or ㅏ are followed by -었어요 [-eo-sseo-yo].
Verb stem 하 is followed by -였어요 [-yeo-sse-yo].
1) 사다 [sa-da] = to buy
Verb stem = 사 [sa]
* Drop the final -다 [da] from the verb to get the verb stem.
Past tense = 사 + 았어요 [sa + a-sseo-yo]
= 샀어요 [sa-sseo-yo]
= I bought / you bought / s/he bought / they bought / etc.
2) 오다 [o-da] = to come
Verb stem = 오 [o]
Past tense = 오 + 았어요 [o + a-sseo-yo]
= 왔어요 [wa-sseo-yo]
= I came / you came / s/he came / they came / we came / etc.
3) 적다 [jeok-tta] = to write down
Verb stem = 적 [jeok]
Past tense = 적 + 었어요 [jeok + eo-sseo-yo]
= 적었어요 [jeo-geo-sseo-yo]
= I wrote / you wrote / s/he wrote / they wrote / we wrote / etc.
4) 하다 [ha-da] = to do
Verb stem = 하 [ha]
Past tense = 하 + 였어요 [ha + yeo-sseo-yo]
= 했어요 [hae-sseo-yo]
= I did / you did / he did / they did / etc.
Sample Sentences
먹다 [meok-tta] (Verb stem = 먹 [meok]) = to eat
Present Tense: 먹어요 [meo-geo-yo]
Past Tense: 먹었어요 [meo-geo-sseo-yo]
잡다 [jap-tta] (Verb stem = 잡 [jap]) = to catch
Present Tense: 잡아요 [ja-ba-yo]
Past Tense: 잡았어요 [ja-ba-sseo-yo]
팔다 [pal-da] (Verb stem = 팔 [pal]) = to sell
Present Tense: 팔아요 [pa-ra-yo]
Past Tense: 팔았어요 [pa-ra-sseo-yo]
놀다 [nol-da] (Verb stem = 놀 [nol]) = to play, to hang out
Present Tense: 놀아요 [no-ra-yo]
Past Tense: 놀았어요 [no-ra-sseo-yo]
쓰다 [sseu-da] (Verb stem = 쓰 [sseu]) = to write, to use
Present Tense: 써요 [sseo-yo] (NOT 쓰어요)
Past Tense: 썼어요 [sseo-sseo-yo]
기다리다 [gi-da-ri-da] (Verb stem = 기다리 [gi-da-ri]) = to wait
Present Tense: 기다려요 [gi-da-ryeo-yo] (NOT 기다리어요)
Past Tense: 기다렸어요 [gi-da-ryeo-sseo-yo]
이상하다 [i-sang-ha-da] (Verb stem = 이상하 [i-sang-ha]) = to be strange
Present Tense: 이상해요 [i-sang-hae-yo] (NOT 이상하여요)
Past Tense: 이상했어요 [i-sang-hae-sseo-yo]
멋있다 [meo-sit-tta] (Verb stem = 멋있 [meo-sit]) = to be cool, to be awesome
Present Tense: 멋있어요 [meo-si-sseo-yo]
Past Tense: 멋있었어요 [meo-si-sseo-sseo-yo]
* There are some other things that are more important to learn before the future tense in Level 1. So, we are going to introduce those things in the rest of the lessons for Level 1, and we will introduce the future tense in Level 2. Please be patient!