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Level 1 Lesson 17 / Past Tense / -았/었/였어요 (했어요)

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In this TTMIK lesson, we are looking at the past tense of the Korean language. By knowing how to change your verbs into the past tense, you will be able to talk about what you did yesterday, who you met last week, and etc. If you already understand how to change verbs into the present tense, using the past tense will be a breeze. And if you are still not sure how to use the present tense, don’t worry! We are going to review that in this lesson too. Be sure to ask us any questions you have in the comment box! Thank you!

And after listening to the lesson, practice making your own sample sentences!

Sample question: 어제 뭐 했어요? [eo-je mwo hae-sseo-yo?] “What did you do yesterday?”


Lesson PDF in other languages (Participate in the translation!)

Discussion( leave a comment )

Comment Page 5 of 5«12345
  1. Ale Mtz says: November 12, 2011

    저 헤엄었어요! :D ! is that correct ?

    • jinseokjin says: November 12, 2011

      > 저 헤엄쳤어요.

      Thanks for your comment.

  2. gg says: November 14, 2011

    Sun Hyunwoo-ssi say for furture tense got to wait for a while (level 2), “Please wait a little while” and what I heard is: “조금 면 기다리세요.” What it means for “면” using here? I’m not sure is “면” or not, but I heard it sound like “면”.

    • jinseokjin says: November 16, 2011

      I sure that he said “조금만 기다리세요” but “조금면 기다리세요”. 조금면 sounds also weird to me. :)

  3. Daysi Hernandez says: November 16, 2011

    im not quite good in Korean yet so ill say what i did in English and Spanish. as i get better ill add the Korean (:

    Yesterday i had to work, but i was so hungry and ate Mexican tacos. [:

    Ayer tube que ir a trabajar, pero tenia mucha hambre so comi taquitos mexicanos. [:

  4. Soodeh says: November 19, 2011

    어제 친구를 만났어요. :D

    감사합니다 TTMK for making my dream come true :)

  5. Neha says: November 26, 2011

    So, if I wanted to say “It was fun” or “I had fun” would it be “재미 있었어요” ? Is that the most natural way to say it?

    • jinseokjin says: November 29, 2011

      Hello Neha,

      Yeah, we often say that, so you can use it. It is also natural. :)

  6. emily says: December 14, 2011

    Dear all.

    I have finished the level1 lessons already.I think i need to review these one more weeks then i will go down to next level.I like your lessons very much.It’s the best one.
    I will follow you in the furniture.i am sorry.I don’t konw how to type in korean.
    hhe

  7. Joonivy says: December 17, 2011

    annyeong haseyo! I want to ask something..
    잡 should be followed by ‘eo-yeo’ since it’s not end with ‘a’ ‘o’ right?
    but in the pdf, it becomes 잡아요 and 잡았어요 O_o
    I’m confused, please explain OTL
    Thanks!

  8. Joonivi Ruka Takanori says: December 17, 2011

    아녕하세요!
    I want to ask why 잡다 and 팔다 becomes 잡아요 and 팔아요 in the PDF, instead of 잡어요 and 팔어요? It doesnt end with ㅏ and ㅗ right?
    Please help me ><;
    감사 합니다! ^^

    • jinseokjin says: December 27, 2011

      The verb stems of 잡다 and 팔다 are 잡 and 팔. In this case, please ignore the last consonant. :) The last vowel is ㅏ , so they are followed by 았어요.

    • Peggy says: December 28, 2011

      Joonivi Ruka Takanori 아녕하세요.
      It is talking about the vowel it ends with. 팔다 and 잡다 both end in ㅏ, but each have a consonant right after that vowel.
      See 팔 has ㅏ before ㄹ and then 잡 has ㅏ before ㅂ after you remove the 다 from each.
      I hope that I helped you!

  9. Mae says: December 20, 2011

    good day! before i ask my question, i just want to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH! you are really good teachers … we are so lucky to have found this site … i just want to ask why the 팔 and 잡 and 놀 , though they end in consonants, 았어요 was used and not 었어요? thank you in advance :)

    • jinseokjin says: December 28, 2011

      Hello Mae,

      Please ignore about the last consonant and please check check out only vowels. Then you will find that the vowels are ㅗ and ㅏ, so 았어요 was followed.

  10. Jung Tiểu Lynk says: December 20, 2011

    As i know:
    if the word’s end with ㅏ,ㅗ,when + 아/어요 => choose 아요
    if the word isn’t end with ㅏ,ㅗ => Choose 어요
    Example:
    가다+아/어요 = 가+아요
    잡다+아/어요 = 잡아요
    보다+아/어요 = 봐요

    먹다+아/어요=먹+어요

    ~~~

  11. Fredd García says: December 27, 2011

    저 tamales은 먹었어요 and 쉬었어요!

  12. JuneLaw says: January 2, 2012

    an-nyeong-ha-sae-yo,

    ga-sseo-yo han-guk ji-nan-ju
    chocolate sa-sseo-yo at jeju island
    sam-gyok-sal meo-geo-sse-yo
    jeo-han-guk-el sa-rang!!

    Erm,is it correctly used??
    pls check me those sentences!
    thanks for correcting=)

    • jinseokjin says: January 11, 2012

      ga-sseo-yo han-guk ji-nan-ju 갔어요 한국 지난 주

      > 지난 주에 한국에 갔어요.

      chocolate sa-sseo-yo at jeju island

      > 제주도에서 초콜릿을 샀어요.

      sam-gyok-sal meo-geo-sse-yo
      삼겹살 먹었어요. (correct)

      jeo-han-guk-el sa-rang!! 저 한국을 사랑
      > 저 한국을 사랑해요.

  13. Toya says: January 3, 2012

    Hi!
    So you always have to look at the LAST vowel… NOT the last letter? Is that correct? Also is this sentance right?

    일하다 – to work [il-ha-da] so the stem is 일하 [il-ha]
    …becuase there is 하 do I use 였어요 or 았어요?
    Thank you! :)

    • jinseokjin says: January 11, 2012

      As the 일하 ends with the letter 하, so 였어요 is followed.

      “하였어요” is correct.

  14. Wendi says: January 8, 2012

    igoet sueob ileosseoyo! gomayo ^^

  15. Nemo says: January 8, 2012

    경은언니의 묵소리 너무 너무 좋아요~~^^

  16. sis_cute says: January 12, 2012

    안녕하세요. 저는공보했어요. :)

    • jinseokjin says: January 13, 2012

      저는공보했어요. :) > 저는 공부했어요.

  17. Henry says: January 18, 2012

    안녕하세요!

    저는 어제 한국어를 공부했어요. 너무 재미있었어요! 오늘 도 공부해요.

    감사합니다! 그리고 안녕히 계세요!

    • jinseokjin says: January 18, 2012

      열심히 공부해 주셔서 감사합니다.

      오늘 도 공부해요. > 오늘도 공부해요.

  18. shelhass says: January 19, 2012

    안녕하세요!
    I’m going to try a sample sentence.

    어제 뭐 했어요?
    어제 저는 떡 만두 국 먹었어요.

    I followed the recipe, but I still think it tastes funny.
    If the sentence is wrong fell free to tell me. Thanks!

    • jinseokjin says: January 19, 2012

      Good job!

      어제 저는 떡 만두 국 먹었어요.>어제 저는 떡 만두국 먹었어요.

    • shelhass says: January 24, 2012

      감사합니다!

    • jinseokjin says: January 25, 2012

      Good job!

      어제 저는 떡 만두 국 먹었어요. > 어제 저는 떡 만두국 먹었어요. You only did a small mistake in spacing. :)

  19. Shanitra Cooper says: January 20, 2012

    안녕하세요
    How do I translate 쓰다 for past and present tense? I’m confused. :)

    감사합니다

    • jinseokjin says: January 25, 2012

      쓰다 (써요) = present tense

      썼다 (썼어요) = past tense

      쓸 것이다 (쓸 거예요) = future tense

      Thanks for your comment. :)

  20. Rani says: January 21, 2012

    what is “arreumdawoon” means? I’m not sure if my spelling is correct. Sorry.

    • jinseokjin says: January 27, 2012

      Hello Rani,

      The expression you wrote is “아름다운”, and it means “beautiful”. It is adjective form conjugated from 아름답다, which means “to be beautiful”.

  21. Grant says: February 1, 2012

    식사를하다 먹어요!
    Is that close? hahah, I was confused on whether I should use the verb of dinner, or the original word. If the first one isn’t correct, than is this it?

    저녁 식사 먹어요.

    lol this is my first time really creating a sentence, it’s hard for me to understand how to fit the words together lol.

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