LEARN + KOREAN / Note 20 TOPIK I
Already Done (-았/었어요)
a
Past tense slots 았 or 었 in between the stem and the ending you already know, using the exact same vowel-harmony rule from 을/를 해요: stems with ㅏ or ㅗ take 았, everything else takes 었. Swap -어요 for -았어요/-었어요 and you’ve moved the whole sentence into the past.
chinguhago gongwoneseo jajeongeoreul tasseoyo.
I rode a bike with a friend at the park.
In Real Life
The polite and casual past differ by exactly one syllable, 요, the same relationship as every present-tense pair you’ve already learned. If you can hear 먹었어요 versus 먹었어, you already know the whole pattern. Nothing new to learn there, just apply the trick you already have.
Every 하다 verb breaks the vowel-harmony rule the same irregular way: 하다’s past is always 했, never 하았. This matters constantly, since 공부하다, 운동하다, 요리하다, 일하다, every noun-plus-하다 verb from 을/를 해요, follows it.
In Real Life
했어요 shows up so often that it’s tempting to bolt it onto everything, but it only ever means “did,” never “was” or “went.” 되다 (to become), 가다 (to go), 이다 (to be) all keep their own separate past-tense stems, 됐어요, 갔어요, 이었어요/였어요. 하다’s irregularity doesn’t spread to other verbs.
Vocabulary
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
jinanju | last week |
jinandal | last month |
olhae | this year |
daeum ju | next week |
jangnyeon | last year |
naenyeon | next year |
yejeone | in the past, formerly |
choegeune | recently |
yennal | the old days, long ago |
akka | a little while ago, just now |
banggeum | just now, a moment ago |
geuttae | at that time, back then |
eolma jeone | not long ago |
eoje | yesterday |
oneul | today |
imi | already |
beolsseo | already, so soon |
hanchamjeone | quite a while ago |
dangsie | at the time |
doedorabodada | to look back |