Korean Past Tense - 았다 and 었다

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:

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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.

There is irregular for 하다(to do). To turn 하다 into past tense, we add ~였어요 instead of ~았어요. When 하 and 였어요 combine it will be pronounce 했어요. So just remember 하다 will be 했어요(I did) as we will use this verb very often. Another example is 시작하다(to start), when turn into past tense will become 시작했어요(started)

What if there is final consonant in the verb?

1. 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).
2. 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).

던지다(to throw) : 던지다 → 던지었어요 → 던졌어요(threw)
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)

크다(to grow) : 크 → 컸어요(grew)
트다(to sprout): 트 → 텄어요(sprouted)

The END~