Grammar · Tense

-았어요 / -었어요, the past

Pattern

[stem] + 았어요 / 었어요 · 하다 → 했어요

The past follows the same vowel rule as the present: ㅏ or ㅗ takes 았어요, anything else 었어요, and 하다 becomes 했어요. The quickest route is to take the -요 form and swap the final 요 for ㅆ어요: 가요 → 갔어요, 마셔요 → 마셨어요. For nouns, 'was' is 이었어요 after a consonant and 였어요 after a vowel.

The mistake to avoid

Learners hunt for a present perfect, and there is none. 먹었어요 covers both 'I ate' and 'I have eaten', and 아직 안 먹었어요 is 'I have not eaten yet'.

Examples

Romanisation help

어제 뭐 했어요?

eoje mwo haesseoyo?

What did you do yesterday?

친구를 만났어요.

chingureul mannasseoyo.

I met a friend.

비빔밥을 먹었어요.

bibimbabeul meogeosseoyo.

I had bibimbap.

주말에 영화를 봤어요.

jumare yeonghwareul bwasseoyo.

I watched a film at the weekend.