The Past Tense in Korean — -았/었어요 and Conjugation Traps

<h2>Past Tense in Korean: Simpler Than You Think</h2> <p>Great news for learners: Korean past tense is infinitely simpler than French or English. No past perfect, past continuous, past simple distinction... In Korean, there's only <strong>one past tense</strong>. It covers everything. "I ate," "I was eating," "I had eaten" → all expressed with the same form: <strong>-았/었어요</strong>.</p> <p>When I realized this upon arriving in Seoul twelve years ago, I nearly cried with joy. After years of suffering through eight French past tenses, Korean felt incredibly generous.</p> <h2>The Basic Rule: -았어요 / -었어요 / -했어요</h2> <p>The past is formed by adding <strong>-았/었</strong> to the verb stem, then the polite ending <strong>-어요</strong>.</p> <h3>Which Form to Choose?</h3> <table> <tr><th>Last vowel of stem</th><th>Past suffix</th><th>Example</th><th>Result</th></tr> <tr><td>ㅏ or ㅗ</td><td>-았어요</td><td>가다 → 가 + 았어요</td><td>갔어요 (contracted)</td></tr> <tr><td>Other vowels</td><td>-었어요</td><td>먹다 → 먹 + 었어요</td><td>먹었어요</td></tr> <tr><td>하다</td><td>-했어요</td><td>공부하다 → 공부 + 했어요</td><td>공부했어요</td></tr> </table> <h3>Contractions: The Real Challenge</h3> <p>When the stem ends in a vowel, there's often a <strong>contraction</strong>:</p> <table> <tr><th>Verb</th><th>Stem</th><th>+ past</th><th>Contraction</th><th>Translation</th></tr> <tr><td>가다 (to go)</td><td>가</td><td>가 + 았어요</td><td>갔어요</td><td>I went</td></tr> <tr><td>오다 (to come)</td><td>오</td><td>오 + 았어요</td><td>왔어요</td><td>I came</td></tr> <tr><td>보다 (to see)</td><td>보</td><td>보 + 았어요</td><td>봤어요</td><td>I saw</td></tr> <tr><td>마시다 (to drink)</td><td>마시</td><td>마시 + 었어요</td><td>마셨어요</td><td>I drank</td></tr> <tr><td>쓰다 (to write)</td><td>쓰</td><td>쓰 + 었어요</td><td>썼어요</td><td>I wrote</td></tr> <tr><td>배우다 (to learn)</td><td>배우</td><td>배우 + 었어요</td><td>배웠어요</td><td>I learned</td></tr> </table> <p>These contractions are the only real challenge of Korean past tense. Once you master them, the rest is a breeze. My trick: during my first weeks in Seoul, I made a flashcard with the 20 most common verbs in past tense and reviewed it on the subway every morning.</p> <h2>Most Used Verbs in Past Tense</h2> <table> <tr><th>Infinitive</th><th>Past (polite)</th><th>Romanization</th><th>Translation</th></tr> <tr><td>먹다 (to eat)</td><td>먹었어요</td><td>meogeosseoyo</td><td>I ate</td></tr> <tr><td>가다 (to go)</td><td>갔어요</td><td>gasseoyo</td><td>I went</td></tr> <tr><td>오다 (to come)</td><td>왔어요</td><td>wasseoyo</td><td>I came</td></tr> <tr><td>하다 (to do)</td><td>했어요</td><td>haesseoyo</td><td>I did</td></tr> <tr><td>보다 (to see)</td><td>봤어요</td><td>bwasseoyo</td><td>I saw</td></tr> <tr><td>사다 (to buy)</td><td>샀어요</td><td>sasseoyo</td><td>I bought</td></tr> <tr><td>읽다 (to read)</td><td>읽었어요</td><td>ilgeosseoyo</td><td>I read</td></tr> <tr><td>쓰다 (to write)</td><td>썼어요</td><td>sseosseoyo</td><td>I wrote</td></tr> <tr><td>자다 (to sleep)</td><td>잤어요</td><td>jasseoyo</td><td>I slept</td></tr> <tr><td>만나다 (to meet)</td><td>만났어요</td><td>mannasseoyo</td><td>I met</td></tr> </table> <h2>[Irregular Verbs](/en/blog/irregular-verbs-in-korean-the-complete-list-with-examples) in Past Tense</h2> <p>Some verbs change form in the past. The most frequent:</p> <h3>ㅂ Irregular</h3> <p>Adjectives ending in ㅂ drop the ㅂ and add 워:</p> <table> <tr><th>Adjective</th><th>Past</th><th>Translation</th></tr> <tr><td>춥다 (cold)</td><td>추웠어요</td><td>It was cold</td></tr> <tr><td>덥다 (hot)</td><td>더웠어요</td><td>It was hot</td></tr> <tr><td>어렵다 (difficult)</td><td>어려웠어요</td><td>It was difficult</td></tr> <tr><td>쉽다 (easy)</td><td>쉬웠어요</td><td>It was easy</td></tr> <tr><td>맵다 (spicy)</td><td>매웠어요</td><td>It was spicy</td></tr> </table> <p>Anecdote: winter in Seoul regularly drops to -15°C. Every year, I say "어제 너무 추웠어요" (it was so cold yesterday) about 100 times between December and February.</p> <h3>ㄷ Irregular</h3> <p>Some verbs ending in ㄷ change to ㄹ:</p> <table> <tr><th>Verb</th><th>Past</th><th>Translation</th></tr> <tr><td>듣다 (to listen)</td><td>들었어요</td><td>I listened</td></tr> <tr><td>[걷다](/en/dictionary/%EA%B1%B7%EB%8B%A4) (to walk)</td><td>걸었어요</td><td>I walked</td></tr> </table> <h3>ㅡ Irregular</h3> <p>Verbs whose stem ends in ㅡ drop the ㅡ:</p> <table> <tr><th>Verb</th><th>Past</th><th>Translation</th></tr> <tr><td>쓰다 (to write)</td><td>썼어요</td><td>I wrote</td></tr> <tr><td>크다 (to be big)</td><td>컸어요</td><td>It was big</td></tr> <tr><td>슬프다 (to be sad)</td><td>슬펐어요</td><td>I was sad</td></tr> <tr><td>아프다 (to hurt)</td><td>아팠어요</td><td>It hurt</td></tr> </table> <h2>Common Traps</h2> <h3>Trap #1: Confusing -았 and -었</h3> <p>❌ 먹았어요 (the vowel ㅓ in 먹 is NOT ㅏ or ㅗ)<br/> ✅ 먹었어요</p> <h3>Trap #2: Forgetting contractions</h3> <p>❌ 가았어요 (no contraction)<br/> ✅ 갔어요 (가 + 았 = 갔)</p> <h3>Trap #3: ㅂ irregular verbs</h3> <p>❌ 춥었어요 (keeping ㅂ)<br/> ✅ 추웠어요 (ㅂ drops → 워)</p> <h2>Past Tense in Questions</h2> <p>Useful daily questions:</p> <ul> <li><strong>어제 뭐 했어요?</strong> (eoje mwo haesseoyo?) — What did you do yesterday?</li> <li><strong>밥 먹었어요?</strong> (bap meogeosseoyo?) — Have you eaten? (common greeting!)</li> <li><strong>한국에 가 봤어요?</strong> (hanguge ga bwasseoyo?) — Have you been to Korea?</li> <li><strong>이거 샀어요?</strong> (igeo sasseoyo?) — Did you buy this?</li> </ul> <p>The question "밥 먹었어요?" (have you eaten?) is culturally fascinating. It's one of the most common greetings in Korea — the equivalent of "how are you?" People aren't literally asking about your meal; it's a way of showing they care about you. After twelve years, I say it automatically at every encounter.</p> <h2>Negative Past</h2> <table> <tr><th>Affirmative</th><th>Negative (short)</th><th>Negative (long)</th></tr> <tr><td>갔어요 (I went)</td><td>안 갔어요</td><td>가지 않았어요</td></tr> <tr><td>먹었어요 (I ate)</td><td>안 먹었어요</td><td>먹지 않았어요</td></tr> <tr><td>했어요 (I did)</td><td>안 했어요</td><td>하지 않았어요</td></tr> </table> <h2>Summary</h2> <table> <tr><th>Verb type</th><th>Rule</th><th>Example</th></tr> <tr><td>Stem with ㅏ/ㅗ</td><td>+ -았어요</td><td>[가다](/en/dictionary/%EA%B0%80%EB%8B%A4) → 갔어요</td></tr> <tr><td>Other vowels</td><td>+ -었어요</td><td>먹다 → 먹었어요</td></tr> <tr><td>하다 verbs</td><td>→ -했어요</td><td>공부하다 → 공부했어요</td></tr> <tr><td>ㅂ irregular</td><td>ㅂ → 워</td><td>춥다 → 추웠어요</td></tr> <tr><td>ㄷ irregular</td><td>ㄷ → ㄹ</td><td>듣다 → 들었어요</td></tr> </table> <p>Ready to tell stories in Korean past tense? <a href="/en/signup">Join Seonsaengnim</a> and practice with interactive exercises and realistic dialogues.</p>