TOPIK I Grammar · Ch.5 Tense, Progress & States 01

TOPIK I Grammar · Ch.5 Tense, Progress & States 01

'-았/었어요' - Talking About the Past

With one marker, every verb you know can talk about yesterday. Korean past tense works like English -ed: a single attachment that never changes for person or number. The choice between its two shapes follows a rule you already know.

Key point Insert -았- or -었- before the ending: last stem vowel ㅏ/ㅗ → -았어요 (살다 → 살았어요), anything else → -었어요 (먹다 → 먹었어요). 하다 → 했어요. It's the same vowel choice you learned for -아요/어요.

How to use it

Like English -ed, this marker never changes for person or number: I, you, she, they - everyone gets the same form. 갔어요 means went, no matter who did the going. The difference from English is where the marker sits. English changes the verb itself (go → went), while Korean puts 았/었 between the stem and the ending. Because the marker goes into a fixed position, there are no irregular past forms to memorize one by one. The ㅂ/ㄷ/ㅅ and 으/르/ㅎ changes you already know are the only changes here.

Vowel-ending stems merge with the marker, and the merge is required: 가 + 았어요 → 갔어요, 마시 + 었어요 → 마셨어요, 보 + 았어요 → 봤어요. And nouns have their own past: 이에요/예요 becomes 이었어요 after a batchim and 였어요 after a vowel - 학생이었어요, 의사였어요.

At a glance

Present	Past	Why
살아요 (live)	살았어요	ㅏ → 았
먹어요 (eat)	먹었어요	ㅓ → 었
가요 (go)	갔어요	contraction
공부해요 (study)	공부했어요	하다 → 했
학생이에요 (is a student)	학생이었어요	noun + batchim
의사예요 (is a doctor)	의사였어요	noun + vowel

Examples

어제 친구를 만났어요. I met a friend yesterday. - 만나 + 았 contracts to 만났.

주말에 책을 두 권 읽었어요. I read two books over the weekend. - The last stem vowel here is ㅣ, so it takes 었, and the batchim keeps the syllables apart: 읽 + 었.

작년까지 대학생이었어요. I was a university student until last year. - Noun past: batchim → 이었어요.

Common mistakes

❌ 어제 학교에 가았어요. → ⭕ 갔어요. When the stem ends in a vowel, the contraction isn't optional - 가았어요 doesn't exist as a written form. If the uncontracted version feels hard to say, that's the signal to merge.

❌ 그분은 선생님였어요. → ⭕ 선생님이었어요. Same batchim logic as 이에요/예요: 선생님 ends in ㅁ, so the past needs the full 이었어요. 였어요 is reserved for vowel-final nouns.

Quick check

Change each dictionary form into the past tense -았/었어요.
1. 보다 → 어제 영화를 (      ).
2. 배우다 → 작년에 한국어를 (      ).
3. 의사이다 → 할아버지는 (      ).

Show answers

1. 봤어요 (보 + 았 → 봤)   2. 배웠어요 (배우 + 었 → 웠)   3. 의사였어요 (noun with no batchim → 였어요)

💡 Study tip - Keep a three-line diary. Tonight, write three sentences about today - what you ate, where you went, whom you met - all in -았/었어요. Past tense is the natural tense of talking about your own life, so it gets more real-world repetitions than any other form.