-았/었-

Add -았/었- to a verb or adjective stem to say that something happened or was true in the past.

시제·상Tense & aspect

Han: The stem 가 has the vowel ㅏ, so it takes 았, not 었, and 가+았 merges into 갔.

Examples

어제 친구를 만났어요.I met a friend yesterday.

아침에 빵하고 우유를 먹었어요.I had bread and milk in the morning.

주말에 집에서 한국어를 공부했어요.I studied Korean at home on the weekend.

작년에는 대학생이었어요.Last year I was a university student.

Don’t mix up

-았/었-vs-았었/었었--았/었- simply states a past fact; -았었- stresses that the past situation is over and no longer true: 서울에 살았었어요 (I used to live in Seoul, not now).

-았/었-vs-고 있었어요-았/었- presents a completed past action; -고 있었어요 shows an action in progress at a past moment: 그때 밥을 먹고 있었어요 (I was eating then).

-았/었-vs-아요/어요 (present)-아요/어요 is for now or habits; adding -았/었- moves it to the past: 매일 운동해요 (I exercise every day) vs 어제 운동했어요 (I exercised yesterday).

How to build it

V/A stem+았/었/했+어요 (N + 이었어요/였어요)

가다 → 갔어요, 먹다 → 먹었어요, 공부하다 → 공부했어요, 학생 → 학생이었어요

Choose by the last vowel of the stem: ㅏ or ㅗ → 았; any other vowel → 었; 하다 → 했.
When the stem ends in a vowel, the vowels usually merge: 가+았 → 갔, 오+았 → 왔, 마시+었 → 마셨, 되+었 → 됐.
With nouns use 이었어요 after a consonant and 였어요 after a vowel: 학생이었어요, 의사였어요.
Past time words like 어제, 지난주, 작년 require the past form; also some verbs (결혼하다, 닮다) use the past form to describe a present state: 저는 결혼했어요 = I am married.

Classic mistake

Wrong: ~~어제 학교에 가었어요.~~

Right: 어제 학교에 갔어요.

The stem 가 has the vowel ㅏ, so it takes 았, not 었, and 가+았 merges into 갔.

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