The past tense: 갔어요, 먹었어요, 했어요

Yesterday, the verb changes

오늘 학교에 가요 — today I go to school. 어제 학교에 갔어요 — yesterday I went. 점심을 먹어요 — I eat lunch. 점심을 먹었어요 — I ate lunch.

In both past sentences a ㅆ has appeared just before 어요. That ㅆ is the mark of the past. The rest of the sentence is untouched: same particles, same order. 어제 (yesterday) stands alone, without a particle, just like 오늘.

The same vowel rule: 았어요 or 었어요

살 + 았어요 = 살았어요. 받 + 았어요 = 받았어요. But 먹 + 었어요 = 먹었어요, and 읽 + 었어요 = 읽었어요.

It is the choice you made in the last lesson. Last stem vowel ㅏ or ㅗ: 았어요. Any other vowel: 었어요. This is the past tense. One form covers “ate”, “have eaten” and “did eat”; Korean does not separate them. The new verb here is 받아요 (receive, get), dictionary form 받다.

After 았 or 었 the ending is always 어요, never 아요: 살았어요, not 살았아요.

Shortcut: drop 요, add ㅆ어요

Stems ending in a vowel merge just as they did before: 가 + 았어요 = 갔어요, 오 + 았어요 = 왔어요, 보 + 았어요 = 봤어요, 마시 + 었어요 = 마셨어요.

So there is a quick way. Take the 해요 form, remove 요, put ㅆ under the last syllable and add 어요: 가요 → 갔어요, 마셔요 → 마셨어요. The new verb 줘요 (give), dictionary form 주다, works the same way: 줬어요. You know it from 주세요.

하다 verbs: 했어요

해요 → 했어요. 공부해요 → 공부했어요. The shortcut works here too: drop 요, add ㅆ어요.

This gives you the most useful past question of all: 어제 뭐 했어요? — what did you do yesterday? It is simply 뭐 해요? moved into the past. A new 하다 verb to go with it: 시작해요 (start, begin), as in 영화가 시작했어요 — the film has started.

시작해요 is pronounced [시자캐요]: ㄱ and ㅎ combine into a ㅋ sound.

Words that point back in time

어제 yesterday, 지난주 last week, 작년 last year, 아까 a little while ago, 벌써 already.

Three of them stand alone, like 오늘 and 지금: 어제, 아까, 벌써. The other two take the time particle 에, like 주말에: 지난주에, 작년에. 아까 reaches back only a short way — earlier today, not last month.

작년 is pronounced [장년].

Time word first, past verb last

아까 커피를 마셨어요 — I had a coffee a little while ago. 지난주에 친구를 만났어요. 작년에 서울에 살았어요. The time word usually opens the sentence and the past verb closes it.

One more new verb: 끝나요 (end, be over), dictionary form 끝나다. 끝나 + 았어요 merges into 끝났어요: 영화가 벌써 끝났어요 — the film is already over. It is the partner of 시작해요.

끝나요 is pronounced [끈나요].

“Was”: 이었어요 and 였어요

이에요 and 예요 have a past too. 저는 작년에 학생이었어요 — I was a student last year. 친구는 가수였어요 — my friend was a singer.

The choice is the one you already make for 이에요 / 예요: after a final consonant 이었어요, after a vowel 였어요. You only need to recognise these for now.