The good news about Korean tense: you do not learn a new conjugation, you insert a piece into the one you have.
The present tense from 111 is -아요 / -어요 / -해요, chosen by the stem vowel. The past is -았어요 / -었어요 / -했어요 — the same three-way choice, with -ㅆ어 wedged in.
The future column is 130; it is here so the shape of the whole system is visible at once. All three hang off the same stem.
The rule
| -았어요 [아써요] | -었어요 [어써요] | -했어요 [해써요] |
|---|---|---|
| Stem vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ | Any other stem vowel | N하다 |
| 살다 → 살았어요 [사라써요] | 먹다 → 먹었어요 [머거써요] | 일하다 → 일했어요 |
| 가다 → 가았어요 → 갔어요 | 마시다 → 마시었어요 → 마셨어요 | 운동하다 → 운동했어요 |
| 보다 → 보았어요 → 봤어요 | 배우다 → 배우었어요 → 배웠어요 | 공부하다 → 공부했어요 |
The middle column of each row is the contraction, and it is not optional in speech. 가았어요 is what the rule produces; 갔어요 is what anyone says.
Note the bracketed readings: every one of these ends up with a doubled ㅆ that links into the following 어, so 먹었어요 comes out [머거써요]. That is 연음 from 105 doing its usual job.
A verb table
| Dictionary form | Present | Past |
|---|---|---|
| 만나다 — to meet | 만나요 | 만났어요 [만나써요] |
| 보다 — to see | 봐요 | 봤어요 [봐써요] |
| 가다 — to go | 가요 | 갔어요 [가써요] |
| 사다 — to buy | 사요 | 샀어요 [사써요] |
| 먹다 — to eat | 먹어요 | 먹었어요 [머거써요] |
| 읽다 — to read | 읽어요 | 읽었어요 [일거써요] |
| 있다 — to have, to be at | 있어요 [이써요] | 있었어요 [이써써요] |
| 하다 — to do | 해요 | 했어요 [해써요] |
| 듣다 — to listen (ㄷ irregular) | 들어요 [드러요] | 들었어요 [드러써요] |
듣다 is the odd one: its 받침 ㄷ becomes ㄹ before a vowel ending. It is flagged here and dealt with properly alongside the other irregulars in 125.
The past of 이다
이에요/예요 — “am / is / are” — has its own past, and it follows the same consonant-or-vowel split as the present.
| Present | Past | |
|---|---|---|
| Noun ends in a consonant | 선생님이에요 | 선생님이었어요 [이어써요] |
| Noun ends in a vowel | 의사예요 | 의사였어요 [여써요] |
| Negative | 아니에요 | 아니었어요 |
저는 회사원이었어요. — I was a company employee. 저는 학생이 아니었어요. — I wasn’t a student.
Occupations
| Korean | English | Korean | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 선생님 | teacher | 의사 | doctor |
| 학생 | student | 간호사 | nurse |
| 회사원 | company employee | 변호사 | lawyer |
| 공무원 | civil servant | 소방관 | firefighter |
| 경찰관 | police officer | 군인 [구닌] | soldier |
| 감독 | director | 작가 | writer |
| 가수 | singer | 배우 | actor |
Dialogue
타완: 유키 씨(는) 어제 뭐 했어요? Yuki, what did you do yesterday?
유키: 민수 씨(를) 만났어요. [마나써요] I met Minsu. 우리는 같이[가치] 밥(을) 먹었어요. We ate together. 타완 씨(는) 뭘 했어요? What did you do, Tawan?
타완: 집에 있었어요. [이써써요] I stayed at home.
같이 is said [가치] — the ㅌ before 이 becomes ㅊ. That is 구개음화, palatalisation, and it is worth noting because 같이 is extremely common; it returns in 128.
뭘 is 뭐를 contracted, the same way 무엇을 became 뭐를 in the first place.
Practice
A: 어제 뭐 했어요? — What did you do yesterday? B: 많이 잤어요. — I slept a lot. (자다 → 자 + 았어요 → 잤어요)
Verbs worth drilling through the pattern: 일하다 · 운동하다 · 공부하다 · 숙제하다 · 쇼핑하다 · 사다 · 보다 · 먹다 · 마시다 · 읽다.
The 하다 verbs are free — all of them go to 했어요 — so the ones with real choices in them are 사다/보다 (ㅏ, ㅗ → 았) against 먹다/마시다/읽다 (→ 었).
Work culture: 특별한 날, the unofficial days
Distinct from the public holidays in 120 — nobody gets these off, but everyone knows them.
| Date | Korean | English |
|---|---|---|
| 14 February | 발렌타인 데이 | Valentine’s Day |
| 14 March | 화이트 데이 | White Day |
| 5 April | 식목일 | Arbor Day |
| 14 April | 블랙 데이 | Black Day |
| 8 May | 어버이날 | Parents’ Day |
| 15 May | 스승의날 | Teachers’ Day |
| 17 July | 제헌절 | Constitution Day |
| 26 July | 중복 | The middle of the hottest part of summer |
| 1 October | 국군의날 | Armed Forces Day |
| 11 November | 빼빼로 데이 | Pepero Day |
| 22 December | 동지 | Winter solstice |
The 14th of every month
Every single month has something on the 14th. These are 날 마케팅 — day marketing — invented to sell a product, and largely observed by people who know perfectly well that is what they are.
| Date | Korean | What it sells |
|---|---|---|
| 1월 14일 | 다이어리데이 | diaries |
| 2월 14일 | 발렌타인데이 | chocolate — women give to men |
| 3월 14일 | 화이트데이 | chocolate and sweets — men give to women |
| 4월 14일 | 블랙데이 | 짜장면, eaten by whoever got nothing in February or March |
| 5월 14일 | 로즈데이 | roses |
| 6월 14일 | 키스데이 | — |
| 7월 14일 | 실버데이 | silver rings |
| 8월 14일 | 그린데이 | a walk in the forest |
| 9월 14일 | 포토데이 | photographs |
| 10월 14일 | 와인데이 | wine |
| 11월 14일 | 무비데이 | cinema tickets |
| 12월 14일 | 허그데이 | — |
블랙데이 is the good one. Valentine’s runs one way and White Day runs the other, so by mid-April anyone left out of both has a designated day to go and eat black noodles about it, ideally in company.