았/었/였 (past tense)

V + 았/었/였다

When we want to speak in past tense, we conjugate korean verbs by removing the verb stem ‘다’ and replacing it with either 았다,었다 or 였다.

1. When the verb’s last vowel ends in ㅏ or ㅗ, we replace the stem with ‘았어’.

2. When the verb’s last vowel does not end in ㅏ or ㅗ, we replace the stem with ‘었어’.

3. When the verb ends in 하다 or 이다, we replace it with ‘였어’.

Examples

가다 + 았 + 어 + 요 = 갔어요 – went

먹다 + 었 + 어 + 요 = 먹었어요 – ate

좋아하다 + 였 + 어 + 요 = 좋아했어요 – liked

오늘은 시장에 갔어요. = I went to the supermarket today.

친구랑 놀았어요. = I played with a friend.