Korean Past Tense: -았/었어요 and Talking About Yesterday
Korean past tense made simple: -았/었어요 follows the same vowel rule as 해요 (갔어요, 먹었어요, 했어요), time words like 어제 and 지난주, plus -고요 for afterthoughts.
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Written by Alvin Lim Certified Korean Language Teacher (Level 2)
Korean past tense is one ending: -았/었어요. Stems whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ take 았어요 (가다 → 갔어요), everything else takes 었어요 (먹다 → 먹었어요), and 하다 verbs become 했어요 — the exact vowel rule you already learned for 해요.
Add time words like 어제 and 지난주, and your weekend stories are ready to tell.
Words that set the scene in the past
Pronunciation flag: 작년 is said jang-nyeon, not jak-nyeon — the ㄱ softens into ㅇ before ㄴ, the same nasal shift you met in 합니다.
았 or 었 — which one does your verb take?
If you can make a verb’s 해요 form, you already know its past. Same fork in the road, different ending.
Last vowel ㅏ/ㅗ → 았어요: 가다 → 갔어요, 오다 → 왔어요, 만나다 → 만났어요. Everything else → 었어요: 먹다 → 먹었어요, 마시다 → 마셨어요, 배우다 → 배웠어요. 하다 → 했어요: 공부하다 → 공부했어요, 일하다 → 일했어요.
The contractions are the ones you have already survived in Lesson 6: 가 + 았 squeezes into 갔, 오 + 았 into 왔, 마시 + 었 into 마셨, 배우 + 었 into 배웠.
Descriptive verbs play along too — 좋다 → 좋았어요, 재미있다 → 재미있었어요 — and so do 있다/없다: 집에 있었어요 = I was at home. One rule, the whole language’s past.
When did it happen? Five time words
Korean past sentences love a time word up front. The starter set: 어제 (yesterday), 아까 (a little while ago, same day), 지난주 (last week), 지난달 (last month), 작년 (last year).
The short everyday ones — 어제, 아까, plus 오늘 and 내일 — take no 에: 어제 봤어요. The longer calendar nouns usually take 에, exactly like the time-에 from Lesson 9: 지난주에 만났어요, 작년에 왔어요.
Notice the 지난 prefix doing the “last” work in 지난주 and 지난달 — spot it once and you own both words.
And one more thing: -고요
Real conversations rarely end cleanly. Koreans finish a sentence, then bolt on one more detail with -고요.
주말에 영화를 봤어요. 정말 재미있었어요. 친구도 만났고요. = I watched a movie on the weekend. It was really fun. And I met a friend, too. Works in the present as well: 요즘 한국어를 배워요. 운동도 하고요 = I am learning Korean these days. And exercising, too.
Attach 고요 straight to the stem — past 만났 + 고요, present 하 + 고요 — with no vowel-matching, just like the -고 있다 you know from Lesson 13.
It keeps your turn going without building a whole new sentence, which is exactly how chat messages flow.
Your weekend, recapped
Every verb in that chat is one you already knew — 보다, 만나다, 쉬다, 일어나다, 일하다, 자다 — just wearing the past ending. That is the real payoff of the 았/었 rule: zero new vocabulary, a whole new tense.
⚡ 2-Minute Check
Q 1 / 5Frequently asked questions
Is the 았/었 choice really the same as the 해요 rule?
Yes — it is the Lesson 6 vowel logic, recycled. Stems whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ take 았어요 (살다 → 살았어요, 오다 → 왔어요), everything else takes 었어요 (먹다 → 먹었어요, 마시다 → 마셨어요), and 하다 becomes 했어요.
If you can build a verb's 해요 form, you can build its past.
Do I need a particle after 어제 or 지난주?
어제, 오늘, 내일, and 아까 take no 에: 어제 봤어요. Longer time nouns usually take 에: 지난주에 만났어요, 작년에 한국에 갔어요 — the same time-에 you learned in Lesson 9.
When in doubt, the short everyday words go bare.
What exactly does -고요 do?
It tacks an afterthought onto a sentence you already finished: 정말 재미있었어요. 친구도 만났고요 = “It was really fun.
And I met a friend, too. ” Attach 고요 straight to the stem — past 만났 + 고요, present 하 + 고요.
It is spoken-Korean glue, everywhere in chat apps.