Korean grammar guide

Korean past tense helps turn practice sentences into real stories.

Diary entries, homework answers, and daily writing often need past tense. In polite Korean, the most common forms are 았어요, 었어요, and 했어요.

Check past tense in Nati

았어요 었어요 했어요 irregulars

The basic polite past tense pattern

Remove 다 from the dictionary form, check the final vowel of the stem, and attach the past-tense ending that fits.

았어요

좋다 becomes 좋았어요. 가다 becomes 갔어요 after contraction.

었어요

먹다 becomes 먹었어요. 읽다 becomes 읽었어요.

했어요

공부하다 becomes 공부했어요. 운동하다 becomes 운동했어요.

These forms show up often in beginner diaries and short practice answers.

보다 봤어요
영화를 봤어요 means "I watched a movie."
마시다 마셨어요
커피를 마셨어요 means "I drank coffee."
재미있다 재미있었어요
정말 재미있었어요 means "It was really fun."
어렵다 어려웠어요
This also shows why irregular adjective patterns matter.
듣다 들었어요
음악을 들었어요 uses a ㄷ irregular form.
만들다 만들었어요
Some verbs may look tricky but still follow their own familiar conjugation pattern.

Past tense is not only a form. It has to fit the sentence's time words, particles, and overall flow.

Add time words when they help
어제, 지난주, and 오늘 아침 make the timeline clearer in short learner sentences.
Check irregular stems
Past tense often exposes irregular patterns like 듣다 to 들었어요 or 어렵다 to 어려웠어요.
Connect repeated past actions
Instead of writing many separate sentences, use endings like -고 to connect past actions smoothly.

Practice with Nati

How do you make Korean past tense?

In polite Korean, many verbs and adjectives form the past tense with 았어요 or 었어요. 하다 verbs usually become 했어요.

What is the difference between 았어요 and 었어요?

Use 았어요 after many stems with 아 or 오 as the final stem vowel, and 었어요 after many other vowels. 하다 becomes 했어요.

Can Korean adjectives use past tense?

Yes. Korean descriptive verbs can use past-tense endings, so 좋았어요 means it was good and 어려웠어요 means it was difficult.