• What did you do yesterday? Or last week? How do you talk about your past events and experiences in your languages?

In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about present and past events and use vocabulary about dates and months.

어제 아르바이트가 있었어요. 그래서 영화관에 갔어요. 영화관에서 일했어요. 그리고 저녁에 친구하고 식당에서 만났어요. 한국음식을 먹었어요.

Forming a past-tense verb is super easy. To conjugate it for the casual-polite past tense, add -ㅆ어(요) after the -어/아 form of the verb. One important thing to note is that there is no vowel harmony for the casual-polite past tense conjugation, so the final ending is going to be either –었어요/ㅆ어요 or -았어요/ㅆ어요, and never use 왔아요/ㅆ아요!

It will probably be helpful to remember that the past tense stem for any style of speech is –었 or –았. For the casual-polite speech style, the past tense is –었어요/았어요. For other styles, you may see –었습니다/았습니다 or –었다/았다.

This suffix in Korean is better characterized as a Perfective Aspect Marker than a Past Tense Marker. That is, it signals that an act or event has been completed rather than that it happened in the past. With a time or location adverb, it takes on a clear past tense function.

점심 먹었어요?                   Have you had lunch?

어제 점심 먹었어요?           Did you have lunch yesterday?

거기에서 점심 먹었어요?    Did you have lunch there?

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All verbs and adjectives ending in the vowel “ㅡ” (with no final consonant) are 으-irregulars. Their conjugation depends on the vowel that appears before “ㅡ”: when the preceding vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, the –아요 suffix is used, and for all others, the –어요 suffix is used. Either way, the vowel “ㅡ” in the root always drops out. Even if the verb root is one syllable with only the vowel “ㅡ” in the verb (e.g., 쓰다 to be bitter and 크다 to be big), “ㅡ” in the verb root still disappears. For these verbs and adjectives, –어요 is added, as –어요 is the default suffix.

오늘 바빠요?                    Are you busy today?

네, 아주 바빠요.               Yes, totally busy.

동생이 정말 예뻐요.         Your younger sister is really pretty!

네, 감사합니다!                Thank you!

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When listing completed events connected with –고 and, you only need to conjugate the very last predicate in the past tense.

토요일에는 극장에 가고 외식을 했어요.

I went to the movie and ate out on Saturday.

On the other hand, the connector –지만 but requires a tensed version if the action has been completed:

토요일에 극장에 가지만  외식은 안 했어요.

토요일에 극장에 갔지만  외식은 안 했어요. I went to the movies on Saturday, but I did not eat out.

Here is a summary chart for -고 and -지만. For the past tense, add -지만 to the past tense stem with -었 or -았:

The verb root 이 can be left out in spoken Korean if the noun ends in a vowel!

Juan and Alyssa ran into each other at the café. Listen to their conversation, and see if you can answer the following questions in Korean.

1) Where did Alyssa do yesterday?

2) Why was Alyssa’s roommate happy?

3) When is Alyssa’s birthday, and what will happen on that day?

4) What is the date today?

Wei and his friend are texting each other. Find out what they are texting about.

*방학 school break   오세요! Please come!   잠깐만요 Wait a minute…

Which of the following statements are true?

1) Wei’s birthday party was held last weekend.  True   False

2) Wei’s birthday party was at Wei’s place.        True   False

3) Wei’s friend’s birthday is tomorrow.               True   False

4) Wei’s friend will have his/her birthday party before the school break. True   False

지난 주말 Last Weekend

Create a list of activities that you did last weekend. Ask your classmate (짝) and see how many activities they also did. Report your results to the class. Use -고 and -지만 when you report.

Sino-Korean Vocabulary

Sino-Korean vocabulary — that is, Korean words that have a Chinese (character) origin — has a similar status as Latinate vocabulary in English, with a formal, written, and often more prestigious or erudite feel to it. Sino-Korean vocabulary also has dissectible bits when it’s more than one syllable. You can often pick out the shared meanings between words and, thus, create new words using the pieces. For example:

주말 week-end   월말 month-end (end of the month)   연말 year-end

말일 end-day (last day of the month)  말세 end-world (end of the world)

말년 end-year (one’s later years)

Can you guess the meaning of the following words? 학기 means school term, and 초- means beginning. (Ignore the spacing.)

유월 말    학기 초     주초     월초     연초

_{(Answers: end of June, beginning of a school term, beginning of the week, beginning of the month, beginning of the year)}

Also, as in English, where Latinate bits of words go together amongst themselves (en-ter vs. go in), Sino-Korean bits don’t mix well with native Korean bits, and one-syllable Sino-Korean bits are rarely independent words in Korean. So, although the Sino-Korean bit 월 means moon or month, it cannot be used by itself but can only be part of a bigger word or phrase like 월급 (monthly) salary or 만월이에요 It’s a full moon. For the word moon, you need to use the Korean word 달. Queer is language, eh?

생일 파티/잔치 Birthday Parties

Birthdays in Korea are generally not celebrated as lavishly as in the US (with the exception of the first and 60th birthdays, which we’ll talk about later). Though having cake or a treat with friends or getting together is becoming more common among young adults, the main tradition is for the (grown) birthday boy or girl to take friends out for a meal (yes, the birthday person usually pays!).

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Another tradition is to have 미역국 seaweed soup on your birthday for good health during the year. This tradition is actually a holdover from giving 미역국 to new mothers to help them boost their iron levels and regain strength after childbirth.

Whether there is a party or not, be sure to “congratulate” your friends on their birthdays with “생일 축하 해(요)/합니다!”