Past tense in Korean

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Noun, Pronoun + 이었 / 였 + sentence ending, conjunction.

In the previous lesson we learned how to conjugate Korean verbs and adjectives in the past tense. In this lesson I will show you how to conjugate Korean nouns in the past tense.

For sentences that end with nouns, use either -이었 or -였. If a word ends in a consonant, use -이었 and if it ends in a vowel use -였.

See examples,
(click on translation and grammar buttons)

  • Noun/Pronoun
  • Noun + 였 / 이었
  • Past Tense
  • 저
    I
  • 저 + 였
  • 저였습니다
  • 목요일
    Thursday
  • 목요일 + 이었
  • 목요일이었습니다

어제는 제 생일이었습니다.

Korean

어제

제

생일

English

yesterday

my

birthday

Yesterday was my birthday.

어제는 제 생일+이었+습니다.

이것은 제 친구의 자전거였습니다.

Korean

이것

친구

자전거

English

this (thing)

friend

bicycle

This was my friend's bicycle.

이것은 제 친구의 자전거+였+습니다.

Check out related topics:

Quick reference (click to open)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j

Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)

Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')

Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.

Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky

Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her

Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel

Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive

Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently

Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till

Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while

Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.

Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?

Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!

Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!

Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).