-았/었어요

at/eot/yeot

Grammar · 1 sense

past tense

Examples

어제 친구하고 영화를 봤어요.

I saw a film with a friend yesterday.

지갑을 어디에 뒀어요?

Where did you put your wallet?

When you'd hear it

This pattern is used constantly in everyday conversation, including casual talk with friends and polite speech with coworkers or strangers. It also appears throughout written narratives, messages, and news reports.

What learners get wrong

Built the same way as -아/어요: -았어요 after a stem whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, -었어요 otherwise, and 하다 → 했어요. The formal polite version is -았/었습니다. Korean uses this for anything finished, including states that English would leave in the present.

Ask Ipsae about -았/었어요

How do I choose between 았, 었, and 였?
Is -았/었/였 the same as -고 있었다?
Can this ending describe a past state?

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