Let's Learn Korean - Past and Past Perfect Tense -

 

1. Past Particle (었/았)

this particle is being inserted to the verb of a statement to show that the statement happened in the past. after this inserted particle, we have to add polite form particle (어요/아요) or honour form particle (습니다) (If you want to make a formal sentence) (Read here to understand polite form).~았 is for root word which ends by 아 or 오, while ~었 is for root word which ends by another vowels and consonants.

Example:  -  보다          =  see

                  -  봐요          =  see (present form)

                  -  봤어요      =  saw (polite form)

                  -  봤습니다  =  saw (honour form)

                  -  가다          =  go

                  -  가요          =  go (present form)

                  -  갔어요      =  went (polite form)

                  -  갔습니다  =  went (honour form)

Past form in Korean doesn't only show something that happened in the past, but also shows whether something has done or not.

Example:  -  밥을 먹었어요  =  I've eaten
                  -  미국에 갔어요  =  i went to America

                  -  집에 왔어요      =  i arrived at home (i'm still in the house)

                  

2. Past Perfect particle (었었/았었)

~았었 is for root word which ends by 아 and 오, while ~었었 is for root word which ends by another vowels and consonants.

Example:  -  봤었어요  =  seen

                  -  갔었어요  =  gone
                  -  먹었었어요  =  ate

                 

This particle is used to show that the past is irrelevant for the present anymore and to show that the past is really over or really has done.

Example:  -  집에 왔었어요        =  i had arrived at home (i'm not in the house anymore)

                  -  숙제 다 했었어요  =  i had finished my homework assignments

                  -  집에 왔었는데 사장님이 연락했으니까 회사에 다시 갔어요  =  I had gone to home but because the boss called, I went to the office again