Korean Grammar Beginner -Tenses- (6): Past Perfect A/V -았/었었어요

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1년 ago

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I. Examples

When expressing a situation or a state that happened in the past but is not continuing into the present, “-았었어요” is added to the stems of verbs and adjectives with stems ending in the vowel ㅏ or ㅗ. Otherwise, -었었어요 is added. -았/었어요 is equivalent to “did/had (in the past)” in English.

미국에 갔었어요. (I have been to the U.S)
= not in the U.S now

프랑스에서 살았었어요. (I (have) lived in La France.)
= not in La France now

그는 말랐었어요. (He was skinny.)
= not skinny now

II. Grammar Point

1. Ending in Vowel ㅏ or ㅗ –> -았었어요

살다(live) + -았었어요 –> 살았었어요
가다(go) + -았었어요 –> 갔었어요
배우다(learn) + -았었어요 –> 배웠었어요
많다(many) + -았었어요 –> 많았었어요

2. Ending in Vowel Other Thanㅏ or ㅗ –> -었었어요

길다(long) + -었었어요 –> 길었었어요
먹다(eat) + -었었어요 –> 먹었었어요
읽다(read) + -었었어요 –> 읽었었어요
적다(few, not many) + -었었어요 –> 적었었어요
듣다(listen) –> 들었었어요 * irregular form
어렵다(difficult) –> 어려웠었어요 * irregular form

3. Verb Ending in 하다 –> -했었어요

공부하다(study) –> 공부했었어요
일하다(work) –> 일했었어요
친절하다(kind) –> 친절했었어요

4. 았었어요 or 었었어요 VS 았어요 or 었어요

았었어요 or 었었어요 expresses a past occurrence that does not continue to the present. 았어요/었어요, on the other hand, expresses something that simply occurred in the past or an action or situation that ended in the past.

A. Example 1

브라이언씨는 작년에 한국에 왔었어요.
Brian came to Korea and left later,
and he is not in Korea now.

브라이언씨는 작년에 한국에 왔어요.
Brian may still be in Korea but
not certain whether still in Korea now

B. Example 2

브라이언씨는 한국에 1년동안 살았었어요.
Brian once lived in Korea for a year,
and now he does not live in Korea

브라이언씨는 한국에 1년동안 살았어요.
Brian lived in Korea for a year but
not certain where he lives now.
(maybe the fact that he still lives in Korea
is not known to the speaker)

III. Practice

그녀는 ___ (키가 작다)
그녀는 ___ (머리가 길다)
그는 ___ (고기를 안 먹다)