이다 is such a common verb in Korean that I'm frustrated that I have difficulty conjugating it in the past and future tenses. Some texts give 이었어요 as the past tense, some give 였어요. Is it just a matter if the noun ends in a consonant or a vowel? What about the future tense? Is it always 일거예요? Is there a different form if the noun ends in a consonant? Thanks for any help. (Examples REALLY appreciated.)
Grammar is certainly not my forte but I am happy to share my meager misunderstanding of the matter.
이다 - 'is a' / 'it/'s-a' noun+이다 something is defined as itself
oddly enough, it seems that '이' may sometimes be omitted when using the past or present tense especially when the final syllable group ends in a vowel - at least in many examples of common speech that I encountered -in other words it may be grammatically correct to write '나비이다' but you might hear and sometimes see written simply 나비다 (admittedly not the best example). And with the past tense '나비이었어요' (it was a butterfly) is awkward because of back-to-back "이" sound, however 나비였어요 sounds quite natural, where "였" appears to be a contraction of '이었'
아마 나비였어요 -Looks like it might have been a butterfly (He commented, pointing at the splatter on the windshield ㅋㅋ)
What sport were they playing? A: 축구였어요
What kind of sports program was on TV? A: 축구 시합이었어요 It was a soccer game. .... here 축구 시합였어요 might equally be used where it sounds nearly the same
Q: What was on the coffee table? A: 책이었어요 It was a book. ~이었어요 I think is usually used after final consonant
Q: What was in the cup? A: 커피였어요 It was coffee. ~였어요 usually used after final vowel sound (right?)
책이었습니다
커피였습니다
책입니다
커피입니다
책이다 - 'It is a book.' 책이에요
커피이다 - or just 커피다 -'It is coffee.' 커피이에여 -- 커피예요 - where 예요 appears to e a contraction of 이에요
뭐뭣 일거다 'will be' 'seems to be' 'must be' 'should be' seems to work with either final vowel or consonant as the preceding
(there appear to be some subtle changes in meaning when we future tense a noun in this way)
책일거다 -It must be a book. It should be a book. It's going to be a book. I think it's a book. I bet it's a book.
커피일거다 -It must be coffee. It should be coffee. It's going to be coffee. I think it's coffee. I bet it's coffee.
Well, that's as much help as I can be on the matter -- have a happy new year!
