Lesson Transcript

Hi, everyone! Welcome to the Ask K-Jin. My name is K-Jin. 안녕하세요, K-Jin입니다. (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo, ke-i-jin-im-ni-da.)
In this series, I'll answer your Korean questions. Today I picked questions related to additional Korean tenses.
Here's the first question from Lizzy. Thank you Lizzy.
What is the Korean past perfect tense 았 (a-t)/었 (eot)/였었다 (yeos-eot-da)?
That's a great question. And let's look at the conjugation first.
This is a chart for the past perfect tense in Korean. You can get the screenshot.
So let's look at the conjugation together now.
First, if the last vowel of the stem is ㅏ (a) or ㅗ (o), then you use 아썼어요 (aswosseoyo).
It sounds hard, right? But actually when we try it together, it's not so difficult, so don't get scared.
Okay, so second, if the last vowel of the stem is ㄴ (n) or ㅌ (t), then you use 어썼어요 (eossosseoyo).
Next, if the verb or adjective ends in 하다 (hada), then replace 하다 (hada) with 했었어요 (haesseosseoyo).
For example, 오다 (oda). 오다 (oda). It means you come to some place. 오다 (oda). 오다 (oda).
So 오다 (oda). What is the stem of this verb? Stem is very simple.
Korean verb and adjective always end with 다 (da). Remove 다 (da).
짠 (jjan), you have ㅗ (o). ㅗ (o) is the stem here.
The Korean verb or adjective in the diction form without 다 (da) at the end is the stem.
The last vowel of the stem, ㅗ (o), includes ㅏ (a) or ㅗ (o) sound.
Yes, it includes ㅗ (o) sound, right? Basically it consists of these two.
ㅗ (o) does contain ㅗ (o) sound.
So you put 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo).
So theoretically, yes, it should be 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo).
But when you pronounce this quickly, 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo), 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo),
this part is combined, is shortened.
As in 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo), 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo).
So none of Korean people use 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo), 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo).
Nope, nope. We always say 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo), 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo).
So in Korean, 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo), it has a little bit different nuance than English.
So if you say the past perfect tense, you say is a past, before one past, right?
So you did something and another action was happened before this action, right?
But in Korean, the nuance is slightly different.
Yes, if you really translate this into English, you will be like I had come but.
The nuance is slightly different.
So for example, let's compare it with just normal past tense, which is 왔어요 (wasseyo), 왔어요 (wasseyo).
So what is the difference between 왔어요 (wasseyo) versus 왔었어요 (wasosseoyo)?
What are the differences? So this is a normal past tense.
So for example, 친구가 왔어요 (chinguga wasseyo).
Let's see, 친구가 왔어요 (chinguga wasseyo).
It means my friend came to my place, but this one doesn't have any nuance.
So friends came, that's it. I have no other information.
Maybe the friend is still here or he went back home, I have no idea.
But 친구가 왔어요 (chinguga wasseyo) means my friend came, that's it.
But if you say 친구가 왔었어요 (chinguga wasosseoyo), this is Korean past perfect tense, then there is a nuance.
My friend came before, but he is or she is not here anymore.
So when you use this Korean past perfect tense, that means some action happened before,
but this action is disconnected from the present or is no longer continued.
So friends came, but it's nothing to do with present, the current situation.
Came and gone. So it's discontinued or disconnected from the present.
Okay, let's look at another example using this conjugation.
So we have this word, 먹다 (meokda). It means yum yum to eat.
And stem is always the word without 다 (da). 먹 (meok) is a stem.
먹 (meok) is consist of 먹어 (meokeo).
So what is the last vowel of this stem? What is the last vowel? It's ㅓ (eo) sound.
This ㅓ (eo) sound is not ㅏ (a) or ㅗ (o). It's not ㅏ (a), it's not ㅗ (o).
So we were using 었었어요 (osseosseoyo).
Plus 었었어요 (osseosseoyo). When you combine this, it's 먹었었어요 (meogosseosseoyo).
Now let's compare with just normal past tense.
So normal past tense is 먹었어요 (meogosseoyo). I ate.
So let's say 고기를 먹었어요 (gogireul meogosseoyo). 고기 (gogi) means meat.
고기 (gogi), meat를 (reul), object marking particle. 먹었어요 (meogosseoyo) means ate.
So I ate meat. Okay, so it's just a past tense. I ate meat, that's it.
Maybe I had it for dinner, lunch, but I ate it, that's it. It doesn't have any more nuance, that's it.
But instead of 먹었어요 (meogosseoyo), if you use this word, 먹었었어요 (meogosseosseoyo), 고기를 먹었었어요 (gogireul meogosseosseoyo).
It sounds like you don't need meat anymore. Maybe you are a vegetarian. So I used to eat meat, but not anymore.
This 고기를 먹었어요 (gogireul meogosseoyo), eating meat is nothing to do with the present anymore.
It's discontinued, it's disconnected from the present.
So 고기를 먹었어요 (gogireul meogosseoyo), if you use the past tense, it just means I did this action before, in the past.
먹었었어요 (meogosseosseoyo) means well I ate meat before too, well it's just what happened in the past,
but I don't do that action anymore. This action is disconnected from the present or no longer continued.
Another example I have is 좋아하다 (johahada). Do you know what it means? It means to like, to like.
좋아하다 (johahada). Now let's get the stem. Oh, before that, did you notice it end with 하다 (hada), 하다 (hada)?
Yes, and let's look at the rule number three. If the verb or adjective ends in 하다 (hada), 하다 (hada),
하다 (hada) words without 하다 (hada) plus 했어요 (haesseoyo). It just means replace 하다 (hada) with 했었어요 (haesseosseoyo). Ah, simple.
So 좋아하다 (johahada), replace 하다 (hada) with 했었어요 (haesseosseoyo). Okay, let's compare with the past tense.
Versus 좋아했었어요 (johahaesseosseoyo). What are the differences? First, let's say
사과를 좋아했어요 (sagwareul johahaesseoyo). 사과를 좋아했어요 (sagwareul johahaesseoyo). 사과 (sagwa) means an apple, fruit. 사과를 좋아했어요 (sagwareul johahaesseoyo).
So it means I liked an apple, I liked apples. And it has no nuance. I have no idea if the
speakers still like the 사과 (sagwa), apples or not. I have no idea. But if you use 좋아했었어요 (johahaesseosseoyo),
it sounds like you don't like it anymore. You liked it before, but now you don't like it.
You liked it before and it's discontinued, it's disconnected from the present. So it doesn't affect
the present situation anymore. It's just what you liked before, that's it. So do you see the
differences? So in most cases, a lot of Korean people use just past tense only. But if they want to
emphasize that, that situation has nothing to do with the present situation, current situation, then
they emphasize it with this Korean past tense, which is different from the English past tense,
past perfect tense. So be careful, it's different. English past perfect tense and Korean perfect
tense are used differently. So please practice this conjugation and compare with the normal
past tense in Korean. Here's the second question from Paul. Thank you, Paul. How is progressive tense
used in Korean? This is how you can conjugate the progressive tense in Korean. It's pretty simple,
right? You just need to get the stem, verb stem and put 고 있어요 (go isseoyo) at the end. It's much simpler than
other conjugations, so let's practice it together. First, I have this word 보다 (boda).
보다 (boda). It means to look, to watch, to see. So someone is asking you, what are you doing? So you want to say,
I'm watching Netflix. I'm watching Netflix. So how can I conjugate it? Simple, just get the stem,
stem here and put 고 있어요 (go isseoyo). What is a stem? Word without 다 (da). 보 (bo) is a stem. And just put
고 있어요 (go isseoyo). It means I'm watching. I am watching right now. I'm watching. And put something
that you're watching. It can be Korean drama, 한국 드라마 (hanguk deurama), or it can be Netflix, Netflix,
Netflix, or YouTube, YouTube, or 영화 (yeonghwa), 영화 (yeonghwa). Anything is okay. Just put what you're watching. Or
How about this? 먹다 (meokda). This is a word that we just used, right? 먹다 (meokda). To eat. So you want to say,
I'm eating an apple. Stem is 먹 (meok). So just put 고 있어요 (go isseoyo). It means I'm eating. What are you eating? Just put something.
사과 (sagwa). 사과 (sagwa) 먹고 있어요 (meokgo isseoyo). That's it. It's very simple. And it means it's just you're
doing some action. You're doing some action. So just like this, you're watching Netflix, you're eating
an apple. So like that. It's very simple. And one good news. Actually, you know, Korean present tense,
Korean present tense. 아 (a), 어 (eo), 여 (yeo), 요 (yo). This can also do the role of progressive tense.
So you can say 넷플릭스 보고 있어요 (netpeullikseu bogo isseoyo). It's okay. Or 넷플릭스 봐요 (netpeullikseu bwayo) is also okay.
넷플릭스 봐요 (netpeullikseu bwayo) is okay. 봐요 (bwayo) is just present tense. Or this is present progressive. And this
사과 먹고 있어요 (sagwa meokgo isseoyo) is okay. Or 사과 먹어요 (sagwa meogeoyo) is also okay. So when you use the present tense in Korean,
it can be present tense, present progressive tense. It can be future tense. So this present tense is
very useful. But if you really want to emphasize that something is happening right now, I am doing
then you use progressive tense, which is 고 있어요 (go isseoyo). 고 있어요 (go isseoyo). And the conjugation is simple,
right? So use it a lot. Here's the last question from Joseph. Thank you, Joseph. Does Korean have a
perfect tense? The answer is yes and no. But I would say it's close to no. Basically, if you're
just thinking about the perfect tenses in English, there's no such a thing in Korean. Nope, nope. But
of course we have some grammar points and also some expressions that could explain some perfect
tenses in English. And here they are. First, we have past tense. So if you've done something,
you've done something, then we just use the past tense. I've read that book, then we just use
the past tense. 그 책을 봤어요 (geu chaeg-eul bwasseoyo). 그 책을 봤어요 (geu chaeg-eul bwasseoyo). Let me write it for you. 그 책을 봤어요 (geu chaeg-eul bwasseoyo).
By the way, in English you say I read, I have read. You use the verb to read. But in Korean,
you can use read, 읽다 (ilgda). Or you can also use to see. I've seen that book. It means the same. 그 책을 봤어요 (geu chaeg-eul bwasseoyo).
So yes, you can just use with the past tense. Or you can also use I have been reading that book. I have
been reading that book for a week. In that case, you can use the progressive tense that we
just talked about it. So in Korean, that could be 그 책을 보고 있어요 (geu chaeg-eul bogo isseoyo). So we just use
progressive tense. It's not just like I have been reading in Korean. It's just I'm reading,
I'm reading for a week. That's how Korean people say. And if you want to say I've read that book
before. I have read that book before. So in English, it means like I have an experience of
reading that book. So when you talk about some experiences, we use this grammar in Korean.
I'll have another lesson to talk about this grammar. So please don't worry about the conjugation.
But if you just think about the perfect tenses, yes, we use another grammar and another
expressions to have the same meaning as the English perfect tense. But there's no such thing
like perfect tense in Korean. It's not like English. It's very different. So if you want to
express perfect tenses, use this. This will be useful.

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