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past tenses

# Posted: 1 Jan 2007 14:16 KST - Edited by: jcs
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These are the past tense endings for verbs, but not for when a verb is used as an adjective
1. 었다/았다
2. 었었/았었
3. 던 (this is the adjectival form only)

었다 ... 았다
First, there is the past tense is made of 었다 and 았다.

the 어/아 form is made as described here.
Basically, the forms are made as follows:
1. 아 , 오 + ""-았-""
2. all other vowels + ""-었-""
3. 하 /exceptions + ""-였-""

You need to take the 어/아 form and then add the double shi-ut ㅆ to the bottom and there you go! That"s the past tense!
The hard part is getting the 어/아 formation right, because of the exceptions to the rules
examples:

붙이다 -> 붙였습니다 (to attach)
다투다 -> 다투었습니다 (to quarrel)
하다 -> 하였습니다 (to do)
하다 -> 했습니다 (to do)
실리다 -> 실렸다

""double past""

This is of the form 었었다

You first make the 었다 and 았다 form as described in the above section and then you add either 었다 or 았다 to that.

했었다 I had done it
떠났었습니다 had left

The double ㅆㅆ forms 었었다 and 았었다 mean that an action happened in the past and is no longer going on. It also may mean something like the past perfect tense, which indicates that an action happened previously to another action.

This construction means that something has/had happened or has/had not happened at a specific moment in the past. The simple past tense 었/았 indicates the completion of an action or an action in the past. If an action is completed, it is in the past tense, as in 앉았다, which means ""I sat down"" (but it may also mean ""I am in a sitting position""). The double past tense marker 었/았었 indicates either an action that was completed in the past (and then some other action came after it) or a simple experience, as in the following examples:　

See the entries online at http://www.language.berkeley.edu/Korean/10/lesson2 0/index.htm for the examples.

Yet another reference is this one @ www.indiana.edu/~korean

던
방긋거리던 나 .... the me who was always smiling

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