LESSON 5: Part 2

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Future Tense

Future tense is easy, and is simply a matter of adding “~겠다” to the stem of a word. Unlike the past and present tense conjugations, there is no difference if the stem ends in a vowel or a consonant. For example:

나는 먹다 = I eat (unconjugated)
나는 먹겠다 = I will eat

나는 가다 = I go (unconjugated)
나는 가겠다 = I will go

나는 배우다 = I learn (unconjugated)
나는 배우겠다 = I will learn

Two verbs specifically that are often conjugated in the future tense without actually having a meaning in the future tenses are 알다(to know) and 모르다(to not know). I don’t want to make any example sentences (because they would be too complicated at this point), but it would be good to remember that the words 알다 and 모르다 are often conjugated to 알겠다 or 모르겠다. Although they are conjugated to the future tense, those two words are typically used to express that somebody knows/doesn’t know something in the present tense.

Also note that the ending of the conjugation will often change as well depending on the different honorifics that you will learn in the next lesson.

Check out the table giving a breakdown of verbs in the past, present and future forms:

Check out the table giving a breakdown of verbs in the past, present and future forms:

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Adjectives
Present Tense

You learned previously that you need to add ~ㄴ/는다 to a verb stem in order to conjugate it in the present tense. In order to conjugate an adjective into the present tense you don’t need to do anything! Just leave the adjective as it is, and it is conjugated in the present tense. Some examples:

그 선생님은 아름답다 =
that teacher is beautiful

그 길은 길다 =
that street is long

나의 손은 크다 =
my hand is big

 
Past tense

In order to conjugate adjectives to the past tense, you must follow the same rule as when you conjugate verbs to the past tense. This rule, again, is:

You must add 았다 or 었다 to the stem of a word. 았다 is added to words with the last vowel being ㅗ or ㅏ, and 었다  is added to words with the last vowel being anything but ㅏ or ㅗ. For example:

그 길은 길었다 =
That street was long
(길 + 었다)

그 음식은 맛있었다 =
That food was delicious
(맛있 + 었다)

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