Hi! :D I want to ask if you could explain formal past tense and formal future tense. When I look online most websites, etc. only show how to conjugate the informal way with 었어요 etc. ♡ Thanks in advance :D
Hello! I sure can!
Just to clarify, -었어요 is technically formal, just not as formal as -었습니다. Whereas, -었어 would be the least of the basic formalities! (-don’t forget that by adding -요, it makes something formal)
I do have a conjugation post that goes over different types of conjugations like the present, past, future tense and the formalities if you’re interested in that. However! For convenience, I can also explain here.
Here are the basic rules of present tense conjugation:
1. If the verb stem has “아” or “오” in it; 아요 is added ˜ 살다 (to live) —> 살아요 ˜ 가다 (to go) —> 가요 (you don’t technically add anything) ˜ 오다 (to come) —> 와요2. If the verb stem has “어” or “이” or “으” in it (WITH 받침); 어요 is added ˜ 먹다 (to eat) —> 먹어요 ˜ 싫다 (to be bad) —> 싫어요 ˜ 만들다 (to make) —> 만들어요3. If the verb stem has “이” in it (WITHOUT 받침); then it is replaced with “여” ˜ 마시다 (to drink) —> 마셔요4. If the verb stem has "우" in it (WITHOUT 받침); then 어요 is added ˜ 배우다 (to learn) —> 배워요5. If the verb stem ends with “하”, then “이” is added to create “해” ˜ 하다 (to do) —> 해요6. IRREGULAR: If the verb stem includes “ㅂ” as the final consonant in the stem, then it is removed and “우” is added, creating the same verb stem as #4, where 어요 is added ˜ 아름답다 (to be beautiful) —> 아름다워요
PAST TENSE:
먹었습니다 - ate
했습니다 - did
갔습니다 - went
왔습니다 - came
아름다웠습니다 - was beautiful
As you can see, the past tense conjugation is solely dependant on the combination of the presence of 받침 and the verb that comes before it.
If the verb has 받침 in the stem, then -었습니다 is added.
If the verb doesn’t include 받침 in the stem, then -ㅆ습니다 is added.
FUTURE TENSE: (willingness; definite // probable)
먹을 겁니다 // 먹겠습니다 - will eat
할 겁니다 // 하겠습니다 - will do
갈 겁니다 // 가겠습니다 - will go
올 겁니다 // 오겠습니다 - will come
아름다울 겁니다 // 아름답겠습니다 - will be beautiful
And as you can see here, not much changes with the stem as far 받침 is concerned.
For the definite future:
If the verb stem includes 받침, then -을 겁니다 is added.
If the verb stem doesn’t include 받침, then -ㄹ 겁니다 is added.
For the probable future:
It doesn’t matter if there is or isn’t 받침, you will always add -겠습니다 and you will not conjugate the base/stem of the verb
Hope this helped! Please go check out that post, it’s old and kinda outdated but I’m sure you’ll find some useful info there! Happy Learning :)
~ SK101