완료형 (한국어로) Hello everyone, I've recently been trying to learn advanced Korean grammar, and one of the things I have always wanted to learn is "Perfect tenses" in Korean, specifically: Second condition

Find English Teachers

~Day~

완료형 (한국어로) Hello everyone, I've recently been trying to learn advanced Korean grammar, and one of the things I have always wanted to learn is "Perfect tenses" in Korean, specifically: Second conditional Third conditional & Could have +pp, Should have +pp I know not everything can have an equivalent but I wish I could know the most accurate way to express those tenses :) I have seen, for example 2nd conditional: What would you do if you were in my shoes? 만약 너가 내 신발안에 있다면 뭐 할 것이니? but I want to know why it says "있다면" instead of "있었다면" If it is supposed it is past. 3rd conditional If I hadn't been so busy, I would have called you. 내가 바쁘지 않았더라도 전화를 했을텐데 (sometimes 했을 거야) in this case, why isn't it 바쁘지 않았었더라도?? and 전화 했었을텐데?? ㅠ ㅠ I have so many questions regarding to these forms haha I hope you can help me understand better when to use them in clauses⤵ 하면, 했다면, 했었다면 *했었었다면* 할텐데, 했을텐데, 했었을텐데, *했었었을텐데* *not sure if these ones exist* By the way, you don't have to explain everything to me, I just would appreciate if you gave me some key rules or the most important things, so that I can remember. 미리 감사합니다!!! ^^

Oct 5, 2018 5:16 PM

Corrections · 2

완료형 and 가정법(subjunctive/conditional) can be difficult, but you seem to have a good basis for understanding them.

완료형 is expressed through the past tense in Korean. There is no separate perfect tense form.

One difficulty is that it changes with the verb usage, i.e. whether it's in predicative or adjectivized form.

* Predicate form example:

- A: 영철 씨가 안 보이네요 (I don't see 영철). B: 영철 씨 휴가 갔어요 (He's gone on vacation - present perfect).

* Adjective form example: (-(으)ㄴ represents 완료형, which may be the past or present perfect)

- 휴가(를) 간 사람 = the one who has gone on vacation.

- 내가 끝낸 프로젝트 = the project I have finished.

For adjective forms, perfect continuous is expressed with 던, and past perfect by adding -(어)ㅆ to 던. These two can combine to create more specific connotations such as "used to" and "would" denoting a past habit.

- 내가 하던 일 = 1) the work I was/have been doing, 2) the work I used to do. The exact meaning depends on the context.

- 내가 했던 일 = the work I used to do.

NOTE: 하던 (present form + 던) indicates what has been going on for a while (perhaps until recently) and which can possibly resume, while 했던(past form + 던) indicates it happened in the further past and there's no possibility of resuming (similar to, but not exactly the same, as past perfect in English).

When it comes to conditionals/subjunctives, the subjunctive sub-clause usually has the verb ending -면 which represents "if". The main clause is expressed with the 겠 or -ㄹ 것이다/터이다 form (and its variations like 건데, 텐데, etc).

* Second conditional example (the sub-clause takes the present or perfect tense; main clause takes 겠다/-ㄹ 것이다/터이다).

- What would you do if you were in my shoes? = (만약) 네가 내 입장이라면 어떻게 하겠니 / 할 것이니/거니?

("in X's shoes" is "X의 입장이다" or "X의 처지가 되다". 신발 안에 있다 makes no sense in Korean)

Third conditional examples (the sub-clause takes past or past perfect tense; main clause takes ㅆ겠다/-ㅆ을 것이다/터이다).

- 너무 바쁘지 않았으면 네게 전화를 했을 텐데 = If I hadn't been so busy, I would have called you.

(Your 바쁘지 않았더라도 means "(even) if I hadn't been busy, (I would still ...)", an entirely different thing)

Adding an additional 었 that you mentioned is not so important in my opinion. We often use it for emphasis or out of habit, but it doesn't change the meaning in most cases. In the above example, you could say 않았었으면, but it is not really necessary.

(As I see it, the legitimate role of 었 is to distinguish between the 완료형 (e.g. 갔어 = has gone, so not here anymore) and what's sometimes called 대과거형, similar to "past perfect" (e.g. 갔었어 = had gone but now back here). This usage of 었 is spilling into unrelated cases to emphasize the pastness, from inertia, etc.)

Your "했었었을텐데" with two 었s is wrong, though. Sometimes two repeated 었s are seen in verbs with a consonant-ending stem because one 어 is added for phonetic reasons., but this is not the same 었 that expresses tense. For example, compare 하다 -> 했다 -> 했었다 with 밀다 -> 밀었다 -> 밀었었다 (ㅆ었다 vs 었었다, where the first 어 of the latter is purely phonetical). In short, 했었었을텐데 is not possible since 하다 has a vowel-ending stem.

October 7, 2018

In fact, the translation of first sentence is wrong. Maybe no one will understand you if you tell like it.. actually it means "만약 너가 내 입장이라면 어떻겠니?" 하면 is for present, 했다면 is for simple past, 했었다면 is for past perfect. but 했었었다 is not right grammatically. I don't know your Korean level, but as a native Korean speaker, I think the ways of expression are really diverse. No matter how much you speak grammatically, sometimes Koreans may not feel natural to listen to. It seems to be the key to encounter various sentences about how Korean use them in their life... of course I can send you an example if you want.

October 5, 2018

Want to progress faster?

Join this learning community and try out free exercises!