Ate (polite) in Korean 🇰🇷

먹었어요 info.

Tips to remember:
• Break down 먹었어요 into 먹 (eat) + 었어요 (past tense ending in polite form). Remember that “먹” sounds like “muk” and is related to “eating.”
• Associate it with the English phrase “ate” and think of a completed meal you enjoyed.

Explanations:
• 먹었어요 is the polite past tense form of the verb 먹다, meaning “to eat.”
• The ending 었어요 indicates that the action is completed and is used to express a finished event in a polite manner.

Other words/expressions with similar meaning:
• 드셨어요 – a honorific alternative used when speaking about someone older or of higher status eating.
• 섭취했어요 – a more formal term for “consumed” or “ingested.”

Infinitive and Conjugations (from 먹다):
• Infinitive: 먹다 (meokda) – “to eat”
• Present (polite): 먹어요 (meogeoyo) – “eat” or “is eating”
• Past (polite): 먹었어요 (meogeosseoyo) – “ate”
• Future (polite): 먹을 거예요 (meogeul geoyeyo) – “will eat”

Examples of sentences:
• 저는 아침을 먹었어요.
  Romanized: Jeoneun achimeul meogeosseoyo.
  Meaning: I ate breakfast.

• 어제 친구와 함께 밥을 먹었어요.
  Romanized: Eoje chinguwah hamkke babeul meogeosseoyo.
  Meaning: I ate a meal with a friend yesterday.

• 내일 점심을 먹을 거예요.
  Romanized: Naeil jeomsimeul meogeul geoyeyo.
  Meaning: I will eat lunch tomorrow.

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