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했어요 (hae-sseo-yo) is the polite past tense form of the verb “하다” (to do). It can mean “I did,” “you did,” “he/she did,” or “they did,” depending on the context.
To form 했어요, you start with the verb stem 하- from 하다 and add the past tense ending -였어요 since it’s a 하다, following the verb conjugation rule. 하 + 였어요 = 하였어요 but for easier pronunciation it changes to 했어요.
하다 Conjugation in Polite Past Tense:
Verb → 하다 (ha-da)
Verb Stem → 하 (ha)
Last Vowel → ㅏ (a)
Verb Ending Used → 였어요 (yeo-sseo-yo) (because 하다 verbs take 였어요)
Polite Past Tense → 하 + 였어요 = 하였어요 becomes 했어요 (hae-sseo-yo), which means ‘did.’
Korean Verb Conjugation Rules for Polite Past Tense
았어요: Used if the last vowel in the verb stem is ㅏ or ㅗ.
었어요: Used if the last vowel in the verb stem is anything other than ㅏ or ㅗ.
였어요: Used only for 하다 verbs.
