ㅅ Ending Words

In the last post, we looked at ㅅ ending words in the present tense. Today we’ll look at ㅅ ending words in the past tense.

The verb 짓다 (to build) in the past tense of the standard polite will be 지었어요.

Drop the 다 and ㅅ of 짓다 and add 었어요 to form the past tense of the standard polite.

With 낫다 (to get better from an illness or to be better, excel), it’ll be a little different.

Since 낫다 contains an 아 vowel, it will be conjugated as 나았어요.

In the past tense of the deferential polite, 짓다 will be 지었습니다.

Drop the 다 and ㅅ and add 었습니다.

Do the same for 낫다 and you get 나았습니다.

The past tense of 짓다 in the honorific polite is 지으셨어요.

Drop the 다 and ㅅ and add 으셨어요.

Do the same for 낫다 and you get 나으셨어요.

Just remember that not all ㅅ ending words follow the same dropping of the ㅅ, when conjugating in the present and past tense.

For example 벗다 (to take one’s clothes off) will be conjugated in a normal manner.

So 벗다 will be 벗었어요 in the standard polite past tense,

벗었습니다 in the deferential polite past tense,

and 벗으셨어요 in the honorific polite past tense.

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Some ㅅ ending verbs like 짓다 (to build) are a part of a special class of verbs that end in ㅅ.

In the standard polite present tense form, 짓다 will be conjugated as 지어요.

The 다 from 짓다 is dropped and so is the ㅅ from 짓. Then 어요 is added.

Let’s try conjugating the same for 낫다 (to get better from an illness)

Drop the 다 and the ㅅ. Then add 아요.

The complete version will be 나아요 in the presente tense of the standard polite form.

The vowel in 짓다 is an 이 vowel. This means that 짓다 will have an 어요 ending.

However, the vowel in 낫다 is 아, which means that 낫다 will have an 아요 ending.

The adjective 낫다 is spelled the same as the verb 낫다 but means something totally different.

The adjective 낫다 means “to surpass”, “be better than”, “be preferable to”

The way you can tell the difference in meaning is by the context of the sentence.

The present tense of the deferential polite of 짓다 is 짓습니다.

Drop the 다 and just add 습니다.

If you do the same for 낫다, you get 낫습니다.

In the present tense of the honorific polite, 짓다 will be 지으세요.

Drop the 다 and ㅅ in 짓다 and add 으세요.

Do the same for 낫다 and you get 나으세요.

Just so you know, not all ㅅ ending words belong to the same category of 짓다 and 낫다.

For example, 벗다 (to take one’s clothes off) does’t belong to the category that 짓다 and 낫다 belong to.

In the standard polite present tense 벗다 will be conjugated normally as 벗어요.

Notice that the ㅅ in 벗다 isn’t dropped like the ㅅ in 짓다 or 낫다.

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