TeacherJoy

I want to talk about Korean verbs and adjectives now.

Let’s say you and I went to watch a show, and you want to say “I liked it” after the show.

Should it be “좋아했어요” or “좋았어요”?

Here’s a hint. Verb usually describe actions, while adjectives describes states. 좋아해요 is a verb, while 좋아요 is an adjective.

“I liked it” in Korean, it should be 좋았어요 because it was your feeling about the show. It was your state. “좋아했어요” sounds odd because it sounds like you don’t like the show anymore while your listener did not know that you ever like that like generally.

While you liked the show, I may not like the show. Then, do I say just “좋았어요”?

The answer is, you say “좋았어요,” and I say “저는 안 좋았어요,” with a little stress on “저는.”

So remember. In Korean, 좋았어요 expresses how you felt in that moment. That’s the natural way to say “I liked it” in Korean.