14.5. Verbs: Past-Future and Past-Past.

As you have just seen, there is a PAST-FUTURE verb form which is made by attaching the FUTURE marker -겠- to the PAST BASE of any verb (either the plain past base or the honorific past base) like this:

Here are some examples in full sentences:

47. 아마 벌써 했겠어요.
    They have probably [will have] already done it.
48. 돈이 많이 들었겠어요.
    It must have cost a lot.
49. 머리가 굉장히 아팠겠어요.
    You must have had a really bad headache.

The past marker gives to the form the same meaning as the English auxiliary verb has or have, while the future marker gives it one of the future meanings listed in section 14.6. below — probably.
When you are listening to a Korean person speaking, your only clue to the difference between a future verb form and a past-future verb form is very small — sometimes only the difference between ㄱ and ㄲ:

가겠어요 [가게써요] will go
갔겠어요 [갇께써요 > 가께써요] will have gone, must have gone

Another problem in fine distinctions comes in PAST-PAST verb forms, which are made by attaching the past tense marker -었- to the past base of any verb, either honorific or plain, forming in effect a double past base:

The form is made complete by adding an appropriate ending. The Past-Past, then, is distinguished from the Past by being longer:

Past:             했어요       did
Past-Past:     했었어요   did (earlier)

Before a one-shape ending, this is a little more difficult to detect:

Past:             했지만      did, but. . . [해찌…]
Past-Past:     했었지만  did (earlier), but. . . [해써찌…]

Here are some examples of the past-past:

50. 나는 경제학을 공부했었어요. 그런데 정치학으로 바꿨어요.
    I used to study Economics, but I changed to Political Science.
51. A. 어디 갔었어요?
    Where have you been?
    B. 친구를 만나러 시내에 갔었어요.
    I went downtown to meet a friend.
52. 나도 거기 한번 갔었어요.
    I’ve been there once, too.
53. 그 분이 우리 학교에 한번 오셨었어요.
    He came to our school once.

These forms do not correspond to any single English word; in general, they mean about the same thing as regular past-tense forms, except that they have the feeling of a more definitely completed action or a comparatively remote past action.
But there is one area of meaning where a real difference exists: if an action has come full circle, you use the past-past; for a similar action which has not yet come full circle, you use the plain past. This distinction is common in verbs meaning come and go and is illustrated by the sentences just above. Compare these sentences:

54. 만호씨는 서울에 왔어요.
    Manho came to Seoul [and is still here].
55. 만호씨는 서울에 한번 왔었어요.
    Manho came to Seoul once [but is no longer here].

Come and go in the past-past may be literally translated, respectively, as come and return and go and come back; in the past they mean, respectively, (came and) is here and (went and) is gone.

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