What happens when you have an 이다 copula ending in the deferential polite past tense? Let’s say there’s a sentence like this, “학생이었습니다“. (학생 = student. 이였습니다 = deferential polite past of 이다.) In English this would mean, “I was a student”. Now with a phrase like this, “학교였습니다“, it would mean “It was a school.” (학교 = school. 였습니다 = deferential polite past of 이다.) The reason why 학생 ends in 이였습니다 and 학교 ends in 였습니다 is because 학생 ends in a consonant and 학교 ends in a vowel. You can also use the negative of the deferential polite past tense with the ending 아니었습니다.

So using the examples above, you can say “학생이 아니었습니다” or “학교가 아니었습니다“. (이/가 = subject marking particle. 이 = used after a consonant. 가 = used after a vowel.) In English this would mean “I was not a student” and “It was not a school”. You can also turn 있다 into the deferential polite past tense by using the 있었습니다 ending. Let’s take a look at this sentence, “학교에 학생들이 있었습니다“, which means “The students were at school”. (학교 = school. 에 = locative particle. 학생 = student. 들 = plural marker. 이 = subject marker. 있었습니다 = were.)

Also, 없다 (to be not here) in the deferential polite past tense will be 없었습니다. So the sentence 학교에 학생들이 없었습니다 will mean, “The students were not at school”. The past deferential polite tense of 듣다 (to hear/listen) is 들었습니다. So what would be the deferential polite tense of 닫다 (to close)? It would be 닫았습니다. Remember that not all ㄷ ending verbs will change to a ㄹ. Also, since, 닫다 ends in the 아 vowel, it will have an 았습니다 ending instead of the 었습니다 ending of 듣다. Depending on the meaning of 묻다 (to ask/to bury) it will be 물었습니다 or 묻었습니다.

The same goes for the ㄹ ending verbs. 열다 will be 열었습니다 and 팔다 will be 팔았습니다. For a more detailed explanation on these small grammar points please read the post on November eighteen titled, “Standard Polite Past Tense”. Knowing the endings of the standard polite past tense will help greatly in understanding the deferential polite past tense, so for more information take a look at that post.