How to Talk About Home Workouts in Korean: Beginner Story & Past Tense 🐱

Have you ever felt too lazy to go outside, even on a beautiful day? In this Korean lesson, you’ll join Minjun and his cat, Cheese, for a very lazy day that gets interrupted by a surprise workout. This fun story is perfect for practicing essential Korean past-tense verbs and vocabulary related to home, exercise, and feelings.

💬 Video Transcript

Minjun (Narrator): 오늘은 날씨가 좋았어요. 하지만 저는 밖에 나가고 싶지 않았어요. 저는 그냥 소파에 누워 있었어요. 제 고양이 치즈는 제 배 위에서 자고 있었어요. 치즈는 정말 게으른 고양이예요. 저도 조금 게을러요.
(Minjun (Narrator): The weather was nice today. But I didn’t want to go outside. I was just lying on the sofa. My cat, Cheese, was sleeping on my stomach. Cheese is a really lazy cat. I’m a little lazy too.)

Minjun (Narrator): 그때 초인종이 울렸어요. 띵동. 제 친구 서연이었어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): Just then, the doorbell rang. Ding-dong. It was my friend, Seoyeon.)

Seoyeon: 민준아! 뭐하고 있어?
(Seoyeon: Minjun! What are you doing?)

Minjun: 응, 쉬고 있어. 치즈도 쉬고 있어.
(Minjun: Oh, I’m resting. Cheese is resting too.)

Minjun (Narrator): 서연이는 저와 치즈를 보고 웃었어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): Seoyeon looked at me and Cheese and laughed.)

Seoyeon: 너희 둘 다 정말 게을러 보인다! 우리 같이 운동하자.
(Seoyeon: You both look so lazy! Let’s work out together.)

Minjun: 운동? 여기서? 집에서?
(Minjun: Work out? Here? At home?)

Seoyeon: 응! 내가 유튜브에서 재미있는 홈트레이닝 영상을 알아.
(Seoyeon: Yep! I know a fun home training video on YouTube.)

Minjun (Narrator): 서연이는 텔레비전을 켜고 영상을 찾았어요. 화면에 활기찬 강사님이 나타났어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): Seoyeon turned on the television and found a video. An energetic instructor appeared on the screen.)

Instructor: 자, 스트레칭부터 시작해 볼까요!
(Instructor: Alright, shall we start with some stretching!)

Minjun (Narrator): 서연이는 강사님을 쉽게 따라 했어요. 동작이 아주 좋았어요. 저도 따라 하려고 했어요. 하지만 제 몸은 뻣뻣했어요. “아야!” 제가 말했어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): Seoyeon followed the instructor easily. Her form was very good. I tried to follow along too. But my body was stiff. “Ouch!” I said.)

Minjun (Narrator): 다음은 제자리 뛰기였어요. 우리는 위아래로 뛰었어요. 조금 재미있었지만, 저는 금방 피곤해졌어요. 치즈는 눈을 반쯤 뜨고 우리를 쳐다봤어요. 치즈는 움직이지 않았어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): Next was jogging in place. We jumped up and down. It was a little fun, but I quickly got tired. Cheese opened his eyes halfway and stared at us. Cheese didn’t move.)

Minjun (Narrator): 가장 힘든 순서가 왔어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): The hardest part came.)

Instructor: 이제, 팔굽혀펴기를 해봅시다!
(Instructor: Now, let’s do push-ups!)

Minjun (Narrator): 저는 바닥에 엎드렸어요. 팔굽혀펴기를 한 개 하려고 노력했어요. 너무 힘들었어요. 제가 내려갈 때, 치즈가 천천히 걸어와서 제 얼굴 바로 아래에 누웠어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): I got down on the floor. I tried to do one push-up. It was too hard. As I was going down, Cheese slowly walked over and lay down right under my face.)

Minjun: 치즈야! 비켜!
(Minjun: Cheese! Move!)

Minjun (Narrator): 하지만 치즈는 그저 ‘야옹’하고 울었어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): But Cheese just meowed.)

Minjun (Narrator): 서연이가 이 모습을 보고 웃기 시작했어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): Seoyeon saw this and started laughing.)

Seoyeon: 하하! 민준아, 네 고양이는 새로운 운동 기구네!
(Seoyeon: Haha! Minjun, your cat is a new piece of workout equipment!)

Minjun (Narrator): 저는 팔굽혀펴기를 할 수 없었어요. 그냥 치즈 옆에 누워 버렸어요. 서연이는 계속 웃었어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): I couldn’t do the push-up. I just gave up and lay down next to Cheese. Seoyeon kept laughing.)

Minjun (Narrator): 우리는 영상을 껐어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): We turned off the video.)

Minjun: 운동은 너무 힘들어.
(Minjun: Working out is too hard.)

Seoyeon: 그래도 재미있었어. 좋아, 우리 그냥 시원한 물 마시자.
(Seoyeon: But it was fun. Okay, let’s just drink some cool water.)

Minjun (Narrator): 우리는 부엌으로 가서 물을 마셨어요. 피곤했지만 기분은 좋았어요. 친구와 함께하는 운동은 비록 실패했지만 재미있었어요. 그리고 치즈는 최고의 게으른 코치였어요.
(Minjun (Narrator): We went to the kitchen and drank water. I was tired, but I felt good. The workout with my friend was a failure, but it was fun. And Cheese was the best lazy coach.)

📝 Essential Vocabulary

Here are some key words and phrases from the story. Listen to the pronunciation and get ready to see them in context.

🔍 Grammar Focus

Let’s break down two important grammar patterns you heard in the story.

1. Talking About the Past: -았/었/했어요

You probably noticed that many verbs ended in -했어요 or -었어요. This is the standard way to talk about something that happened in the past in Korean.

The ending you use depends on the last vowel of the verb stem:

• If the last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, you add -았어요.
• If the last vowel is anything else (like ㅓ, ㅜ, ㅣ), you add -었어요.
• For verbs that end in 하다, they become -했어요.

Let’s look at some examples from the script:

• 좋다 (to be good) -> 좋 + 았어요 -> 좋았어요. (The weather was nice.)
• 찾다 (to find) -> 찾 + 았어요 -> 찾았어요. (Seoyeon found a video.)
• 울리다 (to ring) -> 울렸 + 어요 -> 울렸어요. (The doorbell rang.)
• 웃다 (to laugh) -> 웃 + 었어요 -> 웃었어요. (Seoyeon laughed.)
• 끄다 (to turn off) -> 껐 + 어요 -> 껐어요. (We turned off the video.)

2. Ongoing Actions: -고 있다

When you want to say that someone is in the middle of doing something (like the English “-ing”), you use the –고 있다 pattern. You attach –고 있다 to the verb stem.

In the story, Seoyeon asks Minjun:

• “뭐 하고 있어?” (What are you doing?)

Minjun replies:

• “응, 쉬고 있어.” (Yeah, I’m resting.)
• “치즈도 쉬고 있어.” (Cheese is resting too.)

You can also use this in the past tense to describe what someone was doing. You just conjugate 있다 to the past tense, 있었어요.

• “저는 그냥 소파에 누워 있었어요.” (I was just lying on the sofa.)
• “치즈는 제 배 위에서 자고 있었어요.” (Cheese was sleeping on my stomach.)

🌍 Cultural Tip

🃏 Flip & Learn

Test your memory with these key phrases from the story.

💡 Key Takeaways

Here are the most important points to remember from this lesson:

• Past Tense: To talk about the past, add -았어요 (for ㅏ/ㅗ vowels) or -었어요 (for other vowels) to verb stems. 하다 verbs become -했어요.
• Continuous Actions: Use -고 있다 (present) or -고 있었어요 (past) to describe an action that is or was in progress.
• Making Suggestions: You can suggest an activity with a friend casually by adding -자 to a verb stem, like in 운동하자 (Let’s work out).
• Vocabulary: You learned useful words for everyday life, such as 운동 (exercise), 피곤하다 (to be tired), 친구 (friend), and 고양이 (cat).

🎯 Practice Quiz

Let’s see what you’ve learned! Choose the best answer for each question.

✍️ Fill in the Blanks

Let’s test your spelling and memory! Fill in the missing words below. Use correct spelling.