Talking About a Cat Encounter in Korean: Story Dialogue & Past Tense Verbs 🐱

In this slow and easy Korean lesson, you’ll follow a short story about a student named Minjun and his encounter with a funny, cheese-colored cat. You’ll learn essential vocabulary for describing things and practice using the past tense to tell a story.

💬 Video Transcript

Listen along with the video and follow the story of Minjun and the cheese cat.

민준: 안녕하세요. 제 이름은 민준이에요. 저는 학생이에요. 저는 학교를 좋아해요. 하지만 집에 가는 것을 더 좋아해요. 왜냐하면 아주 재미있어요!
(Minjun: Hello. My name is Minjun. I am a student. I like school. But I like going home more. Because it’s very fun!)

민준: 어제였어요. 저는 학교에서 집으로 가고 있었어요. 길을 걸었어요. 그런데 갑자기 고양이를 봤어요. 고양이가 아주 컸어요. 그리고 노란색이었어요. 꼭 치즈 같았어요! 정말 웃겼어요.
(Minjun: It was yesterday. I was going home from school. I walked along the road. But suddenly, I saw a cat. The cat was very big. And it was yellow. It looked just like cheese! It was really funny.)

민준: 고양이는 자고 있었어요. 저는 조용히 말했어요. “안녕, 치즈 고양아!”
(Minjun: The cat was sleeping. I spoke quietly. “Hello, Cheese Cat!”)

민준: 고양이는 움직이지 않았어요. 저는 고양이랑 놀고 싶었어요.
(Minjun: The cat didn’t move. I wanted to play with the cat.)

민준: 제 가방에 작은 공이 있었어요. 제가 공을 꺼냈어요. 그리고 고양이한테 공을 살살 굴렸어요. 공이 또르르 굴러갔어요.
(Minjun: There was a small ball in my bag. I took out the ball. And I gently rolled the ball to the cat. The ball rolled away.)

민준: 공이 고양이 코에 닿았어요. 그때 고양이가 눈을 번쩍 떴어요. 고양이가 정말 놀랐어요. 저도 깜짝 놀랐어요. 고양이가 저를 봤어요. 그리고 공을 봤어요.
(Minjun: The ball touched the cat’s nose. Just then, the cat’s eyes flew open. The cat was really surprised. I was surprised, too. The cat looked at me. And it looked at the ball.)

민준: 그리고… 고양이가 공을 가지고 놀기 시작했어요! 발로 공을 툭툭 쳤어요. 저는 하하하 많이 웃었어요. 치즈 고양이하고 저는 오랫동안 같이 놀았어요. 정말 재미있었어요.
(Minjun: And… the cat started playing with the ball! It hit the ball with its paws. I laughed a lot, hahaha. The Cheese Cat and I played together for a long time. It was really fun.)

민준: 내일 또 치즈 고양이를 보러 갈 거예요.
(Minjun: I’m going to see the Cheese Cat again tomorrow.)

📝 Essential Vocabulary

Here are some important words from the story. Listen to the pronunciation and practice saying them out loud.

🔍 Grammar Focus

Let’s break down two important grammar points used in this story.

1. The Past Tense: -았/었어요 (-at/eosseoyo)

To talk about things that have already happened, you need to use the past tense. This story is full of it! The basic rule is to add -았/었어요 to the verb stem.

• If the last vowel of the verb stem is ㅏ or ㅗ, you add -았어요.
• If the last vowel is anything else (like ㅓ, ㅜ, ㅣ), you add -었어요.
• For verbs ending in 하다, it becomes -했어요.

Let’s see some examples from the script:

• 보다 (to see) -> 보 + 았어요 -> 봤어요 (I saw)
  • “그런데 갑자기 고양이를 봤어요.” (But suddenly, I saw a cat.)
• 크다 (to be big) -> 크 + 었어요 -> 컸어요 (It was big)
  • “고양이가 아주 컸어요.” (The cat was very big.)
• 웃다 (to laugh) -> 웃 + 었어요 -> 웃었어요 (I laughed)
  • “저는 하하하 많이 웃었어요.” (I laughed a lot, hahaha.)

2. Expressing Desire: -고 싶다 (-go sipda)

When you want to say “I want to do (something),” you use the pattern Verb Stem + -고 싶다. Since Minjun is telling a story in the past, he uses the past tense of this form: -고 싶었어요 (-go sipeosseoyo), which means “I wanted to do…”

Let’s look at the example from the story:

• Verb: 놀다 (nolda - to play)
• Stem: 놀 (nol)
• Pattern: 놀 + 고 싶었어요
• Result: 놀고 싶었어요 (nolgo sipeosseoyo - I wanted to play)

You can see it in this sentence:

• “저는 고양이랑 놀고 싶었어요.” (I wanted to play with the cat.)

🌍 Cultural Tip

🃏 Flip & Learn

Use these flashcards to test your knowledge of the new vocabulary.

💡 Key Takeaways

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

• You can tell a simple story in Korean using the past tense ending -았/었어요.
• To describe something, you can use adjectives like 크다 (to be big) and colors like 노란색 (yellow).
• The phrase -고 싶었어요 is used to express something you wanted to do in the past.
• New vocabulary for everyday life: 학생 (student), 학교 (school), 고양이 (cat), and 공 (ball).

🎯 Practice Quiz

Let’s check 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.