Korean Tenses Quiz: 15 Questions with Instant Feedback

Take the Korean Tenses Quiz

Follow these steps. Each one tells you what you should see.

1. Read the question and say any Korean text aloud once. You should see four choices.
2. Pick one choice by click, tap or by pressing 1, 2, 3 or 4. The Check button turns active.
3. Select Check. You see "Correct" or "Not quite", the right answer and a one-sentence reason. Select Next.
4. After question 15, read the summary. It shows how many answers were correct in this session and links to the lesson and deck for the questions you missed.

Question order and choice order change every session, so a retake is never the same sequence. All forms are in the polite -요 style, and every question gives the sentence or the base form it asks about.

What Does the Korean Tenses Quiz Cover?

The quiz has 15 questions on the four forms learners meet first. Six ask you to build a past form, three a future form, two a progressive form and one the present. Three more ask you to tell the tenses apart. Verbs are common regular verbs and 하다 verbs, so a miss points to a tense rule and not to an irregular stem.

The lessons behind the quiz are the korean tenses lesson and the beginner korean grammar flashcards. If you miss a question, the reason line tells you which marker to look for.

How Is the Korean Tenses Quiz Scored?

The quiz gives one point for each of the 15 questions you answer correctly on the first try in the current session. At the end it shows a line such as "You answered 12 of 15 correctly in this session". There is no timer, no streak and no ranking, so you can slow down and say each answer aloud.

The count is not a CEFR level, a TOPIK level or a measure of fluency. It only shows what you recalled today. Your answers and score stay in your browser and disappear when you close the tab, unless you choose to save progress on your own device.

What Should You Know about Korean Tenses First?

A tense is the part of a verb that shows when something happens. Korean puts the tense marker on the verb, between the stem and the ending. The stem is the verb without 다: 먹 in 먹다. The polite style adds 요 at the end, so every form in this quiz ends in 요.

How Do You Choose 았 or 었?

Look at the last vowel of the stem. If it is ㅏ or ㅗ, the past marker is 았: 오 + 았어요 gives 왔어요. For every other vowel it is 었: 먹 + 었어요 gives 먹었어요. A 하다 verb takes 했어요. Stems that end in a vowel usually contract, which is why 가 + 았어요 is 갔어요 and not 가았어요.

How Is the Future Different from the Progressive?

The future with -(으)ㄹ 거예요 says what you plan or expect: 내일 갈 거예요 means "I will go tomorrow". The progressive with -고 있어요 says the action is happening now: 지금 가고 있어요 means "I am going now". The polite present can also refer to a near future when a time word is present, but this quiz asks about the marked forms.

Sample Questions with Answers

These six questions come from the quiz, with the answer and the reason for each. They also work as a preview if JavaScript is off. Samples one, four and five are a set: each past form follows the last vowel of the stem.

Sample Question 1 and Its Answer

Question: What is the polite past of 먹어요?

Choices: 먹았어요; 먹었어요; 먹을 거예요; 먹고 있어요.

Answer: 먹었어요 (meogeosseoyo). Why: A stem whose last vowel is ㅓ takes 었어요, so 먹 + 었어요 gives 먹었어요 [머거써요].

Sample Question 2 and Its Answer

Question: What is the polite future of 가요?

Choices: 갔어요; 가고 있어요; 가세요; 갈 거예요.

Answer: 갈 거예요 (gal geoyeyo). Why: A stem that ends in a vowel takes -ㄹ 거예요, so 가 + ㄹ 거예요 gives 갈 거예요 [갈꺼예요].

Sample Question 3 and Its Answer

Question: Which form means "is eating"?

Choices: 먹고 있어요; 먹었어요; 먹을 거예요; 먹지 않아요.

Answer: 먹고 있어요 (meokgo isseoyo). Why: -고 있다 marks an action that is in progress, so 먹고 있어요 means "is eating".

Sample Question 4 and Its Answer

Question: What is the polite past of 하다?

Choices: 하었어요; 할 거예요; 했어요; 해요.

Answer: 했어요 (haesseoyo). Why: 하다 takes 여, and 하 + 였어요 contracts to 했어요. The form 하었어요 does not exist.

Sample Question 5 and Its Answer

Question: What is the polite past of 오다 (to come)?

Choices: 오었어요; 왔어요; 올 거예요; 와요.

Answer: 왔어요 (wasseoyo). Why: 오 ends in the bright vowel ㅗ, so it takes 았어요, and 오 + 았어요 contracts to 왔어요.

Sample Question 6 and Its Answer

Question: Which ending marks the future in 내일 갈 거예요?

Choices: -았어요; -고 있어요; -아요; -ㄹ 거예요.

Answer: -ㄹ 거예요. Why: The ending -(으)ㄹ 거예요 shows a plan or a guess about the future. After a vowel stem it is written -ㄹ 거예요.

Tips before You Start

• Find the tense marker first: 았/었 for the past, -ㄹ 거예요 for the future and -고 있어요 for an action in progress.
• Check the last vowel of the stem before you pick 았 or 었.
• Read each sentence aloud. 먹었어요 and 먹을 거예요 sound very different.
• Look for time words such as 어제, 지금 and 내일 in the prompt; they confirm the tense.

Which Mistakes Does the Korean Tenses Quiz Catch?

Four errors cover most misses.

• Using 았 after a ㅓ stem, as in 먹았어요 instead of 먹었어요.
• Writing both vowels after a vowel stem, as in 가았어요, instead of the contracted 갔어요.
• Mixing up the future -ㄹ 거예요 and the progressive -고 있어요.
• Forgetting that 하다 verbs become 했어요 in the past.

What Should You Study after the Quiz?

Drill the items you missed with the beginner korean grammar flashcards and build sentences with the korean sentence builder. Review the korean tenses lesson for any marker you missed. This quiz belongs to the korean grammar quiz collection. Next, try the korean honorifics quiz. For a mixed check across skills, take the korean level test.

Answer Key for Questions 7 to 15

Prefer to test yourself first? Take the quiz above, then check this table. The first six answers are in the sample questions.

What Does This Quiz Not Do?

The quiz covers the polite present, past, future and progressive forms of common regular verbs. It does not cover irregular stems, formal -ㅂ니다 endings, the plain past in -었다, or the other ways Korean marks the future, such as -겠-. Speech differs from the textbook forms, and a form that is correct here can sound stiff in a text message. Korean text and pronunciations are generated and were reviewed and signed off by Min-ji Park on 15 October 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the quiz test formal tenses?

No. The 15 questions use the polite -요 style, which learners meet first. The formal -ㅂ니다/습니다 style uses the same tense markers with different endings. Learn the polite forms here, then see the speech levels lesson for the formal style and when to use it.

Is the progressive tense included?

Yes, in two questions. Both use -고 있어요 for an action in progress, as in 먹고 있어요 (is eating). The quiz asks you to tell this form apart from the past and the future. The quiz does not cover other progressive patterns.

Are irregular verbs tested here?

No. Every verb in the quiz is regular or a 하다 verb, so you can focus on the tense markers. Verbs such as 듣다 and 돕다 change their stems and are tested in the Korean irregular verbs quiz.

How are tenses different from conjugation?

Conjugation is the whole job of changing a verb stem into a usable form. A tense is one meaning that a form carries, such as past or future. This quiz asks which marker gives which tense; the conjugation quiz asks how to build the forms.

Is the quiz free?

Yes. The quiz is free, needs no account and runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Nothing you answer is uploaded to a server. If you choose to save progress, it is stored on your own device only, and you can delete it in your browser settings at any time.

Retake the Korean Tenses Quiz

Retake the korean tenses quiz after you can name the marker for each tense without looking. The reason line for each question is also a mini-lesson, so reading it twice often helps more than a fast retake. When the quiz feels easy, move on to honorifics.