Effective Strategies for Teaching the Korean Morphemes ‘-었’ (-eoss) and ‘-었었-’ (-eosseoss-) to Italian Learners

This study explores effective pedagogical strategies for teaching the Korean past tense morphemes '-었-' (-eoss-) and '-었었-' (-eosseoss-) to native Italian speakers. While Korean relies on aspectual and context-dependent markers to indicate time, the Italian tense system employs a complex interplay of mood and tense, which poses significant challenges for Italian learners. Through a comparative analysis, this paper demonstrates that '-었-' generally corresponds to the Italian Passato Prossimo (present perfect), as it often denotes past actions with present relevance. Conversely, '-었었-' indicates a discontinuous past or canceled result, aligning more closely with the Italian Trapassato Prossimo (pluperfect) or Passato Remoto (preterite). However, notable exceptions exist; for instance, historical facts in Korean frequently utilize '-었-' instead of '-었었-', which maps it functionally to the Passato Remoto. Furthermore, '-었-' can overlap with the Italian Imperfetto when expressing past habitual actions or continuous states. To address these structural intricacies, the study suggests implementing comparative linguistic approaches in the classroom. By explicitly differentiating these morphemes and contrasting them directly with Italian tenses, educators can help learners accurately grasp the multifaceted aspectual nuances and temporal disjunctions inherent in the Korean past tense.