# verb+셨



## tarinoidenkertoja

Hello, I have a simple question about grammar, 
in sentence like:
펜팔도 해보셨어요
what's the meaning and use of -셨?


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## Askalon

It's a contraction of 시 and 었.  -(으)시 is something you include after the verb to show respect when the subject of the verb (I think) is someone you want to show respect to.  In this case, I believe the sentence is a command/suggestion: you could think of the "subject" of the sentence as "you" (i.e. the person you're talking to).  So it makes the command/suggestion polite.  Either that or maybe the unnamed subject is some third person?  I'm not sure, but in any case 시 is showing respect.

-었- makes verbs past tense.


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## Warp3

Askalon is correct.  It's a contraction of the honorific marker and the past tense conjugation.  It's very common for verbs ending in 이 vowels to contract to 여 when conjugated.  For example, 마시다 (to drink) is usually written as 마셨어(요) in past tense.  The un-contracted versions are still technically correct, though, and are sometimes seen in books or newspaper articles, but the contracted forms seem to be more common.


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## wildsunflower

"펜팔도 해보셨어요" could be either a plain statement of the past event as in English "(Someone) has also done pen-pal." or a question "Have you also done pen-pal?" "해보셨어요" should be translated as a a past participle tense, and cannot be a command/suggestion which indicates an event in future.


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