English has a tidy little tense for plans that pointed at the future from a moment in the past: "I was going to call you," "we would meet on Fridays." Learners instinctively try to build this in Korean by past-tensing a future marker — and it doesn't work that way. Korean keeps intention and prediction as separate machinery, even when both are viewed from the past. This page gives you the two tools that actually carry "was going to / would," and shows you which one signals "…but it didn't happen."
Tool 1 — -(으)려고 했어요: the intention that (usually) fell through
Your main tool is -(으)려고 했어요, literally "I intended/was-planning to…". It frames a past intention, and — crucially — it very often implies that the intention did not come off. If you're translating "I was going to X (but…)," this is almost always what you want.
| Stem ends in… | Ending | Verb → Form |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel | -려고 했어요 | 가다 → 가려고 했어요 |
| a consonant | -으려고 했어요 | 먹다 → 먹으려고 했어요 |
전화하려고 했어요.
jeonhwaharyeogo haesseoyo
I was going to call you.
가려고 했는데 못 갔어요.
garyeogo haenneunde mot gasseoyo
I was going to go, but I couldn't.
자려고 했는데 잠이 안 왔어요.
jaryeogo haenneunde jami an wasseoyo
I was going to sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep.
Notice how naturally -(으)려고 했어요 pairs with the contrastive -는데 to spell out the frustration: I was going to, but…. Even on its own, though, 전화하려고 했어요 carries a faint "…and then I didn't get around to it" — the very implication English needs a whole "but" clause to add.
도와주려고 했어요.
dowajuryeogo haesseoyo
I was going to help. (but the chance passed)
말하려고 했는데 기회가 없었어요.
malharyeogo haenneunde gihoega eopseosseoyo
I was going to say something, but I didn't get the chance.
The present-tense partner -(으)려고 해요 means "I intend to / I'm about to," looking forward from now. Past-tensing the 하다 to 했어요 is what pulls the whole intention back into the past — see -(으)려고 하다 for the full intention construction.
Tool 2 — -(으)ㄹ 거였어요: the past of the neutral plan
When you want to state a plan or prediction as viewed from the past — without the strong "but it fell through" coloring — use the past of the neutral future -(으)ㄹ 거예요: swap the present copula for its past, giving -(으)ㄹ 거였어요 (formal: -(으)ㄹ 것이었어요).
그 책을 살 거였어요.
geu chaegeul sal geoyeosseoyo
I was going to buy that book.
원래 갈 거였어요.
wollae gal geoyeosseoyo
I was originally going to go.
주말에 쉴 거였는데 갑자기 일이 생겼어요.
jumare swil geoyeonneunde gapjagi iri saenggyeosseoyo
I was going to rest over the weekend, but work suddenly came up.
Here the machinery is transparent: 거예요 → 거였어요 is just "is a thing that will…" shifted to "was a thing that will…". The adverb 원래 ("originally") is a natural companion, framing the plan as the one you'd set before things changed. The fuller 것이었어요 is the same meaning in a more formal or written key.
Why you can't just past-tense -겠-
The intuitive move — take the intention marker -겠- and add past tense — is a dead end. -겠- only rarely combines with past marking, and 가겠었어요 is not how Koreans say "I was going to go." -겠- lives at the moment of speaking (on-the-spot resolve or inference); it does not comfortably relocate into the past. So "was going to" is built with -(으)려고 했어요 or -(으)ㄹ 거였어요, never by stacking past onto a future suffix.
Choosing between them
The decision is about whether you want to foreground non-fulfillment.
| You want to say… | Use |
|---|---|
| "I was going to, but I didn't / couldn't" | -(으)려고 했어요 |
| a past plan/prediction, neutrally viewed from the past | -(으)ㄹ 거였어요 |
| "I meant to (and it slipped)" | -(으)려고 했어요 |
사려고 했는데 돈이 없었어요.
saryeogo haenneunde doni eopseosseoyo
I was going to buy it, but I didn't have the money.
이 옷을 입을 거였어요.
i oseul ibeul geoyeosseoyo
I was going to wear these clothes. (my plan, stated plainly)
A caution about English "would"
English "would" is a false friend here, because it does two unrelated jobs. In "I would call you (but…)," would means "was going to" — that's -(으)려고 했어요, exactly as above. But in "every summer we would go to the beach," would means a repeated past habit — a completely different idea that has nothing to do with the future. Korean does not touch a future form for this; it uses the habitual past -곤 했어요.
어렸을 때 우리는 매년 바다에 가곤 했어요.
eoryeosseul ttae urineun maenyeon bada-e gagon haesseoyo
When we were young, we would go to the sea every year.
So before you translate "would," ask which one it is: was going to (→ -(으)려고 했어요) or used to / habitually did (→ -곤 했어요). Only the first belongs on this page.
Common Mistakes
1. Using -(으)ㄹ 거였어요 for a plan that clearly fell through. For "I was going to call (but didn't)," the neutral past plan under-delivers the "but." Let -(으)려고 했어요 carry the non-fulfillment.
❌ 전화할 거였어요.
Under-informative for an aborted plan — sounds like a bare past plan, missing 'but I didn't.'
✅ 전화하려고 했어요.
jeonhwaharyeogo haesseoyo
I was going to call (but didn't get to).
2. Past-tensing the intention marker -겠-. There's no 가겠었어요 for "I was going to go."
❌ 가겠었어요.
Not how Korean works — -겠- doesn't relocate into the past like this.
✅ 가려고 했어요.
garyeogo haesseoyo
I was going to go.
3. Leaving -(으)려고 in the present when you mean the past. -(으)려고 해요 is "I intend to / I'm about to," pointed forward from now; you must past-tense the 하다.
❌ 어제 전화하려고 해요.
Tense clash — 어제 (yesterday) needs a past intention: 하려고 했어요.
✅ 어제 전화하려고 했어요.
eoje jeonhwaharyeogo haesseoyo
I was going to call yesterday.
4. Dropping the -으- after a consonant stem. 먹다 → 먹으려고, not 먹려고.
❌ 뭐 좀 먹려고 했어요.
Incorrect — a consonant stem needs -으려고: 먹으려고.
✅ 뭐 좀 먹으려고 했어요.
mwo jom meogeuryeogo haesseoyo
I was going to eat something.
Key Takeaways
- Korean has no single "future-in-the-past" tense; it re-uses intention and prediction machinery.
- -(으)려고 했어요 = "was going to / meant to," with a built-in "…but it didn't happen" — your default for English "I was going to X (but…)."
- -(으)ㄹ 거였어요 = the neutral past plan/prediction, viewed from the past, without the non-fulfillment coloring.
- You cannot build "was going to" by past-tensing -겠- — there's no 가겠었어요.
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- -(으)ㄹ 것이다 / -(으)ㄹ 거예요: The Neutral Future & ProbabilityTOPIK 2 — The everyday Korean 'will / going to / probably' — how -(으)ㄹ 거예요 covers both your own plans and neutral predictions, and why it feels flatter than -겠어요.
- The Remote/Discontinued Past -았었/었었-TOPIK 2 — The 'double past' -았었/었었- marks a past state or event as remote and discontinued — it held then but the situation has since changed or closed off — and is NOT a routine English past-perfect; for ordinary 'had done' background, plain -았/었- is usually what Korean wants.
- -겠-: Intention and ConjectureTOPIK 2 — -겠- is a modal pre-final marker, not a plain future tense: it expresses the speaker's intention/volition (제가 하겠습니다), conjecture about a situation (맛있겠어요, 비가 오겠어요), and survives in frozen phrases (알겠습니다, 모르겠어요) — with the subject largely deciding which reading you get.
- -(으)려고: Intending To / In Order ToTOPIK 2 — The intention-marking purpose ending — -(으)려고 says 'with the intention of / so as to', works with any action verb, and demands the same subject in both clauses.
- -(으)려고 하다: Intend To / About ToTOPIK 3 — The intention-and-imminence frame -(으)려고 하다 — 'plan to' and 'be about to' — and why adding 하다 to the bare purpose clause -(으)려고 changes everything.