yesnareneun yeogie yeonghwagwani isseosseo.

옛날 means old times / long ago / the old days.

In 옛날에는:

• 옛날 = old times
• 에 = a time marker, roughly at / in
• 는 = the topic marker

So 옛날에는 means something like:

• back then
• in the old days
• as for long ago

The 는 often adds a slight contrast, implying something like back then, unlike now.... So this sentence can feel like it is comparing the past with the present.

This is the normal Korean pattern for saying that something exists in a place:

place + thing + 있다/없다

So here:

• 여기에 = here / in this place
• 영화관이 = a movie theater as the thing that exists
• 있었어 = existed / was there

So the structure is basically:

Here, there was a movie theater.

Korean does not need a separate dummy subject like English there in there was. Instead, it simply says that a movie theater existed here.

Because this sentence is about existence/location, not about where an action happens.

• 에 is commonly used for:

  • location of existence: 있다 / 없다
  • destination
  • time

• 에서 is commonly used for:

  • the place where an action happens

So:

• 여기에 영화관이 있었어 = There was a movie theater here
• 여기에서 영화를 봤어 = I watched a movie here

Using 여기에서 in this sentence would sound unnatural, because 있다 is not an action taking place there in the same way.

이/가 is commonly used with 있다/없다 to mark the thing that exists.

So 영화관이 있었어 means:

• there was a movie theater
• it introduces or points out the existence of that theater

If you said 영화관은, it would sound more like:

• as for the movie theater...
• or it would create a contrast with something else

For example:

• 옛날에는 여기에 영화관이 있었어.
  There used to be a movie theater here.
• 옛날에는 영화관은 있었어, 그런데 백화점은 없었어.
  Back then, there was a movie theater, but there wasn’t a department store.

So in this sentence, 이 is the most natural choice.

The base form is 있다, which means:

• to exist
• to be present
• to have in some contexts

Here it becomes past tense:

• 있다 → 있었어

This is the casual past form of 있다, meaning:

• was
• existed
• used to be there

So 영화관이 있었어 literally means a movie theater existed or more naturally there was a movie theater.

In Korean, 있다 has a wider range than English be or have.

It can mean:

• to exist / be somewhere
• to have

The meaning depends on the structure.

In this sentence:

• 여기에 영화관이 있었어
• literally: At here, a movie theater existed

So this is the existence meaning, not the have meaning.

Compare:

• 여기에 영화관이 있어.
  There is a movie theater here.
• 나는 시간이 있어.
  I have time.

Same verb, different usage.

The sentence uses a very common Korean order:

time + place + subject + verb

So:

• 옛날에는 = time
• 여기에 = place
• 영화관이 = thing that existed
• 있었어 = verb

Korean word order is more flexible than English because particles show each word’s role. So other orders are possible, such as:

• 여기에 옛날에는 영화관이 있었어.
• 영화관이 옛날에는 여기에 있었어.

But the original order sounds very natural and easy to understand. It sets the scene first: back then, here, there was a movie theater.

있었어 is a casual/informal style.

It would be used:

• with friends
• with younger people
• in relaxed conversation
• when speaking to someone close to you

The polite version would be:

• 옛날에는 여기에 영화관이 있었어요.

The more formal written style would be:

• 옛날에는 여기에 영화관이 있었다.

So the meaning stays the same, but the tone changes.

Yes, very often it does.

Because of the topic marker 는, the sentence can imply:

• Back then, there was a movie theater here... but now there isn’t
• or at least things were different before

Even if the speaker does not say the present situation directly, Korean listeners often feel that contrast.

So this sentence does not just give a past fact. It often carries the nuance:

• There used to be a movie theater here.

That is slightly more natural in English than a plain There was a movie theater here in the old days, depending on context.