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eoje hotereseo chekeu-inhaesseoyo.

어제 호텔에서 체크인했어요.eoje hotereseo chekeu-inhaesseoyo.
I checked in at the hotel yesterday.
FromLesson 21inHardcore Korean
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Questions & Answers about eoje hotereseo chekeu-inhaesseoyo.

What does the particle -에서 indicate in 호텔에서 체크인했어요?
-에서 marks the location where an action takes place. Here, “호텔에서” tells us that the action of checking in happened at the hotel. If you used -에 instead, you’d be focusing more on arrival or destination (“to the hotel”) rather than the action happening there.
Why is the verb 체크인했어요 instead of a native Korean verb?

체크인 is an English loanword (“check-in”) adopted into Korean. To turn borrowed nouns into verbs, Korean often adds 하다 (to do). So:

  • 체크인 + 하다 → 체크인하다
    Then you conjugate 하다 into the past tense:
  • 체크인하다 → 체크인했어요
How do I conjugate 체크인하다 into other tenses and forms?

You treat it like any other -하다 verb:
• Present polite: 체크인해요 (“I check in.” / “I am checking in.”)
• Past polite: 체크인했어요 (“I checked in.”)
• Future polite: 체크인할 거예요 (“I will check in.”)
• Negative polite: 체크인하지 않아요 (“I don’t check in.”) or 체크인 안 했어요 (“I didn’t check in.”)

Can I say 호텔에 체크인했어요 instead of 호텔에서 체크인했어요?
Yes, you can sometimes hear 호텔에 체크인했어요, especially if you’re thinking of “arriving at” or “going to” the hotel to check in. But if you want to emphasize the action took place inside the hotel, 호텔에서 is more precise.
What role does 어제 play, and does word order matter?

어제 means “yesterday” and is an adverb of time. In Korean, time-expressions usually come before the verb or at the very beginning of the sentence:
• 어제 호텔에서 체크인했어요.
You could also say:
• 호텔에서 어제 체크인했어요.
The meaning stays the same because Korean is relatively flexible with word order.

How would I turn this into a polite question asking someone else?

• For equal or lower status:
어제 호텔에서 체크인했어요? (“Did you check in at the hotel yesterday?”)
• For higher status (honorific):
어제 호텔에서 체크인하셨나요? or
어제 호텔에서 체크인하셨어요?
Here -하셨- is the honorific form of 하다, showing respect to the listener.

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ppallae~kka hadanaeil ppallaereul halkka haeyo.da-eumeda-eume doseogwaneseo hamkke chaegeul ilgeoyo.setaksoiyonghae bodadoseogwaneseo keompyuteoreul iyonghae bwasseoyo.
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“How do speech levels work in Korean?”
Korean has multiple speech levels that indicate formality and politeness. The most common are the formal polite (‑습니다/‑ㅂ니다), informal polite (‑아요/‑어요), and casual (‑아/‑어) forms. Which level you use depends on who you're speaking to and the social context.

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