정말 맛있었어요.

Speech Level

Uses the polite informal past tense ending '-었어요', suitable for expressing gratitude and satisfaction to restaurant staff.

How it works

An adverb modifying a past-tense descriptive verb.

• 정말: Really, truly.
• 맛있었어요: Was delicious. The past tense of '맛있다'.

Omitted Subject

The subject (the food or the meal) is omitted because it is obvious from the context of you just having finished eating.

Sound Changes

Through liaison, the bottom consonants carry over to the following empty 'ㅇ' syllables. The 'ㅆ' in '있' carries over to '었', and the 'ㅆ' in '었' carries over to '어', making the spoken pronunciation sound like [정말 마시써써요].

Notes

A warm, polite compliment to the chef or staff after finishing a satisfying meal.