물었지만

In a sentence

• 저는 선생님에게 이 문제를 물었지만 대답을 들을 수 없었습니다.

  I asked the teacher about this problem, but I couldn't receive an answer.

  In this sentence, '물었지만' is the past tense of '묻다' (to ask), followed by '지만' which indicates contrast or opposition. This expresses that the speaker asked a question but did not get the expected or desired response.

• 그는 나에게 이름을 물었지만 저는 대답하지 않았어요.

  He asked me my name, but I did not reply.

  Here, '물었지만' indicates that the action of asking occurred; however, the following clause contrasts by showing that no response was given.

• 친구가 저에게 무슨 일이 있었는지 물었지만 대답이 곤란해서 침묵했습니다.

  My friend asked me what happened, but since answering was difficult, I remained silent.

  In this sentence, '물었지만' continues to denote the act of questioning followed by an opposing event or state in the succeeding clause.