Oops, I mean "suite-iru/mas" somehow a つ suck in there.
These are the verbs you're trying to use:
空く = すく (suku)
渇く = かわく (kawaku)
Both お腹が空いている and お腹が空いた pretty much mean that someone is hungry. Though the latter is the one you would probably want to use to state that you're hungry. So "onaka ga suita" or more polite "onaka ga sukimashita".
Same goes for the other verb. You would say 喉が渇いた "nodo ga kawaita" or polite "nodo ga kawakimashita".
追伸: The te-form for 渇く is 渇いて, so your sentence you say remember hearing should probably be "nodo ga kawaite imasu".
So there is no fundamental difference in meaning or usage?
I understand one is the past and the other is te.
Fundamental difference, no. 空いている is a 状態, so you could say something like 昨日からずっと空いている to mean "I've been hungry since yesterday". You couldn't use the "past" form here, as that doesn't make any sense. The past form of "to become empty" is pretty much "has become empty" in English, I'd guess. So saying お腹が空いた would translate more directly to "I have become hungry (at some point in the past and am therefore hungry now)".
Hope that is enough to wrap your head around. I mean after a meal you could say 今でもまだお腹が空いている, but you couldn't use 空いた here, because it's not describing the situation right now, but something that already happened. That's why if you just want to say "I'm hungry", both pretty much mean the same thing. But "お腹が空いた" is the more common version.
なるほど
Thanks a ton, Jakob. Now it makes sense.
"Hungry" and "thirsty" お腹が「ついている」か「ついた」か
I remember hearing and using "onaka ga tsuite-imasu" and "nodo ga kawai desu" a whole lot.
But when I look up these on google, most folk say to use "tsukimashita" and "kawakimashita"
Which is best, most common?