#conjugatingverbs

Linguistics, University of Chicago

A lot of the time in Korean, you will see words ending in 다. If the ending is notㅂ니다, 습니다 then it’s in dictionary form so you should not use them in plain speech and you should conjugate them.

You can conjugate by looking at the verb stem. To get the verb stem just take off the 다 and look at what’s left.

The most basic form you conjugate into is basic present form.

If the last vowel in the word is a ㅏor ㅗ then you use 아요. If the last vowel in the word is not either of those and is ㅓ or ㅗ then you use 어요. Using 아요: -살다- to live -알다- to know -보다- to see/to watch -오다-to come 1)살다= 살=살아요 2)알다= =알=알아요 3) 보다= 보=보아요= 봐요 4)오다=오=오아요=와요 Using 어요: 먹다=to eat 끓다= to boil 걸다=to walk 업다= to carry on ones’ back 먹다= 먹= 먹어요 끓다= 끓=끓어요 걸다= 걸= 걸어요 업다=업=업어요 with 하다 verbs:

하다 verbs are one of the most common. It by itself means “to do”. You’re going to come across a lot of these verbs that end in 하다 such as

좋아하다-to like 요리하다- to cook 전화하다- to call( on the phone) 공부하다- to study

Regardless of what’s attached, 하다 always becomes 해요.