LESSON 23

Verbs and Adjectives

The nucleus of a Korean sentence is the verb expression at the end. A verb in Korean is a word which means either something happens, someone DOES something or something IS a certain way.

Most English adjectives correspond to verbs in Korean: keoyo = is big, jeogeoyo = is little, manayo = is much, are many, ippeoyo = is cute etc. Notice that these Korean words do not mean big, little, much, cute but IS big, IS little, IS much, IS cute.

Later you will learn how to put such verbs in front of nouns to modify them—in Korean instead of saying a big house you have to say the equivalent of a house which is big.

Now there are a few English adjectives which correspond to Korean nouns: sae = new, on = whole, entire. These can modify a following noun just by being in front of it: sae moja = new hat, on segye = whole world. But most English adjectives correspond to Korean verbs.

Each Korean verb appears in a great many different forms—as many as 500. Some of these forms are fairly rare, but many are common. In this book, you will learn a few of the most useful forms and find out a little about the structure of verb forms in general, so that you will be better prepared to cope with the bewildering number of forms you hear.

This isn’t nearly as daunting as it may seem. You’ll have to learn a lot of different verb endings to become truly fluent in Korean, but you don’t need to know many at all to be able to communicate with people quite effectively. Remember that Koreans, particularly when using the polite style, often use the same ending to mean a wide variety of things by just changing the intonation.

Each verb form consists of a BASE and an ENDING. Sometimes the ending can be divided into several parts, but we will talk about each ending as a unit. There are two things to learn about each verb base: (1) how it is used, what it means; (2) how its shape changes when you add the various endings. And there are two things to learn about each ending: (A) how it is used, what it means; (B) how its shape changes when you attach it to the various kinds of bases. Fortunately the shape changes are rather systematic, and if you learn a few typical verbs you can make up forms for new verbs by analogy.

The most complicated rules are for INFINITIVE or -eo ending. Since this is the form which occurs with the particle yo in the polite style, it is perhaps best just to memorize the verb from this form to start with and find one other form where the base of the verb appears in its basic form.

Below you will find a list of typical verb bases, showing (1) the polite present form (-eo yo, -a yo, -e yo, with some irregularities); (2) the polite past form (-eosseoyo or -asseoyo with some irregularities); (3) the polite present negative (-ji anayo). To make the negative past you replace anayo with anasseoyo:

An jabasseoyo.     Jabji anasseoyo.

안 잡았어요.    잡지 안았어요.

did not catch.       didn’t catch.

Finally there is given the basic shape of the BASE, from which the various forms are predictable. There are two general classes of bases: CONSONANT and VOWEL. The basic shape of consonant bases is found when you remove the -eoyo or ayo ending; the basic shape of vowel verbs appears when you take away the -ji ending.

1. CONSONANT BASES

BASE MEANING DOES; IS DID; WAS DOESN’T; ISN’T

jab catches jabayo jabasseoyo jabji anayo

잡 잡아요 잡았어요 잡지않아요

nop is high nopayo nopasseoyo nopji anayo

높 높아요 높았어요 높지않아요

eops is non eopseoyo eopseosseoyo –

없 existent 없어요 없었어요

dad closes dadayo dadasseoyo datji anayo

닫 닫아요 닫았어요 닫지 않아요

gat- is like gatayo gatasseoyo gatji anayo

같 같아요 같았어요 같지 않아요

us laughs useoyo useosseoyo utji anayo

웃 웃어요 웃었어요 웃지 않아요

iss exists isseoyo iseosseoyo –

있 있어요 있었어요

chatj finds chajayo chajasseoyo chatji anayo

찾 찾아요 찾았어요 찾지 않아요

ssijj- washes ssiseoyo ssiseosseoyo ssitji anayo

씻 씻어요 씻었어요 씻지 않아요

ilg- reads ilgeoyo ilgeosseoyo ilgji anayo

읽 읽어요 읽었어요 읽지 않아요

ilh- loses ireoyo ireosseoyo ilchi anayo

잃 잃어요 잃었어요 잃지 않아요

halt- licks haltayo haltasseoyo haljji anayo

핧 핧아요 핧았어요 핧지 않아요

balb- steps on balbayo balbasseoyo balpji anayo

밟 밟아요 밟았어요 밟지 않아요

eulp- chants eulpeoyo eulpeosseoyo eulpji anayo

읇 읇어요 읇었어요 읇지 않아요

noh- puts noayo noasseoyo nochi anayo

놓 놓아요 놓았어요 놓지 않아요

meog- eats meogeoyo meogeosseoyo meokji anayo

먹 먹어요 먹었어요 먹지 않아요

kkakk- cuts kkakkayo kkakkasseoyo kkakji anayo

깎 깎아요 깎았어요 깎지 않아요

gam- shampoos gamayo gamasseoyo gamjji anayo

감 감아요 감았어요 감지 않아요

jeom- is young jeolmeoyo jeolmeosseoyo jeomjji anayo

젊 젊어요 젊었어요 젊지 않아요

sin- wears on sineoyo sineosseoyo sinjji anayo

신 feet 신어요 신었어요 신지 않아요

anj- sits anjayo anjasseoyo anjji anayo

앉 앉아요 앉았어요 앉지 않아요

bureo- breaks bureo bureojyeosseoyo bureojiji

부러 jeoyo anayo

부러져요 부러졌어요 부러지지 않아요

II. VOWEL BASES

(i)- is, equals ieyo ieosseoyo –

이에요 이었어요

-eyo yeosseoyo –

에요 였어요

swi- rests swieoyo swieosseoyo swiji anayo

쉬 쉬어요 쉬었어요 쉬지않아요

gidari- waits gidaryeoyo gidaryeosseoyo gidariji anayo

기다리 기다려요 기다렸어요 기다리지

않아요

se- counts seyo seeosseoyo seji anayo

세 세요 세었어요 세지 않아요

dwe- becomes dweyo dwesseoyo dweji anayo

되 되요 됐어요 되지 않아요

nae- pays naeyo naessoeyo naeji anayo

내 내요 냈어요 내지 않아요

sseu- writes sseoyo sseosseoyo sseuji anayo

쓰 써요 썼어요 쓰지 않아요

ga- goes gayo gasseoyo gaji anayo

가 가요 갔어요 가지 않아요

ju- gives jwoyo jueosseoyo juji anayo

주 줘요 주었어요 주지 않아요

bo- sees, reads bwayo bwasseoyo boji anayo

보 봐요 봤어요 보지 않아요

(VOWEL BASES WITH IRREGULAR FORMS)

ha- does haeyo haesseoyo haji anayo

하 해요 했어요 하지 않아요

bureu- calls bulleoyo bulleosseoyo bureuji anayo

부르 불러요 불렀어요 부르지 않아요

pureu- is blue, pureureoyo pureureo pureuji

green sseoyo anayo

푸르 푸르러요 푸르렀어요 푸르지 않아요

NOTE: The -ji forms for isseoyo, eopseoyo, and ieyo are itji, eopji, and iji. They are very seldom used in the negative construction.

Most of the other verbs you have met will fit into one of the above categories. For example, wayo = comes works just like bwayo = sees:

BASE MEANING DOES; IS DID; WAS DOESN’T; ISN’T

o- comes wayo wasseoyo oji anayo

오 와요 왔어요 오지 않아요

Yeppeoyo = is is pretty/cute/beautiful and keoyo = is big are like sseoyo = writes:

yeppeu- is cute yeppeoyo yeppeosseoyo yeppeuji anayo

예쁘 예뻐요 예뻤어요 예쁘지 않아요

keu- is big keoyo keosseoyo keuji anayo

크 커요 컸어요 크지 않아요

jeogeoyo = is small works like meogeoyo = eats. Manayo = is much, are many and anayo = does not, is not have forms like those of kkeuneoyo = cuts; badayo = gets has forms like those of dadeoyo = closes. Mollayo = does not know and mallayo = gets dry work like bulleoyo = calls:

BASE MEANING DOES; IS DID; WAS DOESN’T; ISN’T

mareu- gets dry mallasseoyo mareuji anasseoyo

마르 말랐어요 마르지 않았어요

Here are a few examples of these verbs in sentences.

Geu san-i nopayo.

그 산이 높아요.

That mountain is tall.

Wae mun-eul dajji anasseoyo?

왜 문을 닫지 않았어요?

Why didn’t you close the door?

Geu sonyeon-i nae chingu gajji anayo.

그 소년이 내 친구 같지 않아요.

That boy is not like my friend.

Eodi-eseo geu don-eul chajasseoyo?

어디에서 그 돈을 찾았어요?

Where did you find the money?

Agi-ga wae ujji anayo?

아기가 왜 웃지 않아요?

Why isn’t the baby laughing?

Moja-reul ireo beoryeosseoyo.

모자를 잃어버렸어요.

I lost my hat.

Jakeseul ireobeoriji anaseoyo.

자켓을 잃어버리지 않았어요.

I didn’t lose my jacket.

Gabang-eul teibeul wie nochi anasseoyo.

가방을 테이블 위에 놓지 않았어요.

I didn’t put my briefcase on the table.

Geu-neun gogi-reul meokji anayo.

그는 고기를 먹지 않아요.

He doesn’t eat meat (at all).

Neo-ege don-eul juji anatta.

너에게 돈을 주지 않았다.

I didn’t give you any money.

Don-i eopseoseo gyesan haji mot haeyo.

돈이 없어서 계산하지 못해요.

I haven’t any money; so, I can’t pay (you).