Essential Korean Grammar. Laura Kingdon
of 하다 hada. This is especially true of words derived from 한자 hanja. You’ll notice Korean has many two-syllable nouns to which you can add 하다 and get a four-syllable word; this is usually two 한자 characters plus 하다. This is also done with many words derived from English.
So if you ever need to change a noun to a verb in a hurry and don’t have a grammar reference guide handy, try 하다. It’s usually a good guess.
운전 unjeon (driving) > 운전하다 unjeonhada (to drive)
공부 gongbu (studying) > 공부하다 gongbuhada (to study)
지각 jigak (tardiness) > 지각하다 jigakhada (to be late)
인쇄/프린트 inswae/peulinteu (printing) > 인쇄하다/프린트 하다 inswaehada/peulinteu hada (to print)
게임 geim (game) > 게임 하다 geim hada (to play a game)
블로그 beullogeu (blog) > 블로그 하다 beullogeu hada (to blog)
The second way to change a noun is to add 이다, which means “it is.” This is necessary for many grammar patterns that will accept only verbs. If you want to sneak a noun in, you can quite often get away with it by adding 이다 to the noun.
학생 haksaeng (student) > 학생이다 haksaeng-i-da (it’s/he’s/she’s a student)
남자 namja (man) > 남자이다 namja-i-da (he’s a man)
물 mul (water) > 물이다 murida (it’s water)
책 chaek (book) > 책이다 chaegida (it’s a book)
Changing Nouns to Descriptive Verbs: 적
Finally, here’s how to turn a noun into an adjective. It works with the two-syllable 한자 hanja nouns we talked about in the last section. Add 적 jeok to the end and the result is an adjective. However, these adjectives can’t be conjugated like regular Korean adjectives (descriptive verbs); for that, you need to add 이다 ida to the end of them as if they were nouns.
개인 gaein (individual) > 개인적 gaeinjeok (private) > 개인적이다 gaeinjeogida
과학 gwahak (science) > 과학적 gwahakjeok (scientific) > 과학적이다 gwahakjeogida
효율 (efficiency) hyoyul > 효율적 hyoyuljeok (efficient) > 효율적이다 hyoyuljeogida
이렇게 개인적인 질문을 하지 마세요. Ileoke gaeinjeogin jilmuneul haji maseyo. Please don’t ask such personal questions.
이것은 더 효율적인 연료인데요. Igeoseun deo hyoyuljeogin yeonryoindeyo. This is a more efficient fuel.
How to Handle Verbs, Part 2: Irregular Verbs
Vowels
When a verb stem ends in a vowel and the expression you’re adding to the end begins with a vowel (어/아 or 었/았 expressions), you have to combine the two vowels. This isn’t difficult as long as you learn how each set combines. In all other cases, ㄴ/는/ㄹ, expressions that have one form for vowels and another for consonants, and expressions that don’t change no matter what they follow, you don’t have to worry about verbs ending in vowels at all. They’re very easy to deal with most of the time.
ㅏ, ㅗ, ㅑ and ㅐ have 아 added to them:
가다 gada > 가 > 가 (아 plus 아 = no change)
사다 sada > 사 > 사
오다 oda > 오 > 와요 wayo (오 plus 아 becomes 와)
보다 boda > 보 > 봐요 bwayo
ㅐ and 야 are based on ㅏ and so are conjugated like 아 verbs.
내다 naeda > 내 > 내요 naeyo
Verbs ending in ㅓ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ, ㅕ or ㅔ take 어 and this is added as follows:
서다 seoda > 서 > 서요 seoyo (어 plus 어 = no change)
켜다 kyeoda > 켜 > 켜요 kyeoyo (여 plus 어 = no change)
치다 chida > 치 > 쳐요 chyeoyo (이 plus 어 = 여)
지다 jida > 지 > 져요 jyeoyo
마시다 masida > 마시 masi > 마셔요 masyeoyo
으 is a meek shy little vowel and prefers to give way whenever it encounters a stronger vowel. This means that it completely disappears from the word, like this:
크다 keuda > 크 > 커요 keoyo
끄다 kkeuda > 끄 > 꺼요 kkeoyo
우 has 어 added to it. Some words can be written with the 우 and 어 together or in separate syllables; this is mostly a matter of custom.
태우다 taeuda > 태우 > 태워요 taewoyo
세우다 seuda > 세우 > 세워요 sewoyo
주다 juda > 주 > 줘요 jwoyo
나누다 nanuda > 나누 > 나눠요 nanwoyo
두다 duda > 두 > 두어요 dueoyo or 둬요 dwoyo
Verbs ending in 에 absorb their 어 like so:
세다 seda > 세 > 세요 seyo
ㄹ irregular Verbs
Verbs ending in ㄹ and followed by expressions starting with ㅂ, ㅅ, or ㄴ (like ㅂ니다, 세요 or 는) lose the ㄹ altogether.
알다 alda > 알 al > 아세요, aseyo 압니다, 아는, 아시다시피, 아니까, abnida, aneun, asidasipi, anikka …
When verb stems ending in 알 are changed into nouns using the ending ㅁ (see page 22), it just gets added into the same syllable, like so:
알다 alda > 알 > 앎 alm
살다 salda > 살 > 삶 salm
This doesn’t happen with verb stems ending in any other consonant.
Tenses with ㄴ/는/ㄹ look strange with this particular irregularity; see the table below.
| Verb | Past Tense | Present Tense | Future Tense |
| 알다 alda | 안 an | 아는 aneun | 알 al |
| 팔다 palda | 판 pan | 파는 paneun | 팔 pal |
| 울다 ulda | 운 un | 우는 uneun | 울 ul |
르 irregular Verbs
Verb stems ending in 르 leu are totally regular except when they have to deal with an ending starting with 아/어/여: for instance, 아/어/여요 or 아/어/여서.