Korean Basic Grammar

다

Attached to verbs and adjectives stems

아요

Attached to the stem, when the last vowel of the stem is 아 or 오

어요

Attached to the stem, when the last vowel is NOT 아 or 오

여요

Attached to the stem, when the verbs or adjectives include 하다

하여요

Contracted into 해요

아

When the stem has 아 vowel, the two identical vowels become a single vowel

으

When the stem has ‘으’ vowel, the vowel is lost and the contraction occurs.  Since the vowel is lost, the vowel of the previous syllable decides the ending, ‘어요/아요.’ However, when there is no previous vowel after the vowel is ‘으’ is lost, 어요 is the basic ending, like in 크다

애/에

어 from the ending 어요 is dropped

이

Contracted with 어 of the ending 어요

시

Contracted into 세 when it is combined with the ending 어요

우/오

The contraction occurs into its diphthongs

-(으)세요

Used for two purposes; to show your respect; 1. when talking to seniors, such as your teacher, or your grandparents, and 2. when talking about seniors

았어요

Added to the stem when the stem of the predicate is 아 or 오

었어요

Added to the stem when the stem of the predicate is the other vowels

ㅆ어요

When the stem doesn’t have a final, this is added to the stem of the polite form

-(으)ㄹ 거에요

Used to express a probable future or intention

을 거에요

Added to the stem when the stem ends in a consonant

-ㄹ 거에요

Added to the stem when the stem ends in a vowel or

ㄷ

When the stem of a particular predicate has this final, it will change into ㄹ in front of a vowel

Irregular predicates in ~ㅂ

Most of the predicates that have the stem ending in ㅂ follow the irregular rule in whichㅂ changes into 오 or 우 in front of a vowel

Irregular predicates in -ㄹ

When the predicate stem ends in ㄹ, ㄹ is omitted before ㄴ, ㅂ, or ㅅ. ㄹ is also omitted before the ending 을

Dictionary form

다

Present form

아요/어요

Past form

았어요/었어요

Future form

(으)ㄹ 거에요

Honorific form

(으)세요

Deferential present

습/ㅂ 니다

Irregular predicates in -ㅎ

When the consonant ㅎ in the final meets a vowel such as 어/아, or 었/았, ㅎ is dropped andㅣis added to the vowel. But when the verb ending begins with any other vowel, only ㅎ is dropped. Irregular predicates in ㅎ occurs in some predicates such as color adjectives and 이렇다, 그렇다, 저렇다, 어떻다

은/ㄴ

Used before a noun to function as the noun modifiers. The English equivalent is ‘who,’ or ‘that.’  ‘은/ㄴ’ is attached to the stem of adjectives.  When the stem ends in a consonant, 은 is added to the stem of the adjective. When the stem ends in a vowel, ㄴ is added to the stem

–는

Used before a noun to function as the noun modifiers. The English equivalent is ‘who,’ or ‘that.’  ‘는’ is attached to the stem of verbs.  However, adjectives containing 있다 is followed by ‘는’ to modify the next noun

–는/은/ㄴ데

Used when: 1. the first clause provides the background information or the situation for the second clause, 2. when the two clauses contrast to each other