‘ㅡ’ irregular conjugation in Korean: e.g. 예쁘다, 아프다, 쓰다, 슬프다

- Author: Paloma Harris (South Africa)
- Editor: Good Job Korean team  

 In Korean, there are some verbs that don’t follow regular conjugation rules. ‘ㅡ’ irregular is one of those that don’t follow regular conjugation.

 Let’s check regular conjugation rules first as ‘ㅡ’ irregular conjugation is quite similar to regular rules.

 Regular conjugation rules for verbs

 1) If the last vowel of the verb stem is "ㅏ" or "ㅗ", add "아요".

 Ex)

 만나다(to meet) -> 만나 + 아요 -> 만나요(I meet) (repeated "아" was dropped)

 2) If the last vowel of the verb stem is NOT "ㅏ" or "ㅗ", add "어요".

 Ex)

 먹다(to eat) -> 먹 + 어요 -> 먹어요(I eat)

 3)If the verb stem ends with "하다", change ‘하다’ to "해요".

 Ex)

 공부하다 (to study) -> 공부해요 (I study)

 Now, let’s check out how ‘ㅡ’ irregular verbs conjugate!

 ‘ㅡ’ irregular conjugation rules

 When Verb Stem ends with "ㅡ", drop "ㅡ" first. And then, apply present tense conjugation rules to the letter that preceded "ㅡ".

 Let’s see an example with ‘예쁘다(to be pretty)’

 Step 1: Drop ‘ㅡ’ and ‘다’

 예쁘다 (to be pretty) -> 예ㅃ

 Step 2: Apply the REGULAR conjugation rules to the letter before ‘ㅡ’.

 예ㅃ -> 예ㅃ + 어요 -> 예뻐요

 You have to check if the vowel of ‘예’ is ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’ to decide what you should add after between ‘아요’ and ‘어요’. As the vowel of ‘예’ from ‘예쁘다’ is neither ‘ㅏ’ nor ‘ㅗ’, ‘어요’ is added.

 Let’s see 2 more example words

 아프다 (to be sick/to hurt) -> 아ㅍ -> 아ㅍ + 아요 -> 아파요

 Since the vowel of ‘아’ which is placed before ‘프’ is ‘ㅏ’, ‘아요’ is added following the regular conjugation rule number 1.

 쓰다 (to write/to use) -> ㅆ -> ㅆ + 어요 ->  써요

 Since there is no letter before ‘쓰’, ‘어요’ is added following the regular conjugation rule number 2.

 List of ‘ㅡ’ irregular verbs in the present/past/future tense

 -(배)고프다 (to be hungry)
 배고파요 – 배고팠어요 – 배고플 거예요.

 -쓰다 (to write)

 써요 – 썼어요 – 쓸 거예요.

 -아프다 (to be sick)

 아파요 – 아팠어요 – 아플 거예요.

 -끄다 (to turn off)

 꺼요 – 껐어요 – 끌 거예요.

 -크다 (to be big)

 커요 – 컸어요 – 클 거예요.

 -기쁘다 (to be happy)

 기뻐요 – 기뻤어요 – 기쁠 거예요.

 -나쁘다 (to be bad)

 나빠요 – 나빴어요 – 나쁠 거예요.

 -바쁘다 (to be busy)

 바빠요 – 바빴어요 – 바쁠 거예요.

 -슬프다 (to be sad)

 슬퍼요 – 슬펐어요 – 슬플 거예요.

 -예쁘다 (to be pretty)

 예뻐요 – 예뻤어요 – 예쁠 거예요.

 -모으다 (to collect)

 모아요 – 모았어요 – 모을 거예요.

 -뜨다 (to float)

 떠요 – 떴어요 – 뜰 거예요.

Example sentences with ‘ㅡ’ irregular conjugation

 저는 요즘 엄청 바빠요.

 I am really busy these days.

 *저: I (polite speech)   *요즘: these days, recently   *엄청: really, very   *바쁘다: to be busy

 불을 꺼주세요.

 Please turn the lights off.

 *불: light   *끄다: to turn off   *-주세요: please do something  

 저는 아주 슬펐어요.

 I was very sad.

 *아주: very    *슬프다: to be sad

 배가 엄청 고파요.

 I am very hungry.

 *배(가) 고프다: to be hungry 

- Author: Paloma Harris (South Africa)
- Editor: Good Job Korean team