Conjugations: Verb Stem, Present-tense Casual/Formal
Feb 08, 2023
Korean conjugations are not difficult. In fact, it's super easy.
No, I promise! Stay with me!
There are almost no exceptions to the rules and you just apply the formula to pretty much any verb/adjective.
The difficult part though, as an English-speaker, will be about what that conjugations MEAN.
There are some great blogs out there about HOW to conjugate, so I won't be touching on that in this series.
This blog is about the MEANING of the conjugated words.
Dictionary Form (aka. Verb Stem)
The Dictionary Form of a word is the one that ends in a 다. Consider this to be the ancestor of the Family Tree of Conjugations, it's where all other variations will come from.
Dictionary form of verbs are not common to use in conversation although you will hear it for adjectives.
That's because dictionary form has no formality - which is the most important factor in the Korean language. I.e. It is neither formal or casual so it cannot be used when you're speaking TO someone.
But you may use it when you're making a statement 'to yourself' and not necessarily aimed at someone. You might say something like "It's so hot today" or "That hat is super cute" These are closed-ended statements, kind of like talking to yourself right?
In these situations, you might use Dictionary Form to speak. (오늘 너무 덥다, 저 모자 너무 귀엽다)
English vs Korean Grammar
The English language does not have Dictionary Form, the ancestor starts at Basic Form.
Basic Form is the variation that is used most commonly in conversation, in both Korean and English.
It is present-tense… and the most basic… as the name suggests!
Here are a few examples of Basic Form Verbs in both languages:
- Do 해
- Eat 먹어
- Go 가
- Work 일해
In English, these are just words and it's grammatically incorrect to speak like this.
E.g. If someone asked me "What are you doing?" I cannot say "Work", I have to say "I am working".
And then if someone asked me "What's Jane doing?", I have to say, "She IS working".
But in Korean, we would answer both questions with "일해" and that is considered a grammatically correct and full sentence.
In English, whether my brother, boss or grandmother asked me those questions, I would still answer in the same way, right? "I am working"/"Jane is working"
But in Korean, it would be different!
If my brother asked me what I was doing, I would say "일해" (Basic Form)
But if my boss or grandmother asked me what I was doing, I might say "일해요" (Basic Form Formal)
This is a simple yet perfect example of the philosophy of grammar behind the two languages.
And understanding this will be key in helping you learn Korean grammar.
Basic Form (aka present-tense casual)
So the Basic Form of a Verb or Adjective means three things:
1. Question (Are you, do you?)
2. Statement - Something or someone (that I speak to casually) is doing the thing
3. Command/Order (telling some in the casual language to do the thing)
Notice the key theme being that everyone involved is casual (반말) related, and everything is present-tense.
Basic Form past-tense (aka past-tense casual)
Turning verbs into past-tense is super easy (check out video below on how).
The meanings are:
1. Question (Did you, Have you?)
2. Something or someone (that I speak to casually) did the thing
Notice the theme is again, all 반말-related but now in past-tense.
Don't forget that verbs and adjectives are the grammatically the same in Korean, so all these meanings apply to verbs.
Give it a go yourself!
Here is a list of the top 15 most common Verbs (as decided by me). Figure out what they would mean in sentences!
Then turn them into past-tense and do the same!
Check out this video for pronunciation of these words.
