Irregular Verb Patterns

Now, as you can see in the chart, there will be some situations that do not follow this exactly. 가다 means "to go". If you remove the 다 to get the verb root you are left with 가. Following this pattern, you would add 아요/아 to the verb root, and get something like 가아요. The real way is just 가요. It has been shortened because otherwise we just say two of the same vowel in a row. Since that is a waste of time and breath, it is simply 가요 or 가.

The final verb is the chart above is 하다. This is a very common verb in any language. This one verb is irregular all on it's own. It doesn't follow a pattern, and you just need to memorize the case. It shouldn't be too hard because you will see this all over the place. 하다 has a root of 하. The polite form is 해요 and the casual form is 해. Just take a few minutes right now to memorize this and then you will never have to worry about it again.

The first one is "To Drink" or 마시다. If we remove the dictionary 다 ending, we are left with 마시. Following normal patterns for the polite form, we would have 마시어요. To make it easier and sound better, the real polite form is 마셔요. Any verb root that ends in ㅣ will naturally take the 어요/어 endings, and we shorten ㅣ+ 어 to ㅕ. Other verb examples that take this pattern are 가르치다 - 가르쳐요, 기다리다 - 기다려요, 치다 - 쳐요.

Next we meet 만나다 (get it?). This one should be easy. We already went over it with 가다. Since the verb root ends in 아, we shorten 만나아요 to 만나요. Also, keep in mind this pattern works with verb roots that end in ㅓ as well.

If it ends in ㅓ it would naturally take the 어요 ending. This would be a double vowel sound so we just shorten it the same way. Other verb examples that take this pattern are 가다 - 가요, 사다 - 사요, 서다 - 서요.

Next, we come to 오다 (ok, I will really stop now, I promise!). The verb root is 오. This would naturally take the 아요 ending, making 오아요. Wouldn't it be much easier to combine the ㅗ and the ㅏ into ㅘ? It sure sounds better and smoother. That is exactly what we do. Whenever a verb root ends in ㅗ, it will naturally take the 아요 ending and because all of you will know this lesson, you will naturally combine the ㅗ and the 아요 to 와요. Other verb examples that take this pattern are 갔다오다 - 갔다와요, 나오다 - 나와요.

Next, we have 바쁘다. The verb root is 바쁘. Following normal verb patterns we would figure the polite form would be 바쁘아요. Try and say that. Now, try and say 바빠요. That is the correct way. When a verb root ends in ㅡ, we drop the ㅡ, look at the last vowel in the root that is left (not including the ㅡ) and add the appropriate ending. For this example, the last vowel would be ㅏ. So, when we drop the ㅡ and add the 아요 ending, we get 바빠요. Other verb examples that follow this pattern are 나쁘다 - 나빠요, 예쁘다 - 예뻐요,쓰다 - 써요.

The next verb is 모르다. The verb root is 모르. You might be thinking, that ends in ㅡ so wouldn't it follow the above irregular pattern, and become 모라요? Indeed, it would, except Koreans have decided if a verb root ends in 르 (not just ㅡ), then we will double up the ㄹ by adding a second ㄹ to the end of the syllable before the 르. And then we drop the ㅡ. 몰라요. We added a ㄹ to 모 and got 몰. We dropped the ㅡ and got 라요. Together, we have 몰라요. Other verb examples using this pattern are 자르다 - 잘라요, 부르다 - 불러요, 빠르다 - 빨라요.

The final verb in the verb chart above is 덥다. You should definitely be good with verb roots by now and instantly know it is 덥. Now, with this irregular pattern, you must remember two things. Often, when a verb root ends in ㅂ, you should drop the ㅂ and add 우. After that, you move to the second step. If it ends in 우, when we pick a style such as polite style, it should naturally take the 어요 ending. This is another pattern where we combine two characters to make it smoother. 우 and ㅓ combine into 워. We get 더워요 in the end. Other verb examples that follow this pattern are 어렵다 - 어려워요, 즐겁다 - 즐거워요.

Now you should know the verb patterns you will run into. You can take a verb out of a dictionary such as Declan's Korean Dictionary, find the root, and put it in either casual language or polite language. But you may still be wondering what exactly that means! Is polite language simply the same thing as if you were to be polite in English?

Remember how in Korean verbs can be used all alone and the sentence will be grammatically correct? Let's see some examples. If we were to say 먹어요, what exactly are we saying? We know it is a polite way, and it means "to eat" (don't worry if you haven't memorized the verbs yet. You will be sent to the homework page shortly to do some memorization). But do we know what we are saying when we say 먹어요 to someone? Well, it depends :). You could be saying "I'm eating." Or, you could be saying "you're eating". You could be saying "eat." If someone said "What do you want to do?" You could reply 먹어요. In Korean you can use the verbs in a much more general manner than in English. Later we will see how to add words such as "I" or "You" if necessary to clear up the meaning of a sentence.

Another example could be 좋다. This means To Be Good. If someone asks you how is something, you can say 좋아요! Like, "Are my new shoes ok? Do you like them? How are they?" "좋아요!". Or, if you are having a casual conversation about something with your friend, and they say something and in English you would just give the reply "Good!" or something, you can just say 좋아!(remember, it's a conversation with your friend).

This whole concept about the verbs being so general is hard to learn at first. Just try your best! Casual verbs can have even more meanings than other forms! If you say 가 you could be saying I'm going, you're going, someone's going, let's go, are we going?, etc. A lot of Korean is about what can be assumed. If it can be assumed, there is no need to say it in the language. One of the most recommended Korean language products, Rosetta Stone Korean Level 1, makes learning this part a breeze. This wraps up the intro to Korean verbs! It's time for you to memorize a few, and to go back and make sure you know the patterns covered on this page. There will definitely be more to come on verbs later.