In this lesson, we will finally learn how to build a whole sentence starting with the verb, the one part of speech that is always necessary in Korean.

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Present tense

All the infinitive verbs in Korean end with the syllable "다". The first thing to do to conjugate a verb, therefore, is removing it.

먹다 → 먹

Afterward, based on the vocal in the last syllable remained, you will put -아 after a syllable with the vocals ㅏ and ㅗ and -어 after a syllable with the vocals ㅓ, ㅜ, ㅣ, and ㅡ.

먹 + 어 = 먹어

Eventually, you will have to add the particle "요" to make the verb polite.

먹어 + 요 = 먹어요

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Of course, there are some exceptions, but they're only 7 and easy to remember.

1. Verbs ending with 하 transform their ㅏ into ㅐ and just add 요.

2. When a verb ends with ㅐor ㅔ you only need to put 요.

3. If a verb ends with ㅗ, then the conjugation will become ㅘ.

4. If a verb ends with ㅜ, then the conjugation will become ㅝ.

5. If a verb ends with ㅣ, then the conjugation will become ㅕ.

6. If a verb ends with ㅡ, then the conjugation will just be ㅓ.

7. If a verb already ends with ㅏ or ㅓ, you will only need to put 요. 

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Topic and subject markers

It is important to note that the Korean language doesn't dispose of prepositions. However, there still are ways to define the logic functions of the words in a sentence: markers! They're added at the end of a word and often change based on the word's last letter. 

You will need to add -는 (topic) or -가 (subject) to a noun that ends with a vowel, and you will add -은 (topic) or -이 (subject) to a noun ending with a consonant.

물 + 이 = 물이

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The topic represents what a phrase talks about, but even if the topic and the subject may be the same thing in your language, you should prefer the topic in Korean. Just try to imagine it as an "as far as I'm concerned/referring to me".

Eg: I drink the water → as far as I'm concerned, I drink the water (나는 물을 마셔요).

However, when the topic and the subject are understandable from the context, they can be omitted.

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You'll use the topic markers when you'll need to make a comparison between two things or situations.

Eg: Today I'm in Seoul, yesterday I was in Busan → referring to today, I'm in Seoul, but referring to yesterday, I was in Busan (오늘은 서울에 있어요, 어제는 부산에 있었어요).

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Here we have a couple of exceptions too. The first is the subject form of 나 (I, me) which, sticking to the rule, should be 나가, but actually is 내가. Likewise, the subject form of 너 (you) won't be 너가, yet 네가.

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Negative form of the verb "to be"

The formula to create the negative form of the verb "이다" is incredibly easy. You will just need to attach the subject marker to every word in Korean and, then, the word "아니에요".

Look how easy it is to say "it is not water".

물 + 이 + 아니에요 = 물이 아니에요

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You can find a downloadable PDF file to review this lesson offline and a Google Forms test to exercise and verify what you learned here below. See you at the next lesson!