How Korean Verbs Work

Every “가요”, “먹어요”, and “좋아요” you've said came from one rule. This course finally shows you the machine — and once you see it, you can build verbs you were never taught.

Every verb starts in the dictionary

In the dictionary, every Korean verb and adjective ends in 다: 가다 (to go), 먹다 (to eat), 좋다 (to be good), 예쁘다 (to be pretty). Drop the 다 and you have the stem — the part that never changes:

The one rule: add 아요 or 어요

To make the polite present tense, you add either 아요 or 어요 to the stem. Which one? Look at the stem's last vowel:

• last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ (“bright”) → add 아요
• any other vowel (“dark”) → add 어요

That's the whole engine. Vowel harmony — bright with bright, dark with dark — is the same instinct behind Korean's sky·earth·person vowels from the very first course.

When vowels meet: contractions

When the stem already ends in a vowel, it merges with the 아/어 instead of stacking. These are the smooth forms you've been hearing all along:

The one you use most: 하다 → 해요

하다 (to do) is special — and it's everywhere, because hundreds of verbs are built from a noun + 하다: 공부하다 (study), 운동하다 (exercise), 사랑하다 (love), 일하다 (work). They all conjugate the same way:

When the stem bends: two key irregulars

Most verbs follow the rule cleanly. A few change shape when they meet 아/어 — and you've already met one without knowing it.

ㅡ drop: if the stem's last vowel is ㅡ, the ㅡ disappears and you look at the vowel before it to choose 아/어:

ㅂ irregular: if the stem ends in ㅂ, it softens to 우 before the ending:

Try it

What you just learned

• Drop 다 to get the stem; add 아요 (bright ㅏ/ㅗ) or 어요 (everything else).
• Vowel-ending stems contract: 가요, 와요, 마셔요, 봐요.
• 하다 → 해요 powers hundreds of noun+하다 verbs.
• ㅡ-drop (예뻐요) and ㅂ-irregular (매워요) are tidy patterns, not chaos.