안녕하세요 

In this blog we will learn how to conjugate Korean verbs into Present Tense. Some languages emphasis more on verb tenses like in English language, while others will be easier to get used to. And Korean language takes it easy. Let’s begin with the basic Korean verb tenses that is the present tense.

Korean Present Tense
But before that there are some things that you should know about conjugation. Before adding any tense to a verb, you have to conjugate the verb. For that you have to remove 다 from the dictionary form of the verb and then you get the verb stem. And from that verb stem you can add tenses.

Dictionary Form               Verb Stem

가다                               가

먹다                               먹

웃다                               웃

The Present Tense: -

To conjugate a verb into the present tense, you have to take the verb stem and add the present tense ending. There are 3 endings of Korean Present tense.

아요

어요

여요

These endings are in polite form.

When to use which ending?

àIf the verb stem’s last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, then 아요 is added to the verb stem.

àIf the verb stem’s last vowel is not ㅏ or ㅗ, then 어요 is added to the verb stem.

àIf the verb stem is 하, then 여요 is added to the verb stem.

In Korean, many verbs end with 하다. So, knowing how to conjugate 하다 verbs into the present tense will help you to conjugate many verbs easily that ends with 하다.

For example, 청수 is a noun for cleaning, to make it a verb we have to add 하다. It makes 청수하다 which means to clean and it is a verb. Now you can change it according to the tense by only conjugating 하다.

Originally 하 + 여요 becomes 하여요 but overtime it became 해요. Just remember that 하다 changes into 해요 in the present tense.

Examples: -

청수하다 (to clean) = 청수해요

공부하다 (to learn) = 공부해요

서다 (to stand) = 서요

먹다 (to eat) = 먹어요

That’s it for today Take you time to memorize it and don’t get discouraged if you find it difficult at first. In the next blog we’ll go over vowels merge thing.

Please share if you find this useful. 

Let me know if there are any mistakes and if you have any questions do ask me in the comment section.

If you are learning Korean or interested in South Korea do check my blogs👈.