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adjectives modifying nouns

# Posted: 12 Jan 2007 17:26 KST - Edited by: _joseph_
... Re-Sideview ...

What is an adjective? As an example, she is a pretty girl where pretty is the adjective modifying girl. In Korean, the adjectival form of the verb/adjective word is made by dropping the verb`s dictionary ending 다 (pronounced da or ta), and adding 은 (nun). The Korean adjectival form is then placed before the noun in its new form.

Korean can also has pure adjectives to modify nouns (not action verbs as in the
previous section).

This thread is limited to Descriptive Verbs, keeping in mind that Korean has 2 kinds of verbs -- descriptive verbs and action verbs. A complete list of descriptive verbs is given below.

The formation rule is simple: add 은 to the stem.

A complete list of the most popular adjectives in Korean is available here (simple and most basic level), and intermediate, and advanced adjectives.

인형같은 여자
a girl like a doll, from 같다 to be like
같다 is an adjective so it becomes 같은 to modify

A good description of the possibilities can also be found here.
You see, the descriptive verb loses the 다 and changes its tail ending to 은 and is then placed to precede the noun to modify the noun.
For example:

예쁜 여자 pretty girl
화난 선생님 from 화나다 to be angry ==> + ㄴ=> 환난 teacher, the angry teacher
해야 할 것 what you have to do the ㄹ ending means future adjective yes!@ we can make a future adjective!

Once again, to modify a noun, first remove the 다 dictionary ending. Then you add 은 . Now, let\‘s look at this forms.
As far as I know, there is no past-tense form for Adjectival Verbs.

how to add 은 to a descriptive verb to make an adjective

The rules for forming these adjectival 은 ending forms are subject to all of the rules for irregular verbs as shown here. Look at the third column for every set of irregular verbs to see what happens when you make the adjectival 은 form.

For adjectivals (verbs which can also function as adjectives) ~은 is used. For example,

예쁜
pretty
큰 big
춥지 않는 인도 A not-cold India ... cold is an adjective

As you can see in the above example vowel + 은 are combined into one character like this:

예쁘다 - 다 = 예쁘 ; 예쁘 + 은 => 예쁜 pretty
높다 (high) => 높은 위치 a high position

Also, another blogger Luke has summarized those rules and made them shorter. His post on his blog are included below, as they are under the createive license.

Written Form	Plain Positive	Descriptive
High	높다	높은
Low	낮다	낮은
Big	크다	큰
Small (size)	작다	작은
Spacious	넓다	넓은
Cramped	좁다	좁은
Many	많다	많은
Small (quantity)	적다	적은
Kind	착하다	착한
Fast	빠르다	빠른
Slow	느리다	느린
Handsome	멋있다	멋있는
Ugly	못생기다	못생긴
Easy	쉽다	쉬운
Difficult	어렵다	어려운
Interesting	재미있다	재미있는
Boring	지루하다	지루한
Hot	뜨겁다	뜨거운
Cold	차갑다	차가운
Warm	따뜻하다	따뜻한
Cool	시원하다	시원한
Wonderful	굉장하다	굉장한
Beautiful	아름답다	아름다운
Pretty	예쁘다	예쁜
Humble	겸손하다	겸손한
Loving	사랑스럽다	사 랑스러운
Red	빨갛다	빨간
Yellow	노랗다	노란

park also points out the following tip:

If the last letter doesn`t have a final consonant, just add ㄴ.

Eg.

* 멋지다 → 멋진
* 멋진 자동차 → a cool car/nice car

* 예쁘다 → 예쁜
* 예쁜 구두 → pretty shoes

Steh Posts: 1 native english # Posted: 6 Apr 2007 06:17 KST ... Re-Sideview ... geez... o.O' i think i'm gonna cry after reading this ~~ kkkkk.... tnx so much anyways^___^

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