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Verb conjugation type 2: rules for the formation of the 어-아 verb form

maks

Posts: 2
native english

# Posted: 23 Oct 2006 09:41 KST - Edited by: maks
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This is one of the most often used korean verb forms, and it's simply called the polite informal form. There are exceptions and there are rules, it's a very confusing part of Korean for me!
Everytime I see one of these things and I can't conjugate it or figure out what the original verb was ... because of some irregular form .... that throws me into a frenzy

bibibo

Posts: 34
native french

# Posted: 24 Oct 2006 16:25 KST
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Here are some more examples:

있다 있어요 exist
없다 없어요 not exist
읽다 읽어요 read
먹다 먹어요 eat
쉬다 쉬어요 relax

the confusing part is when it changes the preceding vowel.
as in these:

담그다: 담가(담그+아)다, 담갔다(담그+았다)
and here with the verb 잠그다 (lock up )
잠그다: 잠가(잠그+아)다, 잠갔다(잠그+았다)

바쁘다 바빠 바빴다
바쁘다 바빠요 be busy
기쁘다 기뻐요 be happy

배고프다 배고파 배고팠다
어설프다 어설퍼 어설펐다

depending on the previous vowel, you put ㅏ or ㅓ

for us foreigners its easy to learn because there is rules

사랑해주세요!

maks

Posts: 2
native english

# Posted: 24 Oct 2006 17:33 KST - Edited by: maks
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Korean Grammar For International Learners has examples which leads me to the following rules:

으 -> 아 as in "담그다" ==> "-아" or "-았-" for the past tense.

So the rule seems to be 으 + 아 ==> 담갔다

so you can write
배고프다 -> 배고팠다

But, in the caption for the picture below, though we have an example of 으 + 어 => 어

오늘 정말 너무 슬펐습니다
... how is this possible?
from 슬프다 (sad) becomes 슬퍼 which in past tense is 슬펐다

but then why do you also say 어설프다 ==> 어설펐다.

bibibo

Posts: 34
native french

# Posted: 24 Oct 2006 18:34 KST
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its easy:

ㅏ is associated to 양 vowels ㅏ ㅑ ㅗ ㅛ
ㅓ is associated to 인 vowels ㅓ ㅕ ㅜ ㅠ and ㅣ

먹다's last vowel is ㅓ which is an 인 vowel, so it becomes:
먹 + 어 = 먹어

살다's last vowel is ㅏ which is a 양 vowel, so it becomes:
살 + 아 = 살아

in the case of 잠그다, the last vowel is ㅡ which is a neutral ( -> undetermined )
so we have to look at the previous vowel of 잠 which is ㅏ, 양 vowel so it becomes:
잠그 + 아 = 잠가

in the case of 어설프다, 프 neutral, 설 is ㅓ so it becomes:
어설프 + 어 = 어설퍼

in the case of 쓰다, there is no previous non-neutral vowel so it is ㅓ
쓰 + 어 = 써
뜨다 + 어 = 떴어.
etc
정말 사랑하는 사람이라면, 무슨 수를 써서라도 되찾는 것이 맞다.
If you really love somebody, you will try to get them back no matter what.

hope it helps

사랑해주세요!

jcs Moderator native english # Posted: 11 Dec 2006 21:37 KST - Edited by: jcs ... Re-Sideview ... Dont' forget as well that sometimes the vowels are combined and merged into one. The two main examples of that are : 하다 해요 make, do, speak 가르치다 가르쳐요 teach the 6 or 7 exceptions to the above rules are in the next topic. Please continue your study ....

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