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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!

_joseph_
Moderator
Posts: 119,684
native english

# Posted: 11 Dec 2006 21:37 KST - Edited by: _joseph_
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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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