Lesson 7 - How to Conjugate and Use Irregular Verbs

Hey everyone! 

Back with a brand new grammar post here in KPOPOLOGY GRAMMAR. Today, it’s all about irregular verbs! 

Just like in English (and every language), Korean has irregular groups of verbs; it actually has 7 main irregular verb groups. Yes, I know, they’re a lot and some of them are pretty hard to understand; you’ll be able to learn how to use them through practice.  

Let’s get started, then! 

Before looking into the different groups, let’s review what a verb stem is.  

The ㅡ Irregular group 

This group of verbs is characterized by verb stems (if you don’t remember what a verb stem is check here) ending with the vowel ㅡ. I’ve mentioned them in the previous post, and they’re the ones in which the vowel ㅡ gives its place in the syllable block to either 어 or 아.  

How does it work?  It’s not as hard as it seems. This group probably contains the easiest irregular verbs. The rule is pretty straight forward:  

when a verb stem has the vowel ㅡ in one of its syllable blocks, depending on which vowel it is preceded by, it will be omitted and 어 or 아 will take its place in the syllable block. 

• Note that when a verb stem is only made by one syllable block, the vowel ㅡ will see 어 take its place in the syllable block. 

Let’s see a list of the verbs belonging to this group, and the steps we need to make them go through to have them conjugated into Polite Form Present Tense.   

으 Irregular verbs
Dictionary Form	1st step	2nd step	Polite informal form
예쁘다  [to be pretty]	예쁘	예뻐	예뻐요
바쁘다  [to be busy]	바쁘	바빠	바뻐요
아프다  [to hurt, to be sick]	아프	아파	아파요
고프다  [to be hungry]	고프	고파	고파요
크다  [to be big]	크	커	커요
나쁘다  [to be bad]	나쁘	나빠	나빠요
쓰다  [to use, to write]	쓰	써	써요
기쁘다  [to be glad]	기쁘	기뻐	기뻐요
슬프다  [to be sad]	슬프	슬퍼	슬퍼요
잠그다  [to fasten]	잠그	잠가	잠가요
끄다  [to turn off]	끄	꺼	꺼요
모으다  [to gather]	모으	모아	모아요
뜨다  [to float, to open one’s eyes]	뜨	떠	떠요

The ㄹ Irregular group 

This is the second irregular verb group and it is characterized by the consonant ㄹ being the last letter in the verb stem.  

This group is the first step to slightly complicated grammar. So, buckle up, and don’t be scared! Practice will get you through this. Promise! 

So, let’s get to it, shall we? 

Let’s start by saying that this group of irregular verbs sticks to two different rules. They’re very important as to what comes to conjugating the verbs and also to recognizing their conjugated form. 

1. When the verb stem is followed by a grammar pattern beginning with either ㅅ,ㅂ,ㄴ the ㄹ in the verb stem will be omitted and the verb stem will be conjugated as if it ended with a vowel; 
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2. When the verb stem is followed by a grammar pattern beginning with 으, the 으 won’t be used in the pattern and the consonant ㄹ will be kept in its place (like in the future -(으)ㄹ 거예요) 

Now let’s look at some of the verbs belonging to this group and their conjugations: 

  

ㄹ Irregular verbs
Dictionary Form	1st step	2nd step	Polite informal form
길다  [to be long]	길	길어	길어요
놀다  [to play, hang out]	놀	놀아	놀아요
들다  [to lift]	들	들어	들어요
만들다  [to make]	만들	만들어	만들어요
멀다  [to be far]	멀	멀어	멀어요
살다  [to live]	살	살아	살아요
알다  [to know]	알	알아	알아요
열다  [to open]	열	열어	열어요
울다  [to cry]	울	울어	울어
팔다  [to sell]	팔	팔아	팔아요
힘들다  [to be hard]	힘들	힘들어	힘들어요
걸다  [to walk]	걸	걸어	걸어요
밀다  [to push]	밀	밀어	밀어요
달다  [to be sweet]	달	달아	달아요
돌다  [to turn]	돌	돌아	돌아요
풀다  [to solve]	풀	풀어	풀어요
불다  [to blow]	불	불어	불어요
이끌다  [to lead]	이끌	이끌어	이끌어요
내밀다  [to hold out]	내밀	내밀어	내밀어요
거칠다  [to be rough]	거칠	거칠어	거칠어요
저물다  [to get dark]	저물	저물어	저물어요
늘다  [to increase]	늘	늘어	늘어요
갈다  [to sharpen]	갈	갈아	갈아요
기울다  [to tilt]	기울	기울어	기울어요
물다  [to bite]	물	물어	물어요

  

The ㅂ Irregular group 

Here’s another tough irregular group of verbs. It doesn’t have a complicated rule, but it is quite confusing at times.  

This group of verbs is characterized by the verb stem ending with the consonant ㅂ. The rule is that whenever the verb stem is followed a vowel, the ㅂ will turn into 우. There are some verbs that instead of having the consonant turn into 우, it sees it become 오. 

Note that there are ㅂ verbs that are regular; if you want to distinguish them, you will need to memorize them (this is the scary part) 

I’m pretty sure I confused you, so to try and make you less confused, I will show you a list of these irregular verbs.  

  

ㅂ Irregular verbs
Dictionary form	1st step	2nd step	3rd step	Polite informal form
가볍다  [to be light]	가볍	가벼우	가벼워	가벼워요
고맙다  [to be thankful]	고맙	고마우	고마워	고마워요
곱다  [to be nice, to warm-hearted]	곱	고우	고와	고와요
눕다  [to lie]	놉	누우	누워	누워요
귀엽다  [to be cute]	귀엽	귀여우	귀여워	귀여워요
깁다  [to sew up, to mend]	깁	기우	기워	기워요
까다롭다  [to be complicated, to be particular about something]	까다롭	까다로우	까다로워	까다로워요
더럽다  [to be dirty]	더럽	더러우	더러워	더러워요
덥다  [to be hot]	덥	더우	더워	더워요
돕다  [to help]	돕	도우	도와	도와요
두렵다  [to be fearful of, to be scared of]	두렵	두려우	두려워	두려워요
맵다  [to be spicy]	맵	매우	매워	매워요
무겁다  [to be heavy]	무겁	무거우	무거워	무거워요
밉다  [to detest, to be ugly]	밉	미우	미워	미워요
반갑다  [to be glad]	반갑	반가우	반가워	반가워요
부럽다  [to envy]	부럽	부러우	부러워	부러워요
아름답다  [to be beautiful]	아름답	아름다우	아름다워	아름다워요
어둡다  [to be dark]	어둡	어두우	어두워	어두워요
어렵다  [to be hard]	어렵	어려우	어려워	어려워요
즐겁다  [to enjoy]	즐겁	즐거우	즐거워	즐거워요
춥다  [to be cold]	춥	추우	추워	추워요
쉽다  [to be easy]	쉽	쉬우	쉬워	쉬워요
무섭다  [to be scared]	무섭	무서우	무서워	무서워요
가깝다  [to be close to]	가깝	가까우	가까워	가까워요
새롭다  [to be new]	새롭	새로우	새로워	새로워요
시끄럽다  [to be noisy]	시끄럽	시끄러우	시끄러워	시끄러워요

  

The ㄷ Irregular group 

This is another group which has got a pretty simple rule, but it gets to be confusing at times. The verb stems of the verbs belonging to this group end with the consonant ㄷ. 

What’s so confusing about them, then? Many people get confused with the conjugation and the understanding if a verb is irregular or not.  

But, to be honest with you guys, this group of irregular verbs is probably one of the easiest to get, too! 

I’ll show you a list of them: 

  

ㄷ Irregular Verbs
Dictionary forms	1st step	2nd step	3rd step	Polite informal style
듣다  [to listen]	듣	들	들어	들어요
묻다  [to ask]	묻	물	물어	물어요
걷다  [to walk]	걷	걸	걸어	걸어요
깨닫다  [to perceive, to realize]	깨닫	깨달	깨달아	깨달아요
싣다  [to load]	싣	실	실어	실어요

The ㅎ Irregular group 

This group of irregular verbs concerns those verbs which verb stem ends in ㅎ아/어/여. 

Note that there are several regular verbs which end with this consonant.  

I’ll show you some examples belonging to this group: 

  

ㅎ Irregular Verbs
Dictionary form	1st step	2nd step	3rd step	Polite informal style
노랗다  [to be yellow]	노랗	노랗+ㅣ+ 아	노래	노래요
빨갛다  [to be red]	빨갛	빨랗+ㅣ+ 아	빨개	빨개요
하얗다  [to be white]	하얗	하랗+ㅣ+ 어	하얘	하얘요
까맣다  [to be black]	까맣	까맣+ㅣ+ 아	까매	까매요
파랗다  [to be blue]	파랗	파랗+ㅣ+ 아	파래	파래요
이렇다  [to be like this]	이렇	이랗+ㅣ+ 어	이래	이래요
그렇다  [to be be like that]	그렇	그랗+ㅣ+ 어	그래	그래요
저렇다  [to be be like that]	저렇	저랗+ㅣ+ 어	저래	저래요

The ㅅ Irregular group 

This is the second to last irregular group (there are a lot, I know). In this group, the verb stem of a verb ends with the consonant ㅅ.  

The rule is the following:  

When the verb stem is followed by a vowel, the consonant ㅅ will disappear; the verb stem will conjugate as if there was another consonant at the end of the verb stem and will conjugate accordingly (by adding either 아/어) 

This sounds pretty confusing, and it is. But you’ll get it through practice, so don’t get scared yet! 

Here’s some examples of how it works: 

ㅅ Irregular Verbs
Dictionary form	1st step	2nd step	3rd step	Polite informal style
낫다  [to be better]	낫	낫+아	나아	나아요
짓다  [to name, to build, to write]	짓	짓+어	지어	지어요
긋다  [to draw a line]	긋	긋+어	그어	그어요
잇다  [to connect, to link]	잇	잇+어	이어	이어요
붓다  [to swell, to pour]	붓	붓+어	부어	부어요
젓다  [to stir, to whip]	젓	젓+어	저어	저어요

The 르 Irregular group 

Now, this is the first group of verbs which concerns not just one, but two letters (It’s actually a whole syllable block). I’m talking about the verbs ending with 르.  

The rule for these verbs is pretty easy:  

When the syllable is followed by either 아 or 어, the ㅡ is omitted and one of the two vowels takes its place; finally, another ㄹ is added to the verb. 

Okay, I will admit it sounds complicated, but I promise that with a demonstration you will understand it. Let’s look at a list of these irregular verbs: 

I'm not sure why it doesn't let me add the actual tab of Irregular Verbs but here's the link and a preview of it: click here.


VOCABS SET ON QUIZLET: 1 

KPOPOLOGY WEBSITE: Home, KPOPOLOGY Explains 

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I'll see you soon with another grammar point post!  

  

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