Korean Imperative Form || Tell Someone to DO & NOT DO

Q: How to ask someone NOT to do something in Korean?

when you want to ask someone not to do something , we put ‘-지 마세요.’ to word stems. ‘마세요’ has the meaning of ‘do not’. In this case, it does not matter whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or a consonant. Whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or a consonant, “ -지 마세요 ” is used. Examples: 큰 소리로 말하 지 마세요 . Please do not speak loudly. 비밀번호를 바꾸 지 마세요 . Please do not change the password.

Q: What are some basic Korean sentence structure?

Here are the 3 most basic Korean sentence structure: #1 || Subject + Verb #2 || Subject + Object + Verb #3 || Subject + Noun / Adjective -- Learn more about Korean sentence structures here.

Q: What is the Korean negative form?

Expressing ‘not’. For verbs and adjectives. Add ‘안’ or ‘-지 않아요’ in front of them. Example: 지수는 초콜릿을 좋아하지 않아요. Expressing ‘cannot’. For verbs only. Add 못’or ‘-지 못해요’ in front of the verb. Example: 저는 수영을 못 해요. Expressing ‘do not know’. The word ‘to know’ in Korean is ‘알다’. However, we rarely apply the methods of case 1 and case 2 for this word. Instead, we use the word ‘몰라요’ Example: 나는 그녀의 연락처를 몰라요. Expressing ‘not have’. When we make a sentence to talk about the absence of something, we would use ‘없어요’. Example: 공원에 사람들이 거의 없어요. -- Learn more about the Korean negative form here.

Home A2 Korean imperative form

KOREAN IMPERATIVE FORM

Learning the Korean Imperative Form will help you formulate requests in a very straight forward way, that do not require an answer from the other person!

We’ll teach you how to ask someone to do something, as well as NOT to do something.

ASKING SOMEONE TO…

The imperative form is used when you want to ask someone to do something.

It can be used in some situations, such as making a request, giving advice, and delivering instruction.

To make an imperative form in Korean, you need to conjugate the verbs according to the following rules.

VERB STEM ENDS IN A VOWEL	VERB STEM ENDS IN A CONSONANT
-세요.	-으세요.

PATTERN

Verb + -세요 / 으세요

조용히 말하세요.

_{Please speak quietly.}

창문을 닫으세요.

_{Please close the window.}

View More Phrases

KOREAN	ENGLISH
주 3회 운동하세요.	Exercise three times a week.
설명서를 꼼꼼히 읽으세요.	Please read the manual carefully.

ASKING SOMEONE NOT TO…

On the other hand, when you want to ask someone not to do something, we put ‘-지 마세요.’ to word stems.

‘마세요’ has the meaning of ‘do not’. In this case, it does not matter whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or a consonant.

Whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or a consonant, “-지 마세요” is used.

PATTERN

Verb + -지 마세요

For example:

큰 소리로 말하지 마세요.

_{Please do not speak loudly.}

그 전화를 받지 마세요.

_{Please do not receive the call.}

View More Phrases

KOREAN	ENGLISH
비밀번호를 바꾸지 마세요.	Please do not change the password.
더러운 벤치에 앉지 마세요.	Please do not sit on a dirty bench.

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MORE RESOURCES

Want to learn more? Check out these other free resources:

Learn more about the imperative form in Japanese
Learn more about the imperative form in Vietnamese

FAQs

How to ask someone to do something?

To make an imperative form in Korean and ask someone to do something, you need to conjugate the verbs according to the following rules.

Verb stem ends in a Vowel: add -세요.

Verb stem ends in a Consonant: -으세요.

Examples: 조용히 말하세요. Please speak quietly.

창문을 닫으세요. Close the window.

How to ask someone NOT to do something in Korean?

when you want to ask someone not to do something, we put ‘-지 마세요.’ to word stems.

‘마세요’ has the meaning of ‘do not’. In this case, it does not matter whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or a consonant.

Whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or a consonant, “-지 마세요” is used.

Examples:

큰 소리로 말하지 마세요. Please do not speak loudly.

비밀번호를 바꾸지 마세요. Please do not change the password.

Is Korean SVO or SOV?

Korean is a SOV language, meaning the basic language structure is:

Subject + Object + Verb

Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish are also SOV languages for example.

English is a SVO language: subject + verb + object

—

Learn more about Korean sentence structures here.

What are some basic Korean sentence structure?

Here are the 3 most basic Korean sentence structure:

#1 || Subject + Verb

#2 || Subject + Object + Verb

#3 || Subject + Noun / Adjective

—

Learn more about Korean sentence structures here.

What is the Korean negative form?

Expressing ‘not’. For verbs and adjectives. Add ‘안’ or ‘-지 않아요’ in front of them.

Example: 지수는 초콜릿을 좋아하지 않아요.

Expressing ‘cannot’. For verbs only. Add 못’or ‘-지 못해요’ in front of the verb.

Example: 저는 수영을 못 해요.

Expressing ‘do not know’. The word ‘to know’ in Korean is ‘알다’. However, we rarely apply the methods of case 1 and case 2 for this word. Instead, we use the word ‘몰라요’

Example: 나는 그녀의 연락처를 몰라요.

Expressing ‘not have’. When we make a sentence to talk about the absence of something, we would use ‘없어요’.

Example: 공원에 사람들이 거의 없어요.

—

Learn more about the Korean negative form here.

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