A Korean adjective can be used in its infinitive form using the following structure:

Subject (은/는/이/가) + Infinitive Adjective

Sujin is beautiful. 수진이는 예쁘다.

My brother is smart. 내 동생은 똑똑하다.

The scenery is spectacular. 경치가 멋지다.

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The adjectives in Korean can be used to directly describe nouns (e.g., a beautiful girl, a busy day).

In this case, the ‘다’ ending from the infinitive form is dropped, and ‘ㄴ’ consonant is added:

– If the syllable in front of ‘다’ ends with a vowel, you add ‘ㄴ’ to the vowel. 

Beautiful Sujin 예쁜 수진이 (예쁘다 -> 예쁜)

– If the syllable in front of ‘다’ ends with a consonant, you add ‘는’ after the syllable.  Delicious noodle 맛있는 국수 (맛있다 -> 맛있는)

– If the syllable in front of ‘다’ ends with ‘ㅂ’, then you remove ‘ㅂ’ and add ‘운’ after the syllable. Hot weather 더운 날씨 (덥다 -> 더운)

The most common way of forming adverbs from adjectives in Korean is by adding ‘게/하게’ to the stem of an adjective.

‘하게’ is added to an adjective that has ‘하다’ ending in its infinitive:

Stem of an adjective + 게/하게

Examples:

어렵다  (difficult) > 어렵게 (difficultly)

쉽다 (easy) > 쉽게 (easily)

예쁘다 (beautiful) > 예쁘게  (beautifully)

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For some adjectives that have ‘하다’ ending, ‘히’ can be added to make their adverbs as well.

In this case, the adverbs with ‘하게/히’ can be used interchangeably. 

Stem of an adjective in ‘하다’ form + 히/하게

Examples:

조용하다 (quiet)  > 조용히 (quietly) or 조용하게 (quietly)

안전하다 (safe) > 안전히 (safely) or 안전하게 (safely)

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

Subject + Object + Verb

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

English is a SVO language: subject + verb + object

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.

Check out our free lesson about the Korean negative form here.

You can get more free Korean lessons on our Korean Grammar Bank.

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