KOREAN PRESENT TENSE

Welcome to the first lesson of our TENSE series! We will teach you all about the Korean Present Tense.

Check out our lessons on:

• Korean Past Tense
• Korean Future Tense

INTRODUCTION

Let’s start our first lesson on Korean tenses, with the Korean present tense.

One important thing you should remember is that we need to conjugate predicates in correct forms.

Don’t worry! We’ll explain each case in more details further down below.

• Case 1 || Verbs ending with -아요
• Case 2 || Verbs ending with -어요
• Case 3 || Verbs ending with -해요

Let’s take a look at how they work.

CASE 1 CONJUGATION

CASE 2 CONJUGATION

CASE 3 CONJUGATION

NOTE

Before you conjugate the verbs, drop the -다 from the infinitive verb.

For example:

• 앉다 would be 앉-
• 읽다 would be 읽-

When a verb ends with -하다, make sure you drop -하다 not just -다. 

So:

• 공부하다 would be 공부-
• 말하다 would be 말-

IMPORTANT || When the verb is without -다 or -하다, we call it a ‘word stem’.

CASE 1 || VERBS ENDING WITH -아요

First things first: when a word stem ends with the vowels ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’, we add -아요. 

When the word stem has a final consonant

For example, the word stem of 앉다 would be 앉-.

Then you can combine 앉- with -아요, and it would be 앉아요.

When the word stem doesn’t have a final consonant and ends with ‘ㅏ’

For example, the word stem of 자다 would be 자-. 

Then you can combine 자- with -아요, and it would be 자아요.

However, you need to remove 아 in the middle, so it should be 자요.

When the word stem doesn’t have a final consonant and ends with ‘ㅗ’:

For example, the word stem of 오다 would be 오-. 

In this case, you can combine 오- with -ㅏ요  without the consonant ‘ㅇ’ of -아요.

So, it would be ‘와요’.

NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 1!

CASE 2 || VERBS ENDING WITH -어요

When a final vowel of the word stem ends in something else rather than  ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’, we add -어요. 

When the word stem has a final consonant

For example, the word stem of 열다 would be 열-.

Then you can combine 열- with -어요, and it would be 열어요.

When the word stem especially ends in the vowel ‘ㅜ’

For example, the word stem of 배우다 would be 배우-.

In this case, you can combine 배우- with -ㅓ요 without the consonant ‘ㅇ’ of -어요.

So, it would be 배워요.

When the word stem especially ends in the vowel ‘ㅣ’

For example, the word stem of 기다리다 would be 기다리-.

When -어요 is combined with the word stem ending with ‘l’, it changes to ㅕ요.

Therefore, it becomes 기다려요.

When the word stem ends in the vowel ㅐ, ㅓ, or ㅕ

For example, the word stem of 보내다 would be 보내-.

Then you can combine 보내- with -어요, and it would be 보내어요.

However, you need to remove 어 in the middle, so it should be 보내요.

NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 2!

CASE 3 || VERBS ENDING WITH -해요

When the vowel ends in -하다, simply replace it with -해요.

For example, 공부하다 ends in -하다.

You can remove -하다 and put -해요 after 공부.

It would be ‘공부해요’.

NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 3!

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MORE RESOURCES

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

• Present tense in Japanese
• Present tense in Vietnamese

FAQs

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