안녕하세요 여러분,
Hello dear learners! This is the first of a two parts series. We are going to talk about Korean adjectives! If you have felt confused about this topic, today is the day to put an end to the confusion.
‘Adjective’ in English, ‘Descriptive Verb’ in Korean
Let’s take a look at these two English sentences focusing on the word ‘pretty’.
(1) This hat is pretty.
(2) I bought a pretty hat. (Will be discussed in the next lesson)
As you can see, the form of English adjectives(in this case, ‘pretty’) doesn’t change. However, in Korean, adjectives are treated like verbs, which means “adjectives” also have infinitive forms. That is why you might encounter a term called “descriptive verb” as well as ‘adjective’. In short, in Korean, the form of the Korean adjective would be different in the sentence (1) and (2). We are going to talk about the sentence (1) in this lesson, and (2) in the next one.
♣ Descriptive verbs, what do they even look like?
Look through these “descriptive verbs”(Let’s call it ‘DV’) in infinitive forms.
▶ 작다: to be small
▶ 크다: to be big
▶ 싸다: to be cheap
▶ 비싸다: to be expensive
▶ 행복하다: to be happy
▶ 춥다: to be coldAs you can see, they all end with ‘-다’, just like regular verbs’ infinitive form. Therefore, we need to change the form according to the usage.
♣ (1) This hat is pretty.
‘This hat is pretty’
‘The weather is hot’
‘I am quiet’
‘Are you busy?’
‘Last weekend was fun’
Can you see the common theme here?
Yes! The adjectives are used with different forms of the verb ‘be’(am/are/is/was/will be etc.), which means, in English, if you want to change the tense, tone, or other factors of the sentence, you would conjugate the ‘verb’, not the adjective.
However, in Korean, you need to conjugate the whole ‘DV’ part, like a verb. Look at the difference between English and Korean. (The infinitive form of ‘to be pretty’ in Korean is ‘예쁘다’)
So…we can change this ‘예쁘다(to be pretty)’ to different ways like verbs. Here, we will introduce a few with the polite and casual form(‘요’ ending). Don’t worry, it is not too different from conjugating regular verbs!
▶ am/are/is pretty → 예뻐요.
▶ was/were pretty → 예뻤어요.
▶ will be pretty → 예쁠 거예요.
▶ I wonder if it/he/she is pretty → 예쁠까요?Okay then, let’s try to say some English sentences in Korean!
▶ The weather is hot. (to be hot: 덥다)
날씨가 더워요.
▶ I am quiet. (to be quiet: 조용하다)
저는 조용해요.
▶ Are you busy? (to be busy: 바쁘다)
바빠요?
▶ Were you busy?
바빴어요?
▶ Last weekend was fun. (to be fun: 재미있다)
지난 주말은 재미있었어요.Do you have any questions about Korean adjectives? Please let us know!