70 Colourful Korean Adjectives and Easy methods to Conjugate Them Like a Professional

Easy methods to Conjugate Korean Adjectives

Korean Adjectives Have a Stem and an Ending

For those who see an inventory of phrases and all of them finish with 다, for instance:

크다

작다

예쁘다

…then you definitely’re taking a look at an inventory of Korean verbs within the infinitive kind.

In English, they’d imply:

to be massive — 크다

to be small — 작다

to be fairly — 예쁘다

The “다 kinds” are what you’ll be looking for in Korean dictionaries.

However this isn’t the shape you often take care of in conversations. As an alternative, you’ll be coping with conjugated adjectives which have gone by means of some transformation.

So how are we going to take care of these 다 verb kinds and switch them into adjectives?

Step 1: Drop the 다

Step one to conjugating Korean adjectives is to take away the 다 from the phrase.

When you try this, you now have the verb stem. Within the examples above, by eradicating the 다, you’re left with:

크

작

예쁘

After you have the verb stem, the one remaining factor to do is add the ending.

Step 2: Add the Applicable Ending

You by no means use simply the verb stem or the core phrase alone. After dropping the 다, you now want to stay the touchdown and produce within the suffix.

The ending provides one other unit of which means to your verb stem.

In Korean, the endings of verbs are what give the phrase a extra exact which means.

For our functions right here, the suffix you utilize will rely on whether or not or not the stem ends with a vowel or a consonant.

If the stem ends with a vowel, you add ㄴ.

Within the instance above, 크 ends with the vowel —. So we add ㄴ to 크 and find yourself with 큰.

큰 is the adjective “massive” in Korean. You now know that it comes from the dictionary kind 크다.

If the stem ends with a consonant, you add 은.

Within the instance above, 작 ends with the consonant ㄱ. So we add 은 to 작 and have 작은, which suggests “small” in Korean.

Irregular Korean Adjectives

Sounds easy sufficient, proper?

There are after all a couple of exceptions to this rule. We take into account them irregular adjectives. Listed below are two of the commonest ones:

When the verb stem ends in ㅂ, drop it and add 운.

Say after taking the 다, and also you see that the verb stem ends in ㅂ like 쉽다 — “to be simple.” Right here’s the way you conjugate it:

Doing these manipulations, you have got 쉬운, which is the Korean phrase for “simple.”

When the verb stem ends in ㄹ, drop it and add ㄴ.

Now say that after eradicating the 다, you see that the verb stem ends in ㄹ like 길다 — “to be lengthy.”

First, drop the ㄹ.

Final, add ㄴ.

You now have 긴, which is Korean for “lengthy.”

The place to Place Korean Adjectives in Sentences

Like English, Korean adjectives will be positioned earlier than or after the noun. However the adjectives look a bit completely different, relying on the location.

Whereas learning Korean adjective placement is a good begin, it’s essential that you just hearken to pure Korean to actually grasp it.

1. Adjectives Earlier than the Noun

In English, we regularly place adjectives earlier than nouns. For instance, “massive ears” and “small head.” In these instances, the adjectives modify the nouns that instantly come after them.

In Korean, similar to in English, you merely stick the conjugated kinds earlier than the noun.

Keep in mind our conjugated kinds 큰 and 작은? You merely put them side-by-side proper earlier than their noun.

For instance, “massive ears” could be 큰 instantly earlier than 귀, the Korean phrase for ears.

큰귀 — massive ears

Equally, “small face” could be 작은 earlier than 얼굴, the Korean phrase for face.

작은 얼굴 — small face

2. Adjectives After the Noun

In English, adjectives that come after the noun shall be your statements like:

My home is massive.

My automotive is small.

Korean sentences often finish with a verb or an adjective.

And right here’s a bit of excellent information—for the adjectives that come after the noun (these on the finish of sentences), you possibly can simply use the “dictionary kind.”

That’s, the “다 kind”—probably the most fundamental, unconjugated look of the adjective.

So the assertion “my home is massive,” will be translated as 우리 집은 크다. On this sentence, 크다 is used as an alternative of the conjugated 큰.

Let’s have a look at one other instance:

우리 차는 작다 — My automotive is small

Discover once more that 작다 is used as an alternative of the conjugated 작은.

So to summarize, for adjectives earlier than the noun, you utilize the conjugated kinds. For adjectives after the noun, on the finish of sentences, you might use the “다 kind.”

Easy methods to Conjugate Korean Adjectives for Formality Ranges

In Korean, the best way you speak relies on who you’re speaking to.

(I assume everyone talks to grandma differently, that’s true throughout cultures, nevertheless it’s an entire new stage of expectations with Korean.)

There are seven speech ranges, however don’t fear, we gained’t deal with all of them right here. We’ll simply concern ourselves with probably the most helpful one—the casual well mannered kind.

Within the spectrum of ritual, you’re within the protected center right here. It’s informal speech, however nonetheless has the well mannered flourish and also you’re not at risk of disrespecting native audio system.

It’s the shape you’ll almost certainly want in lots of your interactions.

You’ve already realized about adjectives positioned after the nouns. One other approach of doing it’s through the use of the casual well mannered kind (요 endings).

Right here’s how:

For adjective stems which have the vowels ㅗ and ㅏ, you add 아요.

For instance, let’s take the adjective 좋다, which suggests good.

First, drop the 다, which leaves you with 좋.

Wanting on the stem, you see that it has the ㅗ vowel. So that you add 아요, making it 좋아요.

So if you wish to say “The climate is sweet,” you possibly can say “날씨 좋아요.”

For adjective stems that don’t have ㅗ and ㅏ, you add 어요.

For instance, “unhappy” in Korean is 슬프다.

Taking out 다, we see that the stem ends with the vowel —. To conjugate, we add 어요, making it 슬퍼요.

If anybody asks you, “How was the film?” or worse, “How was the examination?”, you possibly can say:

진짜 슬퍼요 — It’s actually unhappy.

When so as to add 아요 or 어요 appears easy sufficient.

You merely verify if ㅗ and ㅏ are within the stem.

There may be, nonetheless, a vital and customary exemption. That’s whenever you see 하. While you see 하, you possibly can’t suppose to your self, “Ah the ultimate vowel isㅏ.”

Nope, as an exception, 하 conjugates to 해요.

For instance, 똑똑하다 is the fundamental type of “good” in Korean.

You’ll discover that it has 하.

Due to this fact, we conjugate this with a 해요, ending up with 똑똑해요.

Easy methods to Conjugate Korean Adjectives In accordance with Tense

Thus far, we’ve solely been speaking in regards to the current tense conjugation of adjectives.

English audio system may discover conjugating adjectives with respect to tense a bit bit odd, however in Korean, since adjectives operate very very similar to verbs, they can be conjugated in accordance with tense.

That’s, the tense is baked into the phrase itself.

That’s why we will simply put nouns and adjectives/verbs subsequent to one another with none intervening phrases. We are able to merely put them aspect by aspect as a result of nuances like tense are embedded within the phrases themselves.

For instance, in English, you have got phrases like “had been” and “was” to point previous tense.

“She was sick” would describe a lady who was not feeling nicely previously.

However in Korean, we point out previous tense a bit bit in another way. Once more, it’ll contain wanting on the final vowel within the stem.

Previous Tense

For adjective stems which have the vowels ㅗ and ㅏ, you add 았어요.

For instance, the previous tense conjugation of “good” (좋다) could be 좋았어요 (was good).

So if any person requested you the way was the meals, you possibly can say that it was good (좋았어요).

For adjective stems which have the vowels aside from ㅗ and ㅏ, like 맛있다 (scrumptious), you add 었어요 and find yourself with 맛있었어요 (was scrumptious).

Future Tense

To conjugate sooner or later tense, you add ㄹ 거예요 or 을 거예요 to the verb stem.

If the verb stem ends with a vowel—like 예쁘 (fairly)—we add ㄹ 거예요.

So the longer term tense of this is able to be 예쁠 거예요 (shall be fairly).

However, if the verb stem ends with a consonant—like 늦 (late)—we add 을 거예요. So we find yourself with 늦을 거예요 which suggests “shall be late.”

70 Important Korean Adjectives You Should Know

Now that you know the way to conjugate and use Korean adjectives in sentences, let’s check out 70 helpful ones of their conjugated kinds.

Shapes and Sizes

큰 — Huge

작은 — Small

긴 — Lengthy

짧은 — Quick

좁은 — Slim

넓은 — Large

두꺼운 — Thick

얇은 — Skinny

일자형의 — Straight

둥근 — Round

삼각형의 —  Triangular

정사각형의 — Sq.

Colours

검정 — Black

하얀 — White

회색 — Grey

파랑 — Blue

빨강 — Pink

보라 — Purple

갈색 — Brown

주황 — Orange

노랑 — Yellow

초록 — Inexperienced

Tastes

쓴 — Bitter

짠 — Salty

신 — Bitter

매운 — Spicy

달콤한 — Candy

Qualities

늙은 — Previous

새로운 — New

좋은 — Good

나쁜 — Unhealthy

깨끗한 — Clear

더러운 — Soiled

빈 — Empty

완전한 — Full

딱딱한— Laborious

부드러운 — Delicate

건조한 — Dry

젖은 — Moist

싼 — Low cost

비싼 —  Costly

빠른 — Quick

느린— Gradual

무거운 — Heavy

가벼운 — Mild

같은 — Identical

다른 — Completely different

이른 — Early

늦은 — Late

Adjectives for Individuals

공손한 — Well mannered

무례한 — Impolite

조용한 — Quiet

시끄러운 — Loud

사교적인 — Outgoing

수줍은 — Shy

우스운 — Humorous

심각한 — Critical

아름다운 — Lovely

못생긴 — Ugly

행복한 — Blissful

슬픈 — Unhappy

건강한 — Wholesome

병든 — Sick

멍청한 — Silly

지적인 — Clever

뚱뚱한 — Fats

날씬한 — Slim

미혼인 — Single

결혼을 한 — Married

가난한 — Poor

돈이 많은 — Wealthy

And there you have got it—all the pieces it is advisable find out about utilizing Korean adjectives, plus 70 of them to immediately add extra coloration to your conversations!