Table Of Content5 0 0
B A S I C
K O R E A N
ADJECTIVES
Second Edition
Kyubyong Park
PL
꾸 니 •즛
?U
묫이 5
PREFACE
Korean adjectives are not really what one would call true adjectives. They are
somewhere between an adjective and a verb. In Korean, adjectives semantically
describe nouns, yet syntactically they can co-occur with tense and aspect marking
like verbs do. This can be quite puzzling to English speakers, where an adjective
can have only two inflected forms—comparative and superlative. Challenging?
However, the alternation of the form of Korean adjectives is not as complicated
as that of verbs, after all.
This book is designed to help study Korean adjectives deeply and systematically.
The 500 most important Korean adjectives are illustrated here. For each adjective,
major conjugated forms are shown, as well as other basic information i.e.
pronunciation, Romanization, conjugation class, meanings, related words, collocates,
and example sentences. Some books or dictionaries hold some of those, but
nowhere near as comprehensive as in this book.
This book was originally published by Sotong under the same title in 2007. In
revising it for Youkrack, the following changes have been made:
• Seven low-frequency adjectives have been replaced.
• The conjugation table has been redesigned to add some important forms
which were left from the first edition.
• I’ve added main collocates, words often used with another word, for every
headword.
• More than half of the example sentences have been re-written.
• Practice exercises have been created.
I sincerely hope you find this book useful.
Kyubyong Park
in
guide to the entries
必
® L © ©
가'깝다 /가깝따/ aa kkaD da IRREGULAR
Past Future / Presumption
Present
I 가깝겠어, 가깝겠지, 가까울 거야
가까워, 가깝지 3 까웠어. 가까웠지
-------------
De 가깝겠어요, 가깝겠죠, 가까울 거
c
la ImI 가까워요, 가깝죠 가까웠어요, 가까웠죠 예요
r
a
t
i 가깝겠다, 가까울 거다
ve rInv 가깝다
가깝겠습니다, 가까울 겁니다
가깝습니다 가까웠습니다
가깝겠어?, 가까울까?
가까워?, 가깝지? 가까웠어?, 가까웠지?
I m
nt 가까워요?, 가깝죠? 가까웠어요?, 가까웠죠? 가깝겠어요?, 가까울까요?
e
r
r
o
gat I V 가깝니?, 가까우냐?/ 가까웠니?，가까웠냐? 가깝겠니?, 가깝겠냐?
iv 가깝냐?
e
가깝습니까? 가까웠습니까? 가깝겠습니까?
Adnominal 가까운 가까운 가까울
* I: Intimate / II: Polite / HI: Plain / IV: Deferential
and 가깝고, 가까우며 n not 가깝지 (않다)
〇
or 가깝거나, 가깝든(지) d. adv. 가깝게, 가까이
but 가깝지만, 가까우나, 가까운데 〇 decl. 가깝다고
so 가까워(서), 가까우니(까), 가까우므로 우 inter. 가까우냐고/가깝냐고
if 가까우면 Nominal 가까움, 가깝기
Subject
though 가까워도 Honorific 가까우시다
as (if) 가깝듯 (이) Causative 가깝게 하다
Conj.: Conjunctive / Quot.: Quotative / adv.: adverbial / decl.: declarative / inter.: interrogative
111,1한 ." 〇 ©
1 close, near {ant. 멀다) p -에(서) | -와/과 n 곳, 위치, 자리, 장소, 지역 | 거기，
여기 I 거리 I 병원, 사무실, 지하철역, 직장, 회사 | 미래, 시私 시일, 장래
© ► 여기에서 가까운 곳에 서점이 있나요? Is there a bookstore near here?
► 가까운 시일 내에 한번 댁으로 찾아가겠습니다. I’ll come by your house soon.
2 close, intimate (syn. 친하다 ant 멀다) p -와/과 n 사이 | 동료，동생, 선배，친
구, 후배 | 집안 V 지내다
► 저는 사촌들하고 아주 가깝게 지내요. I’m very close to my cousins.
► 가까운 진구 중에 의사가 있어요 One of my close friends is a doctor.
3 close to, near P _에 n 사실 ᅵ 완벽 | 절반 ᅵ 울음 ᅵ 기적
► 우리의 ■石■리1= 기적에 가까웠다 〇 ur triumph was almost a miracle.
_ 그녀의 ■s■정1= 완벽에 가까웠다. Her pitch was nearly perfect.
〇 headword • Nominal
The dictionary form of an adjective, • Subject Honorific
which ends in 다, is presented as • Causative
the headword. *ln the prescriptive grammar, the
imperative of adjectives is considered
@ pronunciation to be incorrect. However, in real
colloquial speech, some adjectives are
© romanization often used in the imperative without
This book follows the official Korean damage to the natural feeling of
language romanization system expression. Among them are 건강하다，
proclaimed by the Ministry of Culture
행복하다，솔직하다，and so on.
and Tourism of the Republic of
Korea in 2000.
© sense
〇 adjective class
公 related words
• REGULAR
• ant.:antonyms
• 하 REGULAR
• ff.: full form
• b REGULAR
• sf.: short form
• u IRREGULAR
• syn.: synonyms
• 人 IRREGULAR
• ᄒ IRREGULAR
© collocates
• 르 IRREGULAR
• ADJ: adjectives
• etc.
• ADV: adverbs
• F: conjugated forms
@ conjugation table
• N: nouns
• Declarative
• P: particles or endings
• Interrogative
• V: verbs
• (*lmperative)
• |： delimiter of groups of
• Adnominal
collocates
• Conjunctive
• Quotative
© example sentences
v 一
GUIDE TO CONJUGATION OF ADJECTIVES
1. What Is Conjugation?
The dictionary form of all Korean verbs/adjectives ends with 다 such as 가다 ‘to
go’，적 다 ‘to write' 싸다 ‘cheap’， and 검다 ‘black’. The part that precedes the
word-final 디*—가*，적，싸■， and 검_ is called a stem. The stem is constant in its
shape, and various suffixes can be attached to it. The suffix added to the stem of
a verb is called an ending. Conjugation refers to the way a stem and one or
more endings combine to create a different form.
2. a Adjectives and 하 Adjectives
Most adjectives follow regular conjugation rules. There are two types of adjectives
which need your attention—s adjectives and 〇|- adjectives. 5 adjectives are
those whose stem ends with ᄅ, for example, 멀다 ‘distant’, 길다 ‘long’， and
달다 ‘sweet’; 하 adjectives, which account for a large portion of Korean
adjectives, are those whose stem ends with 하，for example, 행복하다 ‘happy’，
건강하다 ‘healthy’， and 다정하다 ‘kind’. Those two groups of adjectives follow
the regular conjugation rules, but they sometimes behave differently than other
adjectives.
/ Some notes on notation
Adj. Adjective
S Stem, e.g.，싸 in 싼다 ‘cheap’
e Ending, e.g” 싸면 in 싸면 ‘if (it’s) cheap，
SB Stem ending in ᄅ. e.g.，멀 in | 다 ‘distant’
Deletion of the stem-final 근
Sv Stem ending in a vowel, e.g.，싸 in 쓰!;다 ‘cheap，
Sc Stem ending in a consonant, e.g” 멀 in 월다 ‘distant’
vi
S 니丄 Stem ending in a sylhble with 卜， 는 or 丄 . e.g.，싸 in 쓰는다 ‘cheap’，
얇 in 활다 ‘think’, 곱 in i 다 ‘soft, nice’
S*|/T Stem ending in a syllable with a vowel other than 卜， |： and 丄 . e.g.，
멀 in 할다 ‘distant’，붉 in 불:다 ‘red’
S하 Stem ending in 하 e.g.，행복하 in 행복하다 'happy’
3. Conjugation of Regular Adjectives
e class #1. S + e
Endings beginning with 기，ᄌ, or [ combine directly with the stem of the
adjective. Among them are -고 ‘and’, -거 나 ‘or’, -기 (nominalizer), -겠- (future),
-지 (nominalizer), -지만 ‘but’，-듯(이) ‘as if, -든(지) ‘or’,
e-g.
-고 ‘and’ -지만 ‘but’ -듯이 ‘as if
Adj. \ \
싸다
싸 + 고 -> 싸고 싸 + 지만-»• 싸•지만 싸 + 듯이 — 싸듯이
*cheap9
멀다
멀 + 고— 멀고 멀 + 지만 ᅯ 멀지만 멀 + 듯이 — 멀듯이
‘distant’
검다
검 + 고 — 검고 검 + 지만 ᅳ 검지만 검 + 듯이 ᅳ 검듯이
‘black’
e class #2.
(i) S + e
(ii) Sᄅ + e
When endings like -니? (interrogative), -냐? (interrogative)*, -냐고 (quotative)*
are attached to the stem of ᄅ adjectives, the stem-final ᄅ is deleted. For all
other adjectives, they combine directly with the stem of the adjective. The
majority of the endings beginning with a syllable-initial i_ go for this class. Vll
Vll
* Some dictionaries prescribe that the vowel 으 must be present when the interrogative -냐
and quotative -냐고 are attached to the stem ending with a consonant but B. However,
people often tend to suppress the 으 in real speech, and they even think of it as more
natural than the one with 으.
e.g.
、 \ -니? (interrogative) -냐? (interrogative)
Adj. 、
싸다
싸 + 니? -> 싸니? 싸 + 냐? _► 싸냐?
4cheap9
멀다
머 + 니? 머니? 머 + 냐? 一> 머냐?
‘distant’
검 + 냐? — 검냐?
검다
검 + 니? — 검니?
‘black， OR 검 + 으냐? — 검으냐?
e class #3.
(i) Sv + e
(u) Sa + e
(iii) Sc + 으 + e
Endings beginning with □ or syllable-initial ᄅ are directly attached to the stem
which ends with a vowel or ᄅ. When they are attached to the stem which ends
with a consonant other than s, by contrast, the vowel 으 intervenes between the
stem and the ending to facilitate the pronunciation. -(으)면 ‘if5, and -(으) □
(nominalizer) follow this rule.
— viii —
e.g.
-(으) □ (nominalizer) -(으)면 ‘if
기Adj. ' 、乂
싸다
싸 + □ -— 쌈 싸 + 면 싸면
‘cheap’
멀다
멀 + □ - 멂 멀 + 면 멀면
‘distant’
검다 검 + 으 + □ — 검음 검 + 으 + 면 — 검으면
‘black’
e class #4.
(i) Sv + e
(ii) Sᄅ + e
(Hi) Sc + 으/스/느 + e
Class 4 endings are directly attached to the stem which ends in a vowel, but
when they combine with ᄅ adjectives, the stem-final ᄅ is dropped. And when
they are attached to the stem ending with a consonant other than ᄅ， either of the
vowels 으，느， and 스 is inserted between the stem and the ending. Endings
beginning with ᄅ/ᄇ/l which comes at the syllable-final position or 人 follow
this rule. They include -(으) s (adnominal), -(스) u 니 다 (declarative),
-(스) u 니 까? (interrogative)，-(으/느) l * (adnominal), -(으)세요 (imperative), and
_*(으)시- (subject honorific). As exceptions, -(으)니(까) ‘so, therefore’ and -(으)나
‘but’ belong to this class, although they begin with syllable-initial l .
* All and only adjectives which end with 있다 or 없다 take -는 form as their present
adnominal. Otherwise, -(으) l is employed.
