This set of Korean verbs is for the very elementary learners out there. If you’re taking basic Korean, this could serve as a useful review. If you’re teaching yourself online, these are probably some of the most widely used, most important verbs in Korean.
If you’re encountering these words for the first time, you’ll probably be curious about how to make phrases out of them. I’ve included a set of very rudimentary sentences here.
The following sentences are all in the 어/아요 form. The cool thing about that is that they all do double duty as imperative and a declarative statements. The provided translations are in the declarative form, but bear in mind that they could also be employed as commands as well. Most of the sentences below can even be used to mean “Let’s ____ .” For example, the first sentence could be read, “I’m studying Korean,” “Let’s study Korean,” or “Study Korean!.”
공부하다
한국어를 공부해요.
I’m studying Korean.
만나다
친구를 만나요.
I’m meeting a friend.
전화하다
동생한테 전화해요.
I’m calling my younger brother (or sister).
타다
버스를 타요.
I’m taking the bus.
보다
영화를 봐요.
I’m watching a movie.
먹다
뭔가 먹어요.
I’m eating (something).
사다
책을 사요.
I’m buying a book.
말하다
한국어로 말해요.
I’m speaking Korean.
쓰다
글을 써요.
I’m writing.
앉다
여기 앉아요.
I’m taking a seat here.
i realy vvant to learn more korean vvords
found your blog today.. done subscribing you on YouTube.. i’ll stick to your blog now till i can read Korean faster.. thank you anyway.. it’s nice.. easy to understand..
I like this web page. I can read when you hangulize but reading in Hangul is very difficult. Anyways, I”ll try. In which class can I learn How to combine the symbols to write a word? When, How and why do you use certain words that are repeated, like ham mi da, hey-yo, ka i yo, se o, etc. Thanks for your attention.
I’m a newbie to Korean, wanting to learn because I discovered KDramas. When I first heard Korean, I too puzzled over the sounds and tried to pick out patterns and make sense of the subtitles vs. what I heard. Pretty quickly you can figure out that when someone ends their sentances with hamnida/imnida they are being formal/polite. By contrast, there is a more casual/plain level of speaking. You can hear the particles they stick on the end of words like lego building blocks. You notice they aren’t using the same order for creating sentances that you are use to. All this without knowing a bit of Korean.
My curiosity to figure out what the rules were led me to start studying.
One book I found where I had a lot of “Ah ha!” moments about the language as I read it is Tuttle’s “Mastering Conversational Korean: Korean for Beginners”. The first few chapters about particles and conjugation patterns were tough to plow through as a newbie, but it set the groundwork for understanding. It is offset by a light hearted friendly tone of the author.
Scroll down on this web page to Michael’s favorite books if you are interested in purchasing it.
To answer your specific question, you’ve noticed commonly used verbs. Go, is, have, etc. Verbs are at the end of the sentance in Korean, so it’s easy to pick out hearing the same word, even for a newbie like me.
Good luck learning and have fun!
I like the site but actually i was expecting that there were more romanizations.
OK! I’ll try to include them more from now on.
Thanks
Question:
In the sentence “한국어로 말해요,” why the word 한국어로 doesn’t take the 를 particle?
Hi.
It’s the difference in nuance between “speak Korean” and “speak in Korean.” The particle “로” means “in” or “by.” Just saying “한국어를” would also be OK, but the meaning would be slightly different.
Thanks for the question!
-M
I come from Myanmar,&非常喜欢韩国，觉得韩国是一个很特别的国家，想要多了解韩国的文化。。。
i love this korean tutorial you made!!… i really like to learn korean words and writing it!!.. now i can read some!! but honestly hard to pronounce!!.. i hope i can learn more!!.. thank you again
I’m so lucky to find out this website. I love Korean and I wanna speak and write it.
I hope I’m going to find out more useful lessons.Thanksss.
hi