Basic Particles
You should have some familiarity with most of the following particles before using this book. Otherwise you’ll have a hard time understanding the example sentences. There are plenty of good beginning books out there that cover this material; see the list of Useful Korean Language Resources in Appendix 2. As reference, here are the basic particles with their general meanings:
| 이 | i | subject particle for words ending in consonants |
| 가 | ga | subject particle for words ending in vowels |
| 은 | eun | topic particle for words ending in consonants |
| 는 | neun | topic particle for words ending in vowels |
| 을 | eul | object particle for words ending in consonants |
| 를 | reul | object particle for words ending in vowels |
| 에서 | eseo | from, at |
| 에 | e | to, at, concerning |
| 더러 | deoreo | to/from a person (very informal) |
| 에게 | ege | to a person (informal) |
| 에게서 | egeseo | from a person (informal) |
| 한테 | hante | to/from a person (somewhat polite) |
| 께 | kke | to a person (super-polite) |
| 께서 | kkeseo | from a person (super-polite) |
| 로 | ro | through, to for words ending in vowels |
| 으로 | euro | through, to for words ending in consonants |
| 부터 | buteo | from |
| 까지 | kkaji | to, until |
| 의 | ui | ’s (possessive particle) |
| 들 | deul | s (pluralizing particle) |
| 씩 | ssik | each, at a time |
| 마다 | mada | each, every |
| 시 | si | added to verbs when talking about people higher in status than you |
| 님 | nim | Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss (very polite) |
| 씨 | ssi | Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss (somewhat polite) |
| 만 | man | only |
| 도 | do | also, too |
All these particles are simply added to the ends of nouns when you want to use them.
Helping Verbs
These verbs follow 아/어/여 verb endings. When added to a verb plus one of those three endings, they mean “to take the result of that verb and do something with it.” Here are the more common “helping” verbs:
| ~가다 gada/오다 oda | to go/to come |
| ~두다 duda/놓다 nota | to keep/to put aside |
| ~넣다 neota | to put |
| ~대다 daeda | to repeat |
| ~가지다 gajida | to carry (in this context, the result of ~ was carried over to something else) |
| ~버리다 beorida | to throw out (in this context, to throw out or to finish/be done with) |
| ~보다 boda | to watch (in this context, to try) |
| ~주다 juda | to give |
| ~내다 naeda | to pay (in this context, it implies accomplishment: ~ was something you did with some effort) |
있다 can also follow verbs with 아/어/여, but its use is a little more specialized; see page 255.
As an example, let’s try adding these words to 하다 and see the result:
| 가다/오다 > 해 가다/해 오다gada/oda > hae gada/hae oda | to do and go/come with |
| 두다/놓다 > 해 두다/해 놓다duda/nota > hae duda/hae nota | to keep/to put aside |
| 넣다 > 해 넣다neota > hae neota | to put |
| 대다 > 해 대다daeda > hae daeda | to do repeatedly |
| 가지다 > 해 가지다gajida > hae gajida | to do and take |
| 버리다 > 해 버리다beorida > hae beorida | to do and throw out/get rid of/be done with |
| 보다 > 해 보다boda > hae boda | to try to do |
| 주다 > 해 주다juda > hae juda | to do and give/to do something for someone else |
| 내다 > 해 내다naeda > hae naeda | to accomplish/to finish doing |
And let’s see one more: 만들다 mandeulda, to make.
| 가다/오다 > 만들어 가다/만들어 오다mandeureo gada/mandeureo oda | to make and go/come with |
| 두다/놓다 > 만들어 두다/만들어 놓다mandeureo duda/mandeureo nota | to make and keep/put aside |
| 넣다 > 만들어 넣다mandeureo neota | to make and put |
| 대다 > 만들어 대다mandeureo daeda | to repeatedly make |
| 가지다 > 만들어 가지다mandeureo gajida | to make and take |
| 버리다 > 만들어 버리다mandeureo beorida | to make and throw out/get rid of/ be done with |
| 보다 > 만들어 보다mandeureo boda | to try to make |
| 주다 > 만들어 주다mandeureo juda | to make and give/to make for someone else |
| 내다 > 만들어 내다mandeureo naeda | to finish making (something very difficult) |
Passives and Causatives
Passives
In a passive-voice sentence, make the object of the sentence the subject and don’t worry too much about who did the action. For instance, let’s take the sentence: “He did his homework.” In the passive voice, this would become “His homework was done.” Alternatively, let’s try “The mother hugged the child.” In the passive, it changes to “The child was hugged by the mother.”
Korean verbs are changed to the passive voice by adding 이, 히, 리 or 기. Which syllable you add usually depends on the letter the verb ends with; however, there are many exceptions to this rule and you simply have to memorize most of the words.
Having said that, let’s discuss the general rules first and common exceptions later.
■ Verbs ending in vowels or ㅎ normally have 이 added.
보다 boda (to see) > 보이다 bo-ida (to be showing/seen)
쌓다 ssata (to pile) > 쌓이다 ssa-ida (to be piled up)
놓다 nota (to put) > 놓이다 no-ida (to be put)
바꾸다 bakkuda (to change) > 바뀌다 bakkwida (to be changed)
■ Verbs ending in ㅂ, ㄷ or ㄱ take 히.
잡다 japda (to catch) > 잡히다 japida (to be caught)
읽다 ilgda (to read) > 읽히다 ilkhida (to be read)
먹다 meokda (to eat) > 먹히다 meokida (to be eaten)
닫다 datda (to close) > 닫히다 dachida (to be closed)
■ Verbs ending in ㄹ almost always take 리.
걸다 geolda (to hang) > 걸리다 geollida (to be hung)
열다 yeolda (to open) > 열리다 yeollida (to be opened)
듣다 deutda (to listen) > 들리다 deullida (to be heard)
■ Verbs ending in ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ or ㅊ take 기.
안다 anda (to hug) > 안기다 angida (to be hugged)
끊다 kkeunta (to stop) > 끊기다 kkeunkida (to be stopped)
쫓다 jjotda (to chase) > 쫓기다 jjotgida (to be chased)
담다 damda (to put something in) > 담기다 damgida (to be put in)
When an active verb ends