사람 ol saram the person who will come
Who, of course, needs to eat from time to time:
먹은 음식 meogeun eumsig the food that was eaten
먹는 음식 meogneun eumsig the food that is being eaten
먹을 음식 meogeul eumsig the food that will be eaten
By adding (으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ, you can use any verb to describe any noun. Please note that your choice of (으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ depends on the time the action happened relative to the sentence, not relative to right now.
올 사람은 김종국이라고 했어요.
Ol sarameun Kim-jong-guk-i-lago haesseoyo.
The person who was going to come was called Kim Jongkook.
온 사람은 김종국이라고 했어요.
On sarameun Kim-jong-guk-i-lago haesseoyo.
The person who had come was called Kim Jongkook.
오는 사람은 김종국이라고 했어요.
Oneun sarameun Kim-jong-guk-i-lago haesseoyo.
The person who was coming was called Kim Jongkook.
Descriptive verbs usually take only (으)ㄴ or maybe sometimes (으)ㄹ. This (으)ㄴ is built into many of them: you’ve probably talked about things that were 큰 or 작은 or 아름다운. These are all based on verbs (크다, 작다 and 아름답다) that were conjugated using (으)ㄴ.
예쁜 아이 yeppeun a-i a beautiful child
멋있는 남자 meo-sinneun namja a handsome man
아름다운 여자 areumdaun yeoja a beautiful woman
Changing Verbs to Adverbs: 히, 이, 게
■ 게
This is the most common way to form an adverb. You just take the 다 off your verb and add 게.
조용하다 joyonghada (to be quiet) > 조용하게 joyonghage (quietly)
즐겁다 jeulgeobda (to be pleasant) > 즐겁게 jeulgeobge (pleasantly)
슬프다 seulpeuda (to be sad) > 슬프게 seulpeuge (sadly)
In particular, any verb not ending in 하다 should be changed to an adverb using 게. 하다 verbs can always be changed this way as well if you’d like, but in many cases it’s more natural to use 히. See below.
■ 히
You can also form an adverb by taking a verb ending in 하다 and changing that 하다 to 히.
적당하다 jeogdanghada (to be suitable) > 적당히 jeogdanghi (suitably)
무사하다 musahada (to be safe) > 무사히 musahi (safely)
편하다 pyeonhada (to be comfortable) > 편히 pyeonhi (comfortably)
부지런하다 bujileonhada (to be diligent) > 부지런히 bujileonhi (diligently)
■ 이
This is the rarest of the adverbial forms, and I’ve seen it only a few times:
~없이 eobsi without
~빠듯이 ppadeusi barely, narrowly
밖이 bakki outside (as an adverb)
깊이 gipi deeply
굳이 guji firmly, stubbornly
깨끗이 kkaekkeusi cleanly
This isn’t a comprehensive list, but it does cover most of the more common 이 adverbs.
Changing Descriptive Verbs to Action Verbs: 아/어/여지다, 게 되다
To change an adjective (descriptive verb) into an action verb, you need to add “become.” So “big” becomes “to become big.” “Beautiful” becomes “to become beautiful.” There are two ways to add this “become,” and which one you use depends on whether you’re focusing on the situation changing or the fact that the situation has already changed. 아/어/여지다 a/eo/yeojida means the focus is on the change itself while 게 되다 ge doeda means the focus is on the finished product. In situations where you’re using 아/어/여지다 in the past tense (아/어/여졌다), although the change has been completed, the focus is on the situation changing rather than the final result. This is usually not a very big difference.
게 되다 can be added to any verb. 아/어/여지다 follows the same rules as 아/어/여: 아 follows verbs with 아 or 오 as their last vowel, 어 follows verbs with 어, 우, 으 or 이 as their last vowel, and 여 follows 하다.
예쁘다 yeppeuda (to be beautiful) > 예뻐지다 yeppeojida (to become beautiful)
작다 jakda (to be small) > 작아지다 jagajida (to become small)
조용하다 joyonghada (to be quiet) > 조용해지다 joyonghaejida or 조용하게 되다 joyonghage doeda (to become quiet)
Changing Nouns to Verbs: 하다, 이다
A large number, I’d even say most, nouns can be changed to verbs simply by the addition of 하다 hada. This is especially true of words derived from 한자 hanja. You’ll notice Korean has many two-syllable nouns to which you can add 하다 and get a four-syllable word; this is usually two 한자 characters plus 하다. This is also done with many words derived from English.
So if you ever need to change a noun to a verb in a hurry and don’t have a grammar reference guide handy, try 하다. It’s usually a good guess.
운전 unjeon (driving) > 운전하다 unjeonhada (to drive)
공부 gongbu (studying) > 공부하다 gongbuhada (to study)
지각 jigak (tardiness) > 지각하다 jigakhada (to be late)
인쇄/프린트 inswae/peulinteu (printing) > 인쇄하다/프린트 하다 inswaehada/peulinteu hada (to print)
게임 geim (game) > 게임 하다 geim hada (to play a game)
블로그 beullogeu (blog) > 블로그 하다 beullogeu hada (to blog)
The second way to change a noun is to add 이다, which means “it is.” This is necessary for many grammar patterns that will accept only verbs. If you want to sneak a noun in, you can quite often get away with
