Em Casalena
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40 Most Useful Korean Verbs to Add to Your Vocabulary
Verbs form the main part of the predicate of a sentence, making them a seriously important aspect of language, grammar and sentence-forming.
As a Korean language learner, you don’t need to learn all of the verbs at the beginner or intermediate level. But you should know at least a handful of common verbs.
Ready to jump into some ultra useful verbs? These 40 verbs are simply ideal for beginner learners as an introduction to Korean verbs.
Contents
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Action verbs
Action verbs are words that describe physical actions or an activity that is happening. They’re also called dynamic verbs, which might help you remember better what they’re describing.
- 하다 (ha-da) — to do
- 가다 (ga-da) — to go or to get to
- 오다 (o-da) — to come or to arrive
- 주다 (ju-da) — to give
- 타다 (ta-da) — to ride
- 앉다 (ant-da) — to sit down
- 일어나다 (i-reo-na-da) — to stand up
- 싸우다 (ssa-u-da)— to fight
- 웃다 (ut-da) — to laugh
- 읽다 (ik-da) — to read
- 놀다 (nol-da) — to play
- 듣다 (deut-da) — to listen
- 걷다 (geot-da) — to walk
- 달리다 (dal-li-da) — to run
- 놓다 (noh-da) — to put or to lay
- 가져가다 (ga-jyeo-ga-da) — to take
- 요리하다 (yo-ri-ha-da) — to cook
- 찾다 (chat-da) — to find or to look for
- 관찰하다 (gwan-chal-ha-da) — to watch or observe
- 고르다 (go-reu-da) — to choose
Stative Verbs
Stative verbs are words that describe a certain state of being, such as a thought, feeling, opinion or appearance. They usually don’t describe doing anything in a physical sense.
- 좋아하다 (joh-a-ha-da) — to like or to favor
- 생각하다 (saeng-gak-ha-da) — to think
- 느끼다 (neu-kki-da) — to feel
- 이해하다 (i-hae-ha-da) — to understand
- 가지다 (ga-ji-da) — to have or to own
- 기대하다 (gi-dae-ha-da) — to expect or to look forward to
- 동의하다 (dong-ui-ha-da) — to agree
- 믿다 (mid-da) — to believe
- 추측하다 (chu-cheuk-ha-da) — to guess
- 상상하다 (sang-sang-ha-da) — to imagine
- 알다 (al-da) — to know
- 알아보다 (a-ra-bo-da) — to recognize
- 기억하다 (gi-eok-ha-da) — to remember
- 사랑하다 (sa-rang-ha-da) — to love
- 의심하다 (ui-shim-ha-da) — to suspect
- 죄송하다 (joe-song-ha-da) — to be sorry
Modal verbs
Modal verbs are helping words that pair with other verbs to describe possibility or necessity.
In English, they usually go in front of the verb. In Korean, they often appear at the very end of a sentence and need to be attached to a conjugated action verb or stative verb.
For these examples, the word “to do” or 하다 is used.
- 할 수 있다 (hal su it-da) — can
- 해야 하다 (hae-ya ha-da) — must
- 해도 되다 (hae-do dwen-da) — may
- 할 것이다 (hal goe-shi-da) — will
To practice all of these Korean verbs, it would be really helpful to hear and see how they’re actually used in context by native speakers.
You can try a language learning program like FluentU for this, which uses authentic content, such as commercials, K-drama clips, music videos and more.
There are features such as interactive subtitles, flashcards and personalized quizzes so you can remember everything that you’ve learned. To learn on the go, you can also use the FluentU iOS and Android apps.
Sure, you’ll need to really master grammar concepts in order to speak Korean fluently one day. But knowing a handful of Korean verbs can help you fill in the blanks in conversations in the meantime.
Good luck and 공부 열심히 하세요! (gongbu yeolshimi haseyo) — study hard!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
