Korean grammar

This article is a description of the morphology, syntax, and semantics of Korean. For phonetics and phonology, see Korean phonology. See also Korean honorifics, which play a large role in the grammar.

Note on romanization

This article uses a form of Yale romanization to illustrate the morphology of Korean words. The Yale system is different from the Revised Romanization of Korean seen with place names.

Under the version of Yale used here, morphemes are written according to their underlying form rather than their spelling in the Korean writing system or pronunciation. Under this system, for example, the syllable which is written in Korean as 었 is analyzed as ess even though the ss would be pronounced t before another consonant, and the vowel e ㅓ is pronounced low and somewhat rounded, closer to o. To avoid confusion, bold type will represent the morphology (in Yale), and italics will represent Revised Romanization.

Classification of words

Korean grammar
Hangul	9품사
Hanja	9品詞
Revised Romanization	gupumsa
McCune–Reischauer	kup'umsa

Korean grammarians have been classifying Korean words to parts of speech for centuries, but the modern standard is the one taught in public schools, chosen by South Korea's 1963 Committee on Education. This is the 9 pumsa (9 품사) system, which divides words into nine categories called pumsa.

The pumsa are themselves grouped together according to the following chart.

• Content words
  • Substantives
    • 명사 myeongsa (nouns)
    • 대명사 daemyeongsa (pronouns)
    • 수사 susa (number words)
  • Verbs (broadly speaking)
    • 동사 dongsa (action verbs)
    • 형용사 hyeongyongsa (descriptive verbs or adjectives)
  • Modifiers
    • 관형사 gwanhyeongsa (determiners, prenouns, or indeclinable adjectives)
    • 부사 busa (adverbs)
  • Other content words
    • 감탄사 gamtansa (interjections or exclamations)
• Function words
  • 조사 josa (particles or postpositions)

Both cardinal and ordinal numbers are grouped into their own part of speech. Descriptive verbs and action verbs are classified separately despite sharing essentially the same conjugation. Verb endings constitute a large and rich class of morphemes, indicating such things in a sentence as tense, mood, aspect, speech level (of which there are 7 in Korean), and honorifics. Prefixes and suffixes are numerous, partly because Korean is an agglutinative language.

There are also various other important classes of words and morphemes that are not generally classified among the pumsa. 5 other major classes of words or morphemes are:

• 어미 eomi (verb endings)
• 지시어 jisieo (demonstratives)
• 접속어 jeopsogeo (conjunctions)
• 접두어 jeopdueo (prefixes)
• 접미어 jeommieo (suffixes)

Substantives

Postpositions

Main article: Korean postpositions

Korean postpositions are also known as case markers. Examples include 는 (neun, topic marker) and 를 (reul, object marker). Postpositions come after substantives and are used to indicate the role (subject, object, complement, or topic) of a noun in a sentence or clause. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean particles.

Case clitics

Both nouns and pronouns take case clitics. Pronouns are somewhat irregular. As with many clitics and suffixes in Korean, for many case clitics different forms are used with nouns ending in consonants and nouns ending in vowels. The most extreme example of this is in the nominative (subject), where the historical clitic i 이 is now restricted to appearing after consonants, and a completely unrelated (suppletive) form -ka (pronounced -ga) appears after vowels.

Case clitics

Case	After V	After C
Nominative	ka 가 -ga	-i 이
Accusative	lul 를 -reul	ul 을 -eul
Genitive	-uy 의 -ui1
Dative (also destination)	-ey 에 -e (inanimate) -ey key 에게 -ege (animate)
Locative (place of event, also source)	-ey se 에서 -eseo (inanimate) -ey key se 에게서 -egeseo (animate)
Instrumental	-lo 로 -ro2	-ulo 으로 -euro
Comitative (also and)	-hako 하고 -hago
	-wa 와	kwa 과 -gwa
	lang 랑 -rang	-i lang 이랑 -irang

1 -uy 의 is a historical spelling, which is now allowed to be pronounced [ɛ] as well as [ɯi].

2 -lo also occurs with stems ending in ㄹ l.

Informational clitics

Information clitics

Type	After V	After C
Topic*	nun 는 neun	un 은 -eun
Additive*	to 도 -do
And (and so on)	na 나 -na	-i na 이나 -ina

* The topic and additive markers mark the noun phrase with case markers. They override the nominative and accusative case markers rather than being attached after those case markers.

Nouns

명사(名詞) Myeongsa, "nouns," do not have grammatical gender and though they can be made plural by adding the suffix 들 deul to the end of the word, in general the suffix is not used when the plurality of the noun is clear from context. For example, while the English sentence "there are three apples" would use the plural "apples" instead of the singular "apple", the Korean sentence 사과가 세 개 있습니다 sagwaga se gae isssumnida "apple three(things) exist" keeps the word 사과 sagwa "apple" in its unmarked form, as the numeral makes the plural marker redundant.

The most basic, fundamental Korean vocabulary is native to the Korean language, e.g. 나라 (nara, country), 날 (nal, day). However, a large body of Korean nouns stem from the Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters e.g. 산(山) san, "mountain," 역(驛) yeok, "station," 문화(文化) munhwa, "culture", etc. Many Sino-Korean words have native Korean equivalents and vice versa, but not always. The choice of whether to use a Sino-Korean noun or a native Korean word is a delicate one, with the Sino-Korean alternative often sounding more profound or refined. It is in much the same way that Latin- or French-derived words in English are used in higher-level vocabulary sets (e.g. the sciences), thus sounding more refined – for example, the Anglo-Saxon "ask" versus Romance "inquire".

For a list of Korean nouns, see wikt:Category:Korean nouns.

Pronouns

Main article: Korean pronouns

Korean pronouns (대명사, daemyeongsa, 代名詞) are highly influenced by the honorifics in the language. Pronouns change forms depending on the social status of the person or persons spoken to, e.g. the pronoun for "I" there is both the informal 나 (na) and the honorific/humble 저 (jeo). In general second person singular pronouns are avoided, especially when using honorific forms. For a larger list of Korean pronouns, see wikt:Category:Korean pronouns.

Numerals

Main article: Korean numerals

Korean numerals (수사, susa, 數詞) include two regularly used sets: a native Korean set and a Sino-Korean set. The Sino-Korean system is nearly entirely based on the Chinese numerals. The distinction between the two numeral systems is very important. Everything that can be counted will use one of the two systems, but seldom both. The grouping of large numbers in Korean follows the Chinese tradition of myriads (10000) rather than thousands (1000) as is common in Europe and North America.

Verbs (broadly speaking)

Main article: Korean verbs

Processual verbs

Korean 동사(動詞) dongsa, which include 쓰다 (sseuda, "to use") and 가다 (gada, "to go"), are usually called, simply, "verbs." However, they can also be called "action verbs" or "dynamic verbs," because they describe an action, process, or movement. This distinguishes them from 형용사(形容詞) hyeongyongsa.

Korean verb conjugation depends upon the tense, aspect, mood, and the social relation between the speaker, the subject(s), and the listener(s). Different endings are used depending on the speaker's relation with their subject or audience. Politeness is a critical part of Korean language and Korean culture; the correct verb ending must be chosen to indicate the proper degree of respect or familiarity for the situation.

Descriptive verbs

형용사(形容詞) Hyeongyongsa, sometimes translated as "adjectives" but also known as "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs," are verbs such as 예쁘다 yeppeuda, "to be pretty" or 붉다 bukda, "to be red." English does not have an identical grammatical category, and the English translation of a Korean hyeongyongsa is usually a linking verb + an English adjective. However, some Korean words which do not match that formula, such as 아쉽다 aswipda, a transitive verb which means to "to lack" or "to want for", are still considered hyeongyongsa in Korean because they don't involve an action. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean adjectives.

Copulative and existential verbs

The predicate marker i-ta 이다 serves as the copula, which links the subject with its complement, that is, the role 'to be' plays in English. For example, 대나무는 풀이다. Taynamwu-nun phwul-i-ta. "A bamboo is a grass." When the complement, which is suffixed by i-ta, ends in a vowel, i-ta contracts into -ta quite often as in following example, 우리는 친구다. Wuli-nun chinkwu-ta. "We are friends." The past tense of i-ta is of course i-ess-ta. However, if it is attached after a vowel, it is always contracted into yess-ta. If not, it cannot be contracted.

To negate, a special adjective ani-ta 아니다 is used, being one of the two cases that take complement (the other is toy-ta 되다). Two nouns take the nominative clitic i/ka 이/가 before the negative copula; one is the subject, and the other is the complement. For instance, in 대나무는 나무가 아니다. Taynamwu-nun namwu-ka ani-ta. "A bamboo is not a tree.", 대나무는 taynamwu-nun is the subject and 나무가 namwu-ka is the complement. The derived form aniyo 아니요 is the word for "no" when answering a positive question. (In the case of a negative question, aniyo is equivalent to "yes" in English.)

I-ta and ani-ta become 이야 i-ya (often 야 ya after vowel) and 아니야 (아냐) ani-ya (anya) at the end of the sentence in hae-che style. In haeyo-che style, they become 이에요 i-ey-yo (often 예요 yey-yo after vowel) and 아니에요 (아녜요) ani-ey-yo (anyey-yo) as well as the less common forms 이어요/여요 i-e-yo/ye-yo and 아니어요 (아녀요) ani-e-yo (anye-yo).

The copula is only for "to be" in the sense of "A is B". For existence, Korean uses the existential verbs (or adjectives) iss-ta 있다 iss-/it-da "there is" and eps-ta 없다 eobs-/eop-da "there isn't." The honorific existential verb for iss-ta is kyeysi-ta 계시다 gyesi-da.

Modifiers

Determinatives

Korean 관형사(冠形詞) gwanhyeongsa are known in English as "determiners," "determinatives," "pre-nouns," "adnouns," "attributives," "unconjugated adjectives," and "indeclinable adjectives." Gwanhyeongsa come before and modify or specify nouns, much like attributive adjectives or articles in English. Examples include 각(各) kak, "each." For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean determiners.

Adverbs

Korean adverbs (부사, busa, 副詞) include 또 (ddo, "also") and 가득 (gadeuk, "fully"). Busa, like adverbs in English, modify verbs. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean adverbs.

Other content words

Exclamations

Korean interjections (감탄사, gamtansa, 感歎詞) are also known in English as "exclamations". Examples include 아니 (ani, "no"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean interjections.

Syntax

Korean is typical of language with verb-final word order, such as Japanese, in that most affixes are suffixes and clitics are enclitics, modifiers precede the words they modify, and most elements of a phrase or clause are optional.

Complex Sentence

Connected Sentence

• Equally connected sentence

  Verb endings like -고 -ko, -(으)며 -(u)mye meaning "and" and -(으)나 -(u)na, -지만 -ciman meaning "but", they connect two or more sentences serially.

  이제 겨울이 가고 봄이 돌아 왔지만 이곳은 여전히 춥다. "The winter's now gone and the spring has come back, but the weather here still remained cold."

• Subordinately connected sentence

  A lot of endings are used to indicate a wide variety of meanings, making the clause suffixed by one of them subordinate to the other clause. The difference from adverb clause is not very apparent.

  길을 걷다가 문득 하늘을 보았더니, 달이 참 아름답게 떠 있었다. "I was walking along the street; When I suddenly stopped to look up the sky, the moon was there which was truly beautiful."

Container Sentence

• Noun Clause

  Followed by noun clause marker -(으)ㅁ -(u)m or -기 -ki, a sentence can serve as a noun. The markers are attached to the last verb of the sentence. For example, if you want to include a sentence 그가 갑자기 떠났다. "He left out of a sudden." Ku-ka kapcaki ttena-ss-ta. into another sentence 무언가를 친구가 나에게 알려 주었다. "My friend informed me something." Mwuenka-lul chinkwu-ka na-eykey ally-e cwu-e-ss-ta., then the verb 떠났다 ttena-ss-ta combines with -(으)ㅁ -(u)m to make a noun clause 떠났음 ttena-ss-um: the resulting sentence is 그가 갑자기 떠났음을 친구가 나에게 알려 주었다. "My friend informed me that he left out of a sudden." Ku-ka kapcaki ttena-ss-um-ul chinkwu-ka na-eykey ally-e cwu-e-ss-ta.

Note that -(u)m is used in more formal settings, meanwhile -ki is used casually.

나는 그가 이미 죽었음을 몰랐다. "I didn't know that he was already dead."

그녀가 범인임은 명백하다. "That she is the criminal is clear."

일하기(가) 싫다. "I don't feel like working."

먹기(에) 좋게 자른 채소 "vegetables chopped for your convenience of eating"

• Adjective Clause

  This is the most widely used subordinate clause, even substituting the aforementioned noun clause by taking part in the form -는 것 -nun kes "the thing which". -는 -nun marks the present tense, -(으)ㄹ -(u)l stands for the future tense, and -(으)ㄴ -(u)n and -던 -ten are for the past tense, though -(u)l also acts without meaning any tense as in -ㄹ 때 -l ttay "when". See Korean verbs.

  저번에 우리 서울 올라갔을 때 치킨 먹었던 데 기억나냐? "Remember where we had chicken when we were in Seoul?"

  내가 살던 고향은 꽃 피는 산골 "My homeland I lived was a mountain town flowers are blooming in."

Accompanied with several dependent nouns, adjective clause can comprise idiomatic expressions, such as -ㄹ 것이다 -l kes-i-ta "I suppose ~", -ㄹ 수(가) 있다/없다 -l swu-(ka) iss-ta/eps-ta "It is possible/impossible ~", -ㄹ 리가 없다 -l li-ka eps-ta "It makes no sense that ~"

그는 여태 한 번도 늦은 적이 없었다. 오늘 역시 그는 제 시간에 올 것이다. "He has never been late so far. Today, as usual, he'll be in time."

• Adverbial Clause

  Endings like -이 -i, -게 -key, -도록 -tolok, and so forth derive adverbial clauses. -i is not commonly used in making clause except for 없이 eps-i "without"; -key is in common use in this sense instead.

  그는 말 없이 나를 쳐다보았다. "He looked at me without any word."

  물 먹게 그릇 좀 다오. "Please bring a cup for me; I need some water."

  재미 있게 노는 아이들 "children playing with fun"

  황금 보기를 돌 보듯 하라. "See gold as if seeing a stone."

A lot of caution is needed when faced with -게 하다 -key ha-ta and -게 되다 -key toy-ta, which may mean just "do -ly" and "become sth -ly", but also can make causative and passive verbs respectively; which are consisted of main and supportive verbs.

정원을 아름답게 하다(causative) ↔ 발레를 아름답게 하다(adverbial; causative if intended)

방이 깔끔하게 되다(passive) ↔ 격파가 깔끔하게 되다(adverbial; passive if intended)

• Verbal Clause

  Usually in the form 무엇은 무엇이 어떻다, the whole clause serves as one adjective predicate. Just look at the examples.

  토끼는 귀가 크고, 기린은 목이 길다. "A rabbit has big ears and a giraffe has a long neck.", or word-for-word, "A rabbit is big-eared, and a giraffe is long-necked."

  라면은 값도 싸고 맛도 좋지만 건강에는 좋지 않다. "Instant ramen is cheap, tasty, but not healthy."

  나는 배가 좋건만 친구는 사과를 사 왔다. "I like pears, but my friend appeared with apples."

• Quotation Clause

  Although the example above 그가 갑자기 떠났음을 친구가 내게 알려 주었다. can be used in a novel, it is unbearably awkward to say in more general situation. Quotation clauses as in 내 친구가 "걔 갑자기 가 버리데."라고 하더라. (direct quotation) or in 내 친구도 걔가 갑자기 가 버렸다고 하더라. (indirect quotation) is used instead. The particle (이)라고 (i)lako is for direct quotation, and the verb endings like -다고 -ta-ko, -(느)냐고 -(nu)nya-ko, -라고 -la-ko, and -자고 -ca-ko are used for indirect quotation, for declarative, interrogative, imperative, and suggesting sentences respectively. Exceptionally, sentences employing a verbal particle 이다 i-ta and an adjective 아니다 ani-ta are suffixed with -la-ko in place of -ta-ko for declarative ones.

  뭐라고요? "What?" or "What did you say?"

  경찰은 자세한 경위를 조사하고 있다고 밝혔다. "The police announced that they are investigating the details."

The last syllable -ko often falls off. Furthermore, if the verb ha-ta means 'to say' and is right next to the syllable -ko, then -고 하다 -ko ha-ta is abridged becoming -다 -ta, which of course can conjugate.

뭐라디? (뭐라고 하디?)

내가 뭐랬어. (내가 뭐라고 했어.) 괜히 기운만 빠졌네. "Do you remember what I said? You only got tired for nothing."

Supporting Verb/Adjective

Sometimes, just using an adverb is insufficient to express the exact meaning the speaker has in mind. The composition of a main verb (or adjective) and a supporting verb (or a.) can be used in this case, alongside some grammatical features. Suffixes including -아/어 -^e/_a, -게 -key, -지 -ci, and -고 -ko are taken by the main verb (or a.), and the supporting verb (or a.) follows it and is conjugated.

Examples using -e/a

• -아/어 가다/오다 ^e/_a kata/ota: to continue to do, while getting away/closer
• -아/어 버리다 -^e/_a pelita: to end up doing(, and I feel sad, or destressed, to see the result)
• -아/어 보다 -^e/_a pota: to try doing
• -아/어지다 -^e/_acita (written without space): to be done; to become adj.
• -아/어하다 -^e/_ahata (written without space): to feel adj.

Examples using -key

• -게 되다 -key toyta: to be done; to end up doing
• -게 하다 -key hata: to make sb do

Examples using -ci

• -지 않다 -ci anhta (-지 아니하다 -ci anihata, -잖다 -canhta): not to do; not to be adj.
• -지 말다 -ci malta: not to do (in imperative, e.g. 하지 마! "Don't do that!")
• -지 못하다 -ci moshata: to be unable to do

Examples using -ko

• -고 보다 -ko pota: to do before realizing sth
• -고 싶다 -ko sipta: to want to do
• -고 있다 -ko issta: to be doing

Examples using other suffixes

• -어야 하다/되다 -^e/_a-ya hata/toyta: to have to do
• -아도 되다 -^e/_a-to toyta: to be permitted to do
• -(으)면 하다 -(u)myen hata: to hope to do
• -(으)면 되다 -(u)myen toyta: to be okay or desirable to do

Number

Korean has general number. That is, a noun on its own is neither singular nor plural. It also has an optional plural marker tul 들 -deul, which is most likely to be used for definite and highly animate nouns (primarily first- and second-person pronouns, to a lesser extent nouns and third-person pronouns referring to humans, etc.) This is similar to several other languages with optional number, such as Japanese.

However, Korean tul may also be found on the predicate, on the verb, object of the verb, or modifier of the object, in which case it forces a distributive plural reading (as opposed to a collective reading) and indicates that the word is attached to expresses new information.

For instance:

많이들	먹다가들	가거라
manh-i-tul	mek-taka-tul	ka-kera
manidɯl	mʌktagadɯl	kagʌɾa
a_lot-ADV-PL	eat-and-PL	go-IMP

'You guys eat well and go.'

In this case, the information that the subject is plural is expressed.

To add a distributive meaning on a numeral, 씩 'ssik' is used.

학생들이	풍선을	하나씩	샀어요
haksayng-tul-i	phungsen-ul	hana-ssik	sa-ss-e-yo
haksɛŋdɯɾi	pʰungsʰʌnɯl	hanassik	sʰassʌjo
student-PL-NOM	balloon-ACC	one-each	buy-PRET-INT-POL

"The students bought a balloon each."

Now "balloon" is specified as a distributive plural.

Subject–verb agreement

While it is usually stated that Korean doesn't have subject–verb agreement, the conjugated verbs do, in fact, show agreement with the logical subject (not necessarily the grammatical subject) in several ways. However, agreement in Korean usually only narrows down the range of subjects. Personal agreement is shown partly on the verb stem before the tense-aspect-mood suffixes, and partly on the sentence-final endings.

Korean distinguishes:

• Honorific subjects from non-honorific subjects in the second or third person via a verb suffix. See Korean honorifics.
• Korean distinguishes first person from non-first in emotion verbs, in that the form "A는 B가 싫다" A dislikes B for example is hardly used for 2nd and 3rd person subjects in colloquial conversation. On the contrary, the form "A가 B를 싫어하다" can be used freely for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person subject.
• first person from third person, partially, in the future and the past tense.
• inclusive first person from exclusive first person, and first person from third person, in the jussive mood

Korean does not distinguish:

• singular from plural on the verb (though this is systematically marked on pronouns)
• second person from third person in statements
• second person from first person in questions

The following table is meant to indicate how the verb stem and/or the sentence ending can vary depending on the subject.The column labeled "jussive ending" contains the various jussive sentences endings in the plain style.

Person	Person agreement on final ending Jussive ending
1st sg (volition)	-keyss-ta -겠다 (common) -(u)li-ta -리다 -(u)lyen-ta -련다 -(u)ma -마
1st pl (suggestion)	-ca -자
2nd, 3rd (command)	-e/ala -아/어라

Valency

Main article: Valency (linguistics)

Valency in Korean

• An intransitive verb, an adjective, or a noun plus the predicate particle i-ta requests one argument, the subject, though it may be omitted. (한 자리 서술어)

  비가 내린다. "It rains."

  하늘이 푸르다. "The sky is blue."

  지금은 아침이다. "It is morning now."

• A transitive verb needs two arguments; one is the subjects, and the other can either be an object, a complement, or an essential adverb. (두 자리 서술어)

  고양이가 쥐를 잡는다. "A cat catches a mouse." (object)

  그는 나에게로 와서 꽃이 되었다. "He came to me and became a flower." (adverb, then complement)

• A ditransitive verb carries three arguments, which always include an essential adverb. (세 자리 서술어)

  나는 엄마한테 김치 세 통을 받았다. "I got 3 boxes of kimchi from my mom."

  동생은 나에게 "다 잘 될 거야."라고 말했다. "My brother told me "Everything's gonna be okay.""

Subordinate Clauses

Verbs can take conjunctive suffixes. These suffixes make subordinate clauses.

One very common suffix -ko 고 -go, can be interpreted as a gerund if used by itself, or, with a subject of its own, as a subordinating conjunction. That is, mek.ko 먹고 meokgo means approximately "eating," koki lul mek.ko 고기를 먹고 gogireul meokgo means "eating meat," and nay ka koki lul mek.ko 내가 고기를 먹고 nae-ga gogi-reul meog-go means "I eat meat and..." or "My eating meat."

Another suffix, somewhat similar in meaning, is se 서 -seo which is, however, attached to long stem of a verb. The long stem of a verb is the one that is formed by attaching e/a 어/아 -eo/-a after a consonant.

Both sometimes called gerunds, the verb form that ends in se and the one that ends in -ko juxtapose two actions, the action in the subclause and the action in the main clause. The difference between them is that with se the action in the subclause necessarily came first, while -ko conveys more of an unordered juxtaposition. Se is frequently used to imply causation, and is used in many common expressions like manna se pan.kapsupnita 만나서 반갑습니다 Manna-seo bangapseumnida (literally, "Since I met you, I'm happy" -or- "Having met you, I'm happy"). If -ko was used instead, the meaning would be closer to "I meet you and I'm happy," that is, without any implied logical connection.

These are both subordinating conjunctive suffixes and can't (in the more formal registers, at least) derive complete sentences of their own without the addition of a main verb, by default the verb iss 있. Nay ka koki lul mek.ko issta 내가 고기를 먹고 있다 naega gogireul meokko itta therefore means "I am eating meat." The difference between this and the simple sentence nay ka koki lul meknun ta 내가 고기를 먹는다 is similar to the difference in Spanish between "Estoy almorzando" and "Almuerzo," in that the compound form emphasizes the continuity of the action. The -se 서 form is used with the existential verb iss 있 for the perfect. Muni yelye issta 문이 열려 있다 'the door has been opened' can be the example, although it would convey different meaning if the very syllable se were visible, 문이 열려서 있다 'because the door is opened, it exist', meaning of which is not clear, though.

See also

• Korean postpositions