Every Korean verb has a stem (the fixed part) and an ending (the part that carries tense and politeness). In Part 2 you saw the verb lands last; now you learn how it changes. The good news: Korean conjugation is regular and rule-based to a degree English learners rarely expect. Once you learn the 아/어요 rule, thousands of verbs open up.
The one rule: stem + 아요 or 어요#
Take the dictionary form, drop 다, get the stem, and add the polite ending. Which ending — 아요 or 어요 — is decided by the stem's last vowel:
| Stem's last vowel | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ㅏ or ㅗ | -아요 | 가다 → 가아요 → 가요 (go) |
| ㅓ/ㅜ/ㅣ/ㅡ / anything else | -어요 | 먹다 → 먹어요 (eat); 읽다 → 읽어요 (read) |
| 하다 | -여요 → 해요 | 공부하다 → 공부해요 (study) |
가다 → 가요 (go) 마시다 → 마셔요 (drink) 먹다 → 먹어요 (eat) 공부하다 → 공부해요 (study)
Watch how vowel-final stems collapse: 가다 doesn't become "가아요" — the vowels squeeze into 가요. 마시다 → 마셔요 (시+어 → 셔). These contractions are the sound of natural Korean.
하다 verbs: your biggest multiplier#
Hundreds of everyday actions are "Korean noun + 하다" (to do):
- 공부하다 — to study
- 일하다 — to work
- 전화하다 — to call
- 요리하다 — to cook
- 운동하다 — to exercise (운동 = exercise)
All of them conjugate identically in the polite present: -해요. Learning 하다 once unlocks the whole class — the closest thing Korean has to a free verb engine.
Past tense: 았어요 / 었어요#
Same choice rule, plus a "had" flavored vowel:
| Present | Past | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ㅏ/ㅗ root | -았어요 | 가다 → 갔어요 (went) |
| other roots | -었어요 | 먹다 → 먹었어요 (ate) |
| 하다 verbs | -했어요 | 공부하다 → 공부했어요 (studied) |
오늘 학교에 가요. (Today I go to school.) 어제 학교에 갔어요. (Yesterday I went to school.)
That single swap — 가요 → 갔어요 — is your entire past tense starter kit.
이에요 / 예요: "to be" for nouns#
You cannot conjugate a noun directly, so Korean glues a copula: 이에요 after consonant-final nouns, 예요 after vowel-final nouns.
| Noun ending | Copula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| consonant final (학생) | 이에요 | 저는 학생이에요 (I am a student) |
| vowel final (의사) | 예요 | 저는 의사예요 (I am a doctor) |
이거 커피예요? (Is this coffee?) — 이거 + vowel-final 커피 → 예요. 저는 미국 사람이에요. (I'm American.)
If you have Part 3's polite reflex, you'll notice 이에요/예요 already ends in 요 — it is the polite connective for nouns, and past versions are 이었어요/였어요 (used less in speech; the present form does most of the work).
있다 / 없다: existence, in two moves#
"To exist / to have / to be (in a place)" is 있다; its negative is 없다. Conjugated, beautiful and regular:
있어요 — there is / I have / (I) am in 없어요 — there isn't / I don't have
시간 있어요? (Do you have time?) 화장실이 있어요? (Is there a restroom?) — the 이/가 subject particle from Part 2 doing its "exists" job.
Notice: 이가 marks the thing that exists. That is the "new information" subject marker, exactly as Part 2 described.
A mini-conjugation chart for the top 6 verbs#
| Verb | Present (polite) | Past (polite) |
|---|---|---|
| 가다 go | 가요 | 갔어요 |
| 오다 come | 와요 | 왔어요 |
| 먹다 eat | 먹어요 | 먹었어요 |
| 마시다 drink | 마셔요 | 마셨어요 |
| 하다 do | 해요 | 했어요 |
| 있다 have/be | 있어요 | 있었어요 |
Common beginner mistakes#
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| 말한다 → 말하해요 | 하다 verbs take 해요: 말해요 |
| 가다 → 가아요 | Vowel-stem collapse: just 가요 |
| Noun + 요 (밥요) | Nouns use the copula: 밥이에요 |
| Past with 이에요 everywhere | Add 았/었 for the past: 있었어요 |
| Conjugating only the first verb in a list | Every verb gets its own ending |
Become a conjugation machine: 10 great practice verbs#
가다(go), 오다(come), 먹다(eat), 마시다(drink), 보다(see/watch), 하다(do), 읽다(read), 쓰다(write), 자다(sleep), 일하다(work)
Take each one, build present + past in your head, then say it out loud:
영화를 봐요. (I watch a movie.) — 보아요 → 봐요 어제 영화를 봤어요. (Yesterday I watched a movie.)
Now your sentences can hold time. The natural next step is putting real clocks on them — Part 6: time, dates, and the calendar, which leans on the numbers from Part 4.
