Day 6: Verbs
After yesterday, you have earned an easy day. Korean verbs are far simpler than anything in Europe.
① Korean verbs do not conjugate for person. Not at all. 가요 means I go, you go, he goes, we go, they go. One form. There is no table. ② One form does four jobs — statement, question, command and suggestion are the same word, separated only by tone (section 5).
The only thing you have to learn is which of two endings a verb takes, and there is a rule.
1. ★★ There is no verb table
| French | German | Korean | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I go | je vais | ich gehe | 가요 |
| you go | tu vas | du gehst | 가요 |
| he goes | il va | er geht | 가요 |
| we go | nous allons | wir gehen | 가요 |
| they go | ils vont | sie gehen | 가요 |
★ Read that column again. Korean has no person agreement, no number agreement, and no gender — anywhere in the language. Combined with Day 4's subject-dropping, a complete Korean sentence can be one word: 가요.
★ What the ending does carry is politeness (Day 3) and tense (Days 25–26).Korean spends its verb endings on social level, where European languages spend them on who is doing it.
2. Dictionary form → stem
Every Korean verb is listed ending in 다. Remove the 다 and you have the stem.
| Dictionary | Stem | |
|---|---|---|
| 가다 | 가- | to go |
| 먹다 | 먹- | to eat |
| 마시다 | 마시- | to drink |
| 보다 | 보- | to see, watch |
| 읽다 | 읽- | to read |
| 하다 | 하- | to do |
⚠️ The 다 form is never spoken in conversation. It is the dictionary entry. You never say 가다 to anyone — you say 가요, or 가, or 갑니다. Learners who memorise 다 forms and then use them sound like a talking dictionary.
3. ★ The 해요체 rule
### Look at the LAST VOWEL of the stem.### ㅏ or ㅗ → + 아요 · everything else → + 어요 · 하다 → 해요
| Stem | Last vowel | Ending | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 먹- | ㅓ | 어요 | 먹어요 |
| 읽- | ㅣ | 어요 | 읽어요 |
| 있- | ㅣ | 어요 | 있어요 |
| 앉- | ㅏ | 아요 | 앉아요 |
| 좋- | ㅗ | 아요 | 좋아요 |
| 하- | — | ★ | 해요 |
★ The logic is sound harmony — bright vowels (ㅏ ㅗ) take a bright ending, everything else takes the dark one. Korean has had this for a thousand years, and it is why the rule feels natural once you say it out loud a few times.
When the stem ends in a vowel, the two merge
This is where most of the common verbs live:
| Stem + ending | Merges to | |
|---|---|---|
| 가 + 아요 | 가요 | ㅏ + ㅏ collapse into one |
| 자 + 아요 | 자요 | to sleep |
| 오 + 아요 | 와요 | to come |
| 보 + 아요 | 봐요 | to see, watch |
| 마시 + 어요 | 마셔요 | to drink |
| 주 + 어요 | 줘요 | to give |
| 배우 + 어요 | 배워요 | to learn |
| 쓰 + 어요 | 써요 | to write |
| 되 + 어요 | 돼요 | to become, to be OK |
★ Do not derive these every time you speak. Learn the 해요 form as the word.마셔요 is the word for "drink"; 마시다 is a dictionary fact about it.
4. ★ 하다 — the word factory
하다 means "to do", and it turns almost any noun into a verb. This is the single most productive pattern in Korean.
| Noun | + 하다 | |
|---|---|---|
| 공부 (study) | 공부해요 | I study |
| 일 (work) | 일해요 | I work |
| 운동 (exercise) | 운동해요 | I exercise |
| 요리 (cooking) | 요리해요 | I cook |
| 전화 (phone) | 전화해요 | I call |
| 사랑 (love) | 사랑해요 | I love you |
| 말 (speech) | 말해요 | I speak |
| 시작 (start) | 시작해요 | I start |
★ And it works on borrowed words too — 쇼핑해요 (shop), 다이어트해요 (diet), 체크해요 (check). If you know a noun, you can very often make a verb from it, which means your vocabulary is worth roughly double what you think it is.
5. ★★ One form, four jobs
### Statement, question, command and suggestion are the SAME word. Only the tone changes.
| 가요. | ↘ falling | I'm going / he's going |
|---|---|---|
| 가요? | ↗ rising | Are you going? |
| 가요. | firm | Go. (gentle command) |
| 가요! | bright | Let's go! |
같이 가요! — Let's go together! · 여기 앉아요. — Sit here. · 뭐 해요? — What are you doing?
⚠️ This means your intonation is doing real grammatical work. A flat, hesitant delivery — which is what a nervous learner produces — leaves the listener genuinely unsure whether you asked or told. Commit to the tone.
★ Context does the rest, and it does it easily. Korean is happy to leave things to context in a way English is not — no subject, no person marking, no separate question form — and native speakers never find it ambiguous.
And the present tense is wider than English's
해요 covers the English present, the present continuous, and the near future:
| 저는 한국어를 배워요. | I learn / I am learning Korean |
|---|---|
| 지금 가요. | I'm going now |
| 내일 가요. | I'm going tomorrow (future) |
⚠️ There is no -ing form to build. I am studying is simply 공부해요.
6. The core verbs
| 가요 | go | 와요 | come | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 먹어요 | eat | 마셔요 | drink | |
| 봐요 | see, watch | 읽어요 | read | |
| 써요 | write, use | 들어요 | listen | |
| 자요 | sleep | 일어나요 | get up | |
| 살아요 | live | 배워요 | learn | |
| 공부해요 | study | 일해요 | work | |
| 있어요 | exist, have | 없어요 | not exist, not have | |
| 좋아해요 | like | 알아요 / 몰라요 | know / don't know |
Negation, the short version
Put 안 in front of the verb:
| 안 가요. | I'm not going |
|---|---|
| 안 먹어요. | I don't eat it |
| ⚠️ 하다 verbs split: 공부안 해요 → 공부 안 해요 | I don't study |
(The full negation system — 안 vs 못 vs -지 않다 — is Day 23.)
7. Dialogue
민수: 알렉스 씨, 뭐 해요?Alex: 한국어 공부해요. 민수 씨는요?민수: 저는 일해요. 오늘 아주 바빠요.Alex: 커피 마셔요?민수: 네, 매일 마셔요. 알렉스 씨는 커피 안 마셔요?Alex: 안 마셔요. 차 마셔요.민수: 아, 네. 저녁에 뭐 해요?Alex: 친구 만나요. 같이 영화 봐요.민수: 재미있겠네요! 몇 시에 가요?Alex: 일곱 시에 가요. 민수 씨도 같이 가요!민수: 좋아요, 같이 가요!
★ Three things.① Not one verb changed for person. 해요, 일해요, 마셔요, 봐요 — Minsu and Alex use the identical forms about themselves and each other.② 같이 가요 appears twice — once as an invitation (let's go) and once as agreement. Same word, tone doing the work.③ Almost every particle is dropped — 뭐 해요, 커피 마셔요, 친구 만나요. ★ That is normal spoken Korean, exactly as Day 5 §6 said.
8. Exercises
A. 아요 or 어요?
- 먹다 2. 앉다 3. 읽다 4. 좋다 5. 있다 6. 하다
B. Give the 해요 form.
- 가다 2. 오다 3. 보다 4. 마시다 5. 주다 6. 배우다 7. 자다 8. 쓰다
C. ★ Make a verb with 하다.
- 공부 2. 일 3. 운동 4. 요리 5. 전화 6. 사랑
D. What does 가요 mean here?
- 가요. ↘ 2. 가요? ↗ 3. 같이 가요! 4. 여기 앉아요.
E. Translate.
- I'm studying Korean. 2. What are you doing? 3. I drink coffee every day.
- I'm not going. 5. Let's go together. 6. I'm going tomorrow.
F. ⚠️ Fix the mistake.
- (to a friend, in conversation) 저는 학교에 가다.
- 저는 가요, 그는 가아요.
- 저는 공부하고 있어요. (meaning simply "I study")
- 저는 안 공부해요.
Answers
A. 1. 먹어요 2. 앉아요 3. 읽어요 4. 좋아요 5. 있어요 6. 해요 B. 1. 가요 2. 와요 3. 봐요 4. 마셔요 5. 줘요 6. 배워요 7. 자요 8. 써요 C. 1. 공부해요 2. 일해요 3. 운동해요 4. 요리해요 5. 전화해요 6. 사랑해요 D. 1. I'm going 2. Are you going? 3. Let's go! 4. Sit here. E. 1. 한국어 공부해요. 2. 뭐 해요? 3. 매일 커피 마셔요. 4. 안 가요. 5. 같이 가요. 6. 내일 가요. F. 1. 가요 — the 다 form is never spoken 2. 가요 for both — no person endings exist 3. 공부해요 is enough 4. 공부 안 해요 — 하다 verbs split around 안
9. Today's 10 sentences (flashcards)
- 뭐 해요? — What are you doing?
- 한국어 공부해요. — I'm studying Korean
- 저는 일해요. — I work
- 커피 마셔요? — Do you drink coffee?
- 매일 운동해요. — I exercise every day
- 친구 만나요. — I'm meeting a friend
- 영화 봐요. — I'm watching a film
- 같이 가요! — Let's go together!
- 안 가요. — I'm not going
- 몰라요. — I don't know
10. 📲 Upload to LangNote
Upload section 3 (the rule), section 6 (the core verbs) and section 9 → study language Korean.
| Mission | What to do with it today |
|---|---|
| 🎧 Podcast | The dialogue — listen for how the same verb form is used by both speakers |
| ✍️ Dictation | 아요 / 어요 is one unstressed vowel apart |
| 🗣 Shadowing | Today's key mission. Say 가요 four ways — statement, question, command, suggestion |
| 📖 Vocab | Verbs entered as 해요 forms, not 다 forms |
| ❓ Quiz | The 아요/어요 rule and the vowel merges |
★ Say ten true sentences about today, out loud, tonight. 공부해요. 일해요. 커피 마셔요. 친구 만나요. Four words each, all correct, all usable — and you have had six days.
Tomorrow is the week 1 review: dictation, a one-minute talk, a role-play and thirty questions. Bring the self-introduction you wrote on Day 4.
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