Learning Korean (한국어 배우기) [COMPLETE]

Unit 1.7 - Korean Irregulars (3)

르 Irregular

If the final syllable in a stem is 르 (마르다), it is conjugated differently when adding ~아/어. This irregular only applies when adding ~아/어 to a stem and not when adding any other grammatical principles that starts with a vowel or consonant.

When adding ~아/어 to these words, an additional ㄹ is created and placed in the syllable preceding 르 as the last consonant. The 르 also gets changed to either 라 or 러. This is done to both verbs and adjective

빠르다 = to be fast
빠르 + 아요 = 빠 + ㄹ + 라요 = 빨라요
그 남자는 빨라요 = That man is fast

부르다 = to call somebody’s name
부르 + 었어요 = 부 + ㄹ + 렀어요 = 불렀어요
저는 저의 누나를 불렀어요 = I called my sister

고르다 = choose       Past            Present            Future
Informal low           골랐어            골라              고르겠어
Informal high        골랐어요         골라요          고르겠어요
Plain form              골랐다           고른다           고르겠다
Formal high        골랐습니다      고릅니다       고르겠습니다

ㄹ Irregular

As you know, there are times when you must choose between two things to add to a stem. For example:

~아/어 means you must choose between adding ~아 or ~어
~ㄴ/은 means you must choose between adding ~ㄴ or ~은
~ㅂ/습 means you must choose between adding ~ㅂ or ~습
~ㄹ/을 means you must choose between adding ~ㄹ or ~을

As you know, you choose the correct addition based on the stem.

If the final letter of a stem is ㄹ AND you add any of the following:

~ㄴ/은
~ㄴ/는
~ㅂ/습
~ㄹ/을

The first option (~ㄴ/ ~ㅂ / ~ㄹ ) should be chosen. In addition, the ㄹ is removed from the stem and the ~ㄴ / ~ㅂ / ~ㄹ is add directly to the stem. Let’s look at each one individually.

ㄹ Irregular: Adding ~ㄴ/은 to words

You have learned about adding ~ㄴ/은 to adjective stems when describing nouns. Usually, you add ~ㄴ directly to the word with no 받침, and ~은 to the word with a 받침
For example:

크다 = 큰 남자
작다 = 작은 남자

When adding ~ㄴ/은 to a stem which ends in ㄹ, the ㄹ is removed and ㄴ is added to the stem:

길다 = long
길 + ㄴ = 긴
긴 바지 = long pants

열다 = to open
열 + ㄴ = 연

Although you haven’t learned about adding ~ㄴ/은 to stems, you have learned about adding ~ㄴ/는다 to verb stems. Normally, you add ~ㄴ다 to the stem of a verb ending in a vowel, and ~는다 to the stem of a verb ending in a consonant. For example:

나는 집에 간다 = I go home
나는 밥을 먹는다 = I eat rice

But when adding ~ㄴ/는다 to a verb stem that ends in ㄹ, you must remove ㄹ and add ~ㄴ다 to the verb stem:

나는 문을 연다 = I open the door
나는 케이크를 만든다 = I make a cake

ㄹ Irregular: Adding ~ㅂ/습 to words

You have also learned about adding ~ㅂ/습니다 to verb and adjective stems when conjugating in the Formal high respect form: Normally, you add ~ㅂ니다 to the stem of a word ending in a vowel, and ~습니다 to the stem of a word ending in a consonant. For example:

Verbs:
저는 집에 갑니다 = I go home
저는 밥을 먹습니다 = I eat rice

Adjectives:
그 여자는 예쁩니다 = That girl is pretty
이 방은 넓습니다 = This room is big/wide

But when adding ~ㅂ니다 to the stem of a word that ends in ㄹ, you must remove ㄹ and add ~ㅂ directly to the stem. For example:

Verbs:
저는 문을 엽니다 = I open the door
저는 케이크를 만듭니다 = I make a cake

Adjectives:
그 병원은 멉니다 = That hospital is far
그 여자의 머리카락은 깁니다 = That girls hair is long

열다 = open          Past            Present             Future
Informal low       열었어            열어                 열겠어
Informal high    열었어요        열어요              열겠어요
Plain form          열었다            연다                 열겠다
Formal high     열었습니다       엽니다          열겠습니다

I don’t want to confuse you too much more because I am sure you are already really confused. That being said, I think it is a very good exercise to try to compare how the words 듣다 and 들다 differ in their conjugations.

Notice that when conjugating 듣다, you need to consider the following irregular patterns:

ㄷ irregular and ㅡ irregular

The following table shows how 듣다 should be conjugated across the honorifics and tenses you have learned so far:

듣다 = to hear         Past            Present             Future
Informal low           들었어            들어                듣겠어
Informal high       들었어요         들어요             듣겠어요
Plain form              들었다          듣는다              듣겠다
Formal high        들었습니다     듣습니다          듣겠습니다

Notice when conjugating 들다, you need to consider the following irregular patterns:

ㄹ irregular and ㅡ irregular

The following table shows how 들다 should be conjugated across the honorifics and tenses you have learned so far:

들다                      Past              Present              Future
Informal low        들었어               들어                 들겠어
Informal high     들었어요           들어요              들겠어요
Plain form           들었다              든다                  들겠다
Formal high      들었습니다        듭니다             들겠습니다

I feel that comparing these two is a very good exercise because you can see that sometimes, because of the irregular conjugations, 듣다 might look exactly like 들다. For example, in all of the past tense conjugations, there is no way to distinguish between the two based on sound, and the only way to distinguish them is by context in a sentence.

There is no easy way around memorizing stuff like this. The only words of encouragement I can give you is that – as you become more and more familiar with the language, and as you expose yourself to it more and more, it does become second nature. I know you can’t believe that now, but it does.

Continue - Unit 1.7 (4)

Srry for the late upadate. I had a huge test this week.