User:Chom.kwoy/Sandbox/Verbs

Basics
Every Korean verb stem must be combined with a final ending (어말어미). Between the stem and the final ending, zero or more pre-final endings (선어말어미) can be combined. After the final ending, zero or more postpositions (조사) can be combined, which can carry various nuances. Roughly, the order in which these endings are combined is shown below:

Below are some examples of Korean verb forms.

Stem Shapes
Stems sometimes change shape depending on what endings follow directly after. These variant shapes can be either predictable just by the looking at the dictionary form of the verb, or unpredictable because it is specific to the word. In the formulation of grammar taught in South Korean public schools, the latter (unpredictable variant shapes) are called irregular conjugation (불규칙 활용).

ㄹ Elision
Stems that end with in dictionary form drop the  when followed by certain endings. For example, "to live" becomes  before the verb ending, making  instead of. This change happens regularly for all stems that end with. The list of endings that trigger this change are shown below. Note that they mostly consist of endings that start with (or historically started with) an alveolar consonant, although not all such endings trigger the change.








 * Others:, , ...

ㅡ Elision
Stems that end with the vowel in dictionary form drop the  when followed by endings that start with. For example, "big" becomes  when combined with, instead of. Similarly, "to dip" becomes  when combined with, instead of. This change happens regularly for all regular stems that end with.

Note that in these cases, which one between and  is chosen depends on the vowel in the second-to-last syllable of the stem, instead of the final one. If the stem is only one syllable long, i.e. "big",  is always chosen.

Irregular Stem Changes
A limited number of verbs are irregular, which means that their conjugated forms cannot be predicted solely from the dictionary form of the verb. For example, the two words "to walk" and  "to harvest" have identical dictionary forms, but some of their conjugated forms are different:  "to walk" +  becomes, whereas  "to harvest" +  becomes.

ㄷ-Irregular
Some (but not all) verbs whose stem looks like in dictionary form change its form to  before a vowel.

ㅂ-Irregular
Some (but not all) verbs whose stem looks like in dictionary form changes when preceding a vowel. In particular, they change to "...w-" preceding, or the final drops completely while turning the following  into.

When selecting between and  forms, only two verbs,  and, choose , and all other ㅂ-irregular verbs choose.

ㅅ-Irregular
Some (but not all) verbs whose stem looks like in dictionary form drop the final  before a vowel. Note that the changed stem and the ending's vowel are not contracted into one syllable.

르- and 러-Irregular
Some (but not all) verbs whose stem looks like in dictionary form changes into  when an ending that starts with  follows. This is called 르-irregular conjugation (르 불규칙 활용).

Additionally, some (but not all) verbs whose stem looks like in dictionary form changes into  when an ending that starts with -아/어 follows. This is called 러-irregular conjugation (러 불규칙 활용).

ㅜ-Irregular
Only one verb, drops the  vowel before.

Ending Shapes
Some endings alternate their shapes depending on what they are attached to. These alternations can be largely classified as three types: vowel epenthesis, vowel harmony, and alternations related to the historical humble ending.

Additionally, some endings irregularly change their shapes depending on the word they are attached to.

Vowel Epenthesis
Some endings, such as, , , , , , , etc, have an optional vowel in the beginning. This vowel is inserted whenever the previous part ends in a consonant. For example, +  becomes  whereas  +  becomes.

Vowel Harmony
Endings that start with, such as itself, , , , , etc, have an alternating component in the beginning. Whether or  is chosen depends on the vowel of the preceding syllable. If the preceding syllable has the vowel or, then  is selected, and for all other vowels,  is selected.

If the preceding syllable ends in a vowel, then it may go additional vowel contractions, which may be mandatory or optional. Refer to the table below:

Disappearing 스, 사, and ㅅ
Some "polite" endings like, , and alternate depending on the previous segment. If followed by a syllable that ends in a vowel or, then the , , or part is elided, and otherwise, it is kept. For example, +  becomes  instead of. Similarly, +  becomes  instead of.

여-Irregular
One verb,, and all verbs derived from conjugate differently. That is, changes into  when following this, making the shape. This is commonly contracted into  in colloquial settings.

ㅎ-Irregular
Some (but not all) verbs that look like and, mostly stative verbs, conjugate differently. That is, when combined with, they each become and , respectively. For example, +  becomes, and  +  becomes.

Sentence-Final Endings
Sentence-final endings primarily express three notions: grammatical mood, politeness towards the listener, and formality. Additionally, it can express other notions such as mirativity, evidentiality, and other various modalities.