Making Adjectives from Verbs & Relative Pronouns

You can conjugate Korean verbs to change them into adjectives. Unlike most conjugation rules in Korean, the rules of making adjectives are different for action verbs and the descriptive verbs.

Action Verbs and Descriptive Verbs

Action verbs are similar to English verbs in usage. They can be translated to “to do Verb”. For example, 가다 (to go), 보다 (to see) and 공부하다 (to study) are action verbs.

Descriptive verbs on the other hand are quite different from English. The basic forms of  English adjectives need a verb in order to form a sentence. For example, pretty, beautiful, ugly and small. They are all adjectives by themselves, but they need the verb "to be" to be attached.

This is one of the big differences between English and Korean. The basic forms of Korean adjectives have similar formats with verbs. For example, 맛있다 (to be delicious), 작다 (to be small) and 예쁘다 (to be pretty) are descriptive verbs. The basic form of Korean adjectives can be translated to “to be Adjective” in English. In most cases, the conjugation rules for action verbs and descriptive verbs are same.
But, it is very different to make adjectives from verbs.

Making Adjectives from Descriptive Verbs (Present Tense)

A. Verb stem, ending with vowel + ㄴ

예쁘다 (to be pretty) > 예쁜 (pretty) > 나는 예쁜 여자를 좋아해요.  I like pretty girls.
유명하다 (to be famous) > 유명한 (famous) >  나는 유명한 사람이 아니에요.  I am not a famous person.

B. Verb stem, ending with ㅂ under-consonant : erase ㅂ,  + 운

귀엽다 (to be cute) > 귀여운 (cute) > 나는 귀여운 남자를 좋아해요.  I like cute guys.
아름답다 (to be beautiful) > 아름다운 나라에서 살고 싶어요.  I want to live in a beautiful country.

C. Verb stem, ending with ㄹ : change ㄹ to ㄴ

멀다 (to be far) > 먼 (far) > 아르헨티나는 먼 나라예요.  Argentina is a far country.

힘들다 (to be hard, difficult) > 힘든 (hard, difficult) > 선생님은 힘든 직업이에요.  Teacher is a hard job.

D. Verb stem, ending with under-consonant except ㄹ  +  은

높다 (to be high) > 높은 (high) > 홍콩에 높은 빌딩이 많아요.  There are many tall buildings in Hong Kong.

작다 (to be small) > 작은 (small) > 손이 작은 남자는 xxx도 작아요.  Guys who have small hands, also have small xxx.

E. ~있다/~없다 > ~있는/~없는

맛있다 (to be delicious) > 맛있는 (delicious) > 맛있는 피자를 먹고 싶어요.  I want to eat a delicious pizza.

재미없다 ( to be boring) > 재미없는 (boring) > 재미없는 영화를 봤어요.  I watched a boring movie.

Making Adjectives from Action Verbs (Present Tense)

A. Verb stem, ending with ㄹ : erase ㄹ + 는

팔다 (to sell) > 파는 (selling) > 핸드폰을 파는 남자를 봤어요?  Did you see the mobile phone selling guy? (Did you see the guy who is selling mobile phones)

살다 (to live) > 사는 (living) > 한국에서 사는 친구가 있어요.  I have a friend who is living in Korea.

B. Other verbs : Verb stem + 는

좋아하다 (to like)  >  좋아하는 (who/which like) > 좋아하는 사람이 있어요.  I have someone who I like.

돌아가다 (to return, go back) > 돌아가는 (returning, going back, who/which go back) > 집으로 돌아가는 사람이 많아요.  There are many people who are going back home.

Relative Pronoun

You may already realized that these adjective forms are very similar with the relative pronoun in English.

Please see the examples below.

예쁜 여자를 좋아해요.  I like pretty girls.

In this phrase, 예쁜 can be simply translated as pretty. Let's make it more complicated.

엉덩이가 예쁜 여자를 좋아해요.  I like girls whose bum is pretty.

This phrase is composed with 2 separated phrases; 엉덩이가 예뻐요 and 여자를 좋아해요.

If you change 예뻐요 to 예쁜 - the adjective of 예쁘다,  you can describe more using the relative pronoun.

Let's see more examples.

몸매가 좋다 (body shape is good) + 남자를 좋아하다 (like guys) > 몸매가 좋은 남자를 좋아해요.  I like guys whose body shape is good.

여자를 너무 좋아하다 (like girls too much) + 남자는 바람둥이다 (guys are players) > 여자를 너무 좋아하는 남자는 바람둥이예요. Guys who like girls too much are players.

나보다 무겁다 (be heavier than me) + 사람은 돼지다 (people are pigs) > 나보다 무거운 사람은 돼지예요.  People who are heavier than me are pigs.

집에 가다 (go home) + 사람은 내 친구다 (a person is my friend) > 집에 가는 사람은 내 친구예요. The person who is going home is my friend.

Exercise & Homework

1. Please change the suggested descriptive verbs to adjectives and create a phrase using it like the example below. Post your answers in the comments, or send us an e-mail, wildkorean1 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Ex. 춥다 > 추운 > 나는 추운 날씨를 싫어해요.  I dislike cold weather.

A. 덥다

B. 쉽다

C. 많다

D. 재미있다

E. 유명하다

F. 다르다

G. Create your own sentence.

2. Please change the suggested action verbs to adjectives and create a phrase using it like the example below.

Ex. 가다 > 가는 > 학교 가는 날이 언제에요?  When is the day when I go to school? (When should I go  to school?)

A. 죽이다

B. 원하다

C. 운동하다

D. Create your own sentence.

3. Please make one phrase from two phrases using relative pronoun like the example below.

Ex. 섹시한 춤을 추다 + 사람이 많이 있다 > 섹시한 춤을 추는 사람이 많이 있어요.  (There are many people who dance sexy dance.)
      맛있는 칵테일이 있다 + 술집을 가고 싶다 > 맛있는 칵테일이 있는 술집에 가고 싶어요.  (I want to go a bar which has delicious cocktails.)

A. 개고기를 먹다 + 사람이 많다

B. 스마트폰을 사용하다 + 사람이 부자다

C. 코가 크다 + 사람은 xxx 도 크다

D. 냉면이 유명하다 + 식당을 알다

E. Create your own sentence.

4. Please use suggested verbs and make a phrase  using relative pronoun like the example below. Please be creative.

Ex. 키스하다 > 내 여자친구와 키스하는 남자를 죽이고 싶어요.  (I want to kill the guy who kisses my girlfriend.)
     마시다 > 술을 많이 마시는 사람은 일찍 죽어요. (People who drinks a lot die early.)

A. 섹시하다

B. 차갑다

C. 운동하다

D. 보내다

E. Create your own sentence.