What is 다 (da)?

Usually when you hear people speaking Korean, you'll hear a lot of the same sounds. If you know anything about Korean, you can always distinguish it when you hear people ending their sentences in ....니다 (...nida) or 요 (...yo). But, maybe when you look up a word in the dictionary or get a list of vocabulary words to study, you may see verbs ending with 다 (da). So, today, let's look at what this 다 is used for.


다 (da) is the basic verb ending. One of the first words a learner of Korean may learn is the word "go". A text book may show it like this:

가다 (ga-da)- to go

But, it is a little confusing because we can't really use this 가다 in a sentence when we're speaking because this is in the base form. When you want to say the word "go", you'll need to conjugate it. Let's see how that works:

가다 -----remove 다-----> 가-  -----add verb ending----> 가요

We added the "요" to express the polite present tense form (아/어요). This works for any regular verb and any ending:

찾다-----remove 다-----> 찾-  -----add verb ending----> 찾아요 "find"
좋다-----remove 다-----> 좋-  -----add verb ending---->좋아요 "good"
읽다-----remove 다-----> 읽-  -----add verb ending----> 읽어요 "read"




It gets a little trickier with irregulars, but with a little practice you'll get the gist. There are patterns and and you will learn them, but for now, just memorize the basic conjugations.

하다-----remove 다-----> 하-  -----add verb ending----> 해요 "do" (하-->해)
오다-----remove 다-----> 오-  -----add verb ending----> 와요 "come" (오 --> 와)
보다-----remove 다-----> 보-  -----add verb ending----> 봐요 "see" (보 --> 봐)


숙제 Homework:
Conjugate the following verbs into any tense you like and make a sentence (if you can). Show off the tenses you know and be creative! (all levels)

가르치다 (ga-ru-chi-da)- to teach
신다 (shin-da)- to wear (on one's feet, ie. shoes, socks)
먹다 (meok-da)- to eat

Joke of the day: The Scariest War Ever

What is the scariest war the world has ever known?
세상에서 제일 무서운 전쟁이뭔지 알아요?
무서워 (Mu-seo-weo)

Get it? 무섭다 is the base form of the word for "scary" or "scared". As it is a "ㅂ" verb, it is irregular when conjugated, dropping the ㅂ and adding the 워. This is the 반말 (ban-mal, informal) conjugation of the verb, to say it formally, you would need to simply add 요: 무서워요.

Now, why is this funny? It's a play on the pronunciation of the word "war" in English. "워" sounds like "war" to Korean speakers (and maybe to Bostonians who like to drop their "r"s at the end of words, too). I hope you like this joke, and try it on your friends today!

숙제 Homework:
When the syllable block preceding the ㅂ in irregular ㅂ verbs has an ㅏ or ㅗ the ㅂ is dropped and a 와 is added. ex. 돕다 (to help) --> 도와요
When the syllable block preceding the ㅂ in irregular ㅂ verbs has any other vowel, the ㅂ  is dropped and a 워 is added. ex 무섭다 (scary) --> 무서워요

Conjugate the following three irregular ㅂ verbs.

쉽다 (easy)
부럽다 (jealous)
징그럽다 (gross/ disgusting)

Do you know another irregular ㅂverb? Post it in the comments with a conjugation and a translation!

*check your answer in the comments*

Homework

Well, I thought a little "homework" section of each post with a lesson would be a good way to help folks actually practice what they learn. So, in the last post, we learned the usage of 의 (eui) as a possessive and the phrase 머리가 좋다 and  머리가 나쁘다.  So, today's homework is to write two sentences using 의 as a possessive and one sentence using 머리가 좋다 or 나쁘다.

Just post your sentences in the comments section and we, or other readers can make corrections if needed. Don't be shy, just try your best!! Don't worry if you do this today or a year later, there's no time restrictions on these homework assignments! Also, feel free to ask questions in the comments for clarifications!