0️⃣

-어요(-어요?)

tag

level 0closing ending

translation

한국어	English
공부하다	to study
우리	we, our
언니	older sister (for women)
예쁘다	to be pretty
지금	now
뭐	what
맛있다	to be delicious
내일	tomorrow
만나요	to meet
같이	together
가다	to go
기다리다	to wait
빨리	quickly
먹다	to eat

V/Adj/이다,아니다 + 어요/아요(어요?/아요?) 1. This indicates the sentence is declarative(questioning) and polite. It is the most basic speech style in Korean that can be used universally as a polite closing ending. It can be used for strangers and elders.

저는 한국어를 공부해요.

I study Korean.

우리 언니는 예뻐요.

My older sister is pretty.

Simply adding a question mark, like ‘-어요?’ makes it into an interrogative(questioning) sentence. While declarative sentences are spoken with a slightly falling intonation at the end↘️, interrogative sentences are distinguished by raising the intonation slightly at the end↗️.

수지 씨는 지금 뭐 해요?

What is Suzy doing now?

언니가 예뻐요?

Is your sister pretty?

맛있어요?

Delicious?

When you talk with close friends or younger people, you can simply remove the "-요" at the end. For more information, see the '어(어?)' page in the closing section.

나는 한국어를 공부해.

수지 씨는 지금 뭐 해?

맛있어.

V+ 어요 2. This indicates the sentence is propositive and polite. In most situations, -요 is declarative, but depending on the context, it can also be used for suggesting or imperative purposes. Generally, you will be able to easily distinguish these usages through context.

우리 내일 3시에 만나요.

Let's meet at 3 o'clock tomorrow.

우리 같이 집에 가요.

Let's go home together.

V + 어요 3. This indicates the sentence is imperative and polite.

기다려요.

Wait.

빨리 먹어요.

Eat quickly.

The -어/아 conjugation is a very frequently used rule in Korean, so you'll see it a lot. It can take some time to get used to, so I highly recommend practicing it in more detail with the verb conjugation quizzes on The Chill Korean website❤️

1. Basic Rule

Please check the root’s last letter’s vowel first.
If it’s ㅏ or ㅗ, you put -아요. If it’s the rest of the vowels, you put -어요. If it’s -하다 form, change the ‘하다’ into ‘해요’. (Actually, -하다 combines with -여요, it becomes 하여요, but it’s mostly just shortened to 해요.)

2. Shorten Rule

When a shorter pronunciation is possible, shorten the form. (For now, focus more on the form than the meaning.)

1. Drop out ‘아’ or ‘어’	가다 → 가아요 → 가요 서다 → 서어요 → 서요 지내다 → 지내어요 → 지내요 (Think of the ㅐ sound as already containing ㅓ and omit the ㅓ.)
2. Combine ㅗ +ㅏ into ㅘ ㅜ +ㅓ into ㅝ	보다 → 보아요 → 봐요 주다 → 주어요 → 줘요
3. Change ‘l’ into ‘ㅕ’	느리다 → 느리어요 → 느려요 마시다 → 마시어요 → 마셔요 (Read ‘마시어요’ three times quickly. "-시어" will sound like "-셔")
4. Drop out ‘으’	나쁘다 → 나쁘아요 → 나빠요 예쁘다 → 예쁘어요→ 예뻐요 (We consider ‘으’ is a weak sound and drop out when we conjugate. Since '으' drops out, look at the previous letter to choose between -아요 or -어요. For example, 나 contains ㅏ, you use -ㅏ요 (나빠요). 예 doesn't contain ㅏ or ㅗ, you use -ㅓ요 (예뻐요).) 크다 → 크어요 → 커요 쓰다 → 쓰어요 → 써요 (For one-letter verb roots with no previous letter to check, just add -어요 and omit the '으')

3. Exceptions Rule

We are learning the -어요 ending as our first example now, but we will learn many different endings in the future. These rules will be applied similarly each time. For example, Rule #2 applies to endings that start with -어 (ex. -어요, -어서, -어서인지...). And Rule #3(an exception rule) applies to all endings that start with a vowel(ex. -어요, -어서, -을 것이다, -읍시다, -으려고…).

	Words that follow exception rules.	Words that follow just regular rules.
1. Change ‘ㄷ’ 받침 into ‘ㄹ’ 받침	듣다 -> 들 -> 들어요 걷다 -> 걸 -> 걸어요	믿다 -> 믿어요 받다 -> 받아요
2. Change ‘ㅂ’ 받침 into ‘ㅜ’	덥다 -> 더ㅜ -> 더우어요 → 더워요 춥다 -> 추ㅜ -> 추우어요 → 추워요	(these are pretty much all) 잡다 -> 잡 -> 잡아요 입다 -> 입 -> 입어요
3. Change ‘르’ into ‘ㄹ,ㄹ’	모르다 -> 몰ㄹ -> 몰라요 누르다 -> 눌ㄹ -> 눌러요	(this is pretty much all) 다다르다->다다르아요->다다라요

Whether a word follows exception rules or regular rules is random and requires memorization. Fortunately, there aren't many of these words, so you'll learn them naturally as you practice!

4. Eliminate ‘ㅅ’	짓다 -> 짓 -> 지 -> 지어요 붓다 -> 붓 -> 부 -> 부어요	솟다 -> 솟아요 벗다 -> 벗어요
5. Eliminate ‘ㅎ’	어떻다 -> 어떠 -> 어때요 하얗다 -> 하야 -> 하얘요	좋다 -> 좋아요
6. Eliminate ‘우’	푸다 -> 푸 -> ㅍ -> 퍼요	두다 -> 두어요 -> 둬요 주다 -> 주어요 -> 줘요

Although there aren't many examples, these conjugation rules are also used. ^^

From now on, on the other pages, I will write it simply like this;

Vowelㅏ,ㅗ	아요	ex. 가요, 와요, 살아요
Vowelㅏ,ㅗ X	어요	ex. 먹어요, 줘요, 마셔요, N+예요 or 이에요/아니에요
- 하다 Verb/Adjective	여요	ex. 해요(=하여요), 운전해요, 결혼해요
	Exception rule	ex. 들어요, 누워요, 골라요, 지어요

When conjugating ‘Noun + 이다’, there are sometimes two options depending on whether the noun ends with 받침(final consonant). If there are two possible forms, I’ll write them as ‘N+_____or_____’. The first one is for nouns without 받침, and the second one is for nouns with 받침. Or, I can write down ‘N+(이)____’, which means that ‘이’ only appears when the noun ends with 받침.