Nearing the end of our Korean irregular verb journey, we arrive at the ㅎ irregular verbs. This is a rather sizeable group you need to keep in mind.

The Disappearing ㅎ

Today we are exploring a sizeable group of irregular Korean verbs, the so-called ㅎ irregular verbs. As you might have figured out there are only a few rules you need to keep in mind to use these verbs. However, for this group you only need to pay attention to the so-called descriptive verbs or the Korean adjectives.

Like the previous irregular verbs, the ㅎ irregular verbs gets its name from the final consonant of the verb stem which is ㅎ for this group. Like a lot of irregular verbs, these verbs show their irregularity when the verb is used with a verb ending starting with a vowel. When this happens there are two situations.

The first situation is a verb ending that starts with 으 such as (으)니까. When this happens both the ㅎ and the 으 are omitted. It is the easiest situation you can imagine right? However, the other situation is a bit more complicated. If a verb ending starts with 어/아, the ㅎ is replaced by an ㅣ. This will result in a more unusual verb ending. Let me show you:

  • 그렇다: 그렇 + 어요 = 그러 + ㅣ +어요 = 그래요.
  • 하양다: 하얗 + 아요 = 하야 + ㅣ +아요 = 하얘요.

Also be aware that not all adjectives that have a verb stem ending with a ㅎ are irregular. Instead they are completely regular. Some of these adjectives are: 좋다 (to be good), 많다 (to be many), 낳다 (to bear, to give birth to) and 넣다 (to put in, to insert).

ㅎ irregular verbschart

A chart for the ㅎ irregular verbs

Nearing the Last One

As with all previous irregular verbs, I have put together a small list of ㅎ irregular verbs. Irregular verbs are often common vocabulary so it is important to make a point of learning those verbs. The lists I have been making are small and really easy to learn. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me.

This is my short list for the ㅎ irregular verbs: 까맣다, 노랗다, 파랗다, 빨갛다, 하얗다, 이렇다, 그렇다, 저렇다 and 어떻다. As always you can learn these verbs with me using the Memrise course I created.

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Nick is a someone who enjoys exploring new and different things. 2 years ago when he met his Korean friends he decided to go for it and learn Korean. Now he is struggling with the language while sharing an apartment with his Korean roomie.

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