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).
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.
