Present tense (Korean)

In Korean, the present tense is used to describe not only present actions, but occasionally requests, proposals, and past/future tenses when the context is unambigious.

Inflection

The informal polite present tense of a verb is formed with the following rules:

• If the final vowel is ㅗ or ㅏ, the present tense is [v.st.] + 아요.

• If the verb stem ends in 하, the present tense is [v.st.] + 여요.

• If none of the prior rules apply, the present tense if [v.st.] + 어요.

Examples

먹다

to eat

• Informal polite present tense: 먹 + 어요 → 먹어요

가다

to go

• Informal polite present tense: 가 + 아요 → 가요

References

• [cite:@talktomeinkorean2015talk]