Today, we’re going to learn Korean irregular verb ㄹ conjugation ‘ㄹ’ 불규칙 (‘ㄹ’ irregular conjugation).
This lesson has four parts:
First of all, we’re looking at when the adjective/verb stem that ends with ‘ㄹ’ meets the verb ending that begins with ‘ㄴ, ㅂ, ㅅ.’
Second, when the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ meets the adjective/verb ending that begins with ‘ㄹ.’
Third, when the ‘ㄹ’ meets the adjective/verb ending that begins with the vowel ‘으.’
At last, we’re going to look at some example sentences.
Let’s begin with when the adjective/verb stem that ends with ‘ㄹ’ meets the verb ending that begins with ‘ㄴ, ㅂ, ㅅ.’
When the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the adjective/verb stem meets the verb ending that begins with ㄴ, ㅂ, ㅅ the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. The endings remain the same. And when ‘ㄹ’ is omitted, which is called ‘ㄹ탈락. (‘ㄹ’omition, or ‘ㄹ’ drop).
korean irregular verb ㄹ conjugation
The first case is that when the verb ‘살다’ is followed by the ending ‘네요.’
First, remove ‘다’ from ‘살다, and there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem. And, when the verb ending ‘네요’ which begins with ‘ㄴ’ is added after 살, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem is omitted from ‘살네요.’ So, it becomes ‘사네요.’
Now We’re going to look at when the verb ‘살다’ is followed by the ending ‘ㅂ니다.’
First, remove ‘다’ from ‘살다, and there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem. And, when the verb ending ‘ㅂ니다’ which begins with ‘ㅂ’ is added after 살, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem is omitted from ‘살ㅂ니다.’ And ‘ㅂ’ becomes the final consonant, so it becomes ‘삽니다.’
The last case is when the verb ‘살다’ is followed by the ending ‘세요.’
First, remove ‘다’ from ‘살다, and there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem. And, when the verb ending ‘세요’ which begins with ‘ㅅ’ is added after 살, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem is omitted from ‘살세요.’ So it becomes 사세요.
When the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the adjective/verb stem meets the ending that begins with ‘ㄴ,ㅂ,ㅅ, ‘ㄹ’ is omitted.
when the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the adjective/verb stem meets the ending that begins with the individual consonant ‘ㄹ,’ the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. And the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the ending is used as the final consonant.
‘ㄹ’ ending verbs
Below are some of the ending korean verbs.
- 알다 (to know),
- 살다 (to live),
- 만들다 (to make),
- 놀다 (to play),
- 울다 (to cry),
- 팔다 (to sell),
- 열다 (to open),
- 불다 (to blow),
- 갈다 (to plough) and etc.
ㄹ ending adjectives
The adjectives that end with ‘ㄹ’ are
- 멀다 (to be far),
- 달다 (to be sweet),
- 길다 (to be long),
- 둥글다 (to be round),
- 어질다 (to be benevolent) and etc.
Korean irregular verbㄹ example sentences
Now let’s practice by looking at more example sentences in Korean.
‘케이크를 만들다
‘케이크를 만드세요.’ (Please bake/make the cake.)
‘사과가 달다
‘사과가 다네요.’ (The apple is sweet.)
제 머리가 좀 길다
‘제 머리가 좀 깁니다.’ (My hair is a bit long.)
‘창문을 열다
‘창문을 열까요?’ (May I open the window?)
“얼준 씨 생일이 언제인지 아세요?” (Do you know when arjun’s birthday is?)
아세요 is the combination of 알다 and 세요, which begins with ‘ㅅ.’ So ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. 알고 is a combination of 알다 and 고.
“생각보다 늦게 여네요.” (It opens late than I thought.)
여네요 is the combination of 열다 and 네요, which begins with ‘ㄴ.’ So ‘ㄹ’ is omitted.
Korean irregular verb ㄹ summary
when the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the ending the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted and the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ becomes the final consonant. So, when ‘살다’ meets ‘ㄹ까요’, it becomes ‘살까요.’
when the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets a letter which begins with ‘ㄹ’ the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ remains the same. So, when ‘살다’ meets ‘려고 하다’, it becomes ‘살려고 하다.’ The final consonant ‘ㄹ’ remains.
Now, let’s find out when the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets the adjective/verb ending that begins with the vowel ‘으.’ These are the endings we’ve learned. What do they have in common?
When the stem has the final consonant, they all contain the vowel ‘으.’ Basically, when an adjective/verb stem has the final consonant, ‘으세요, 을까요, 을 거예요, 으려고 하다’ are used. And they all start with ‘으.’
On the other hand, when an adjective/verb stem does not have the final consonant, ‘세요, ㄹ까요, ㄹ 거예요, 려고 하다’ are used which does not have ‘으.’ But, when ‘살다’ that has the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is combined with the endings,It is combined with the endings which do not have ‘으’.Why is it? Let’s look at them together.
When the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets the endings that begin with ‘으,’ ‘으’ is omitted. And the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ remains. Let’s look at some examples.
‘살다’ + ‘ㄹ 거예요.’
In this time, ‘살다’ meets ‘ㄹ 거예요.’
First, remove ‘다’ from ‘살다, and there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem. When the ending that begins with the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ is added after that, ‘ㄹ’ is omitted from ‘살 ㄹ 거예요.’
The individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the ending is used as the final consonant. So, it becomes ‘살 거예요’.
‘살다’ + ‘ㄹ까요.
’when the verb ‘살다’ meets ‘ㄹ까요.’
First, remove ‘다’ from ‘살다, and there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem. When the ending that begins with the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ is added after that the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem is omitted from ‘살ㄹ까요.’ And the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ is used as the final consonant. So, it becomes ‘살까요?’
‘살다’ +‘려고 하다’
Then, how about when ‘살다’ meets ‘려고 하다’?
Firstly, remove ‘다’ from ‘살다, and there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem. Then the letter ‘려’ is added after that. ‘려’ is different from the individual consonant ‘ㄹ.’ ‘려’ is the letter from the combination between ㄹ and ㅕ. In this case, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is not omitted. So, it becomes ‘살려고 하다.’
We’re going to look at the case when 살다’ meets ‘을 거예요.’
Basically, as 살다 has the final consonant ‘ㄹ’, it is correct to add ‘을 거예요.’ But, there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ after removing ‘다’ from ‘살다.’ And the vowel ‘으’ is added after that. In this case, the vowel ‘으’ is omitted. So, ‘ㄹ 거예요’ is added after ‘살.’
Moreover, here again, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the ending. We’ve just looked at it. In the case, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. And the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ becomes the final consonant. So it becomes ‘살 거예요.’ Let’s look at some more examples.
살다+ 을 거예요
We’re going to look at the case when 살다’ meets ‘을 거예요.’
Basically, as 살다 has the final consonant ‘ㄹ’, it is correct to add ‘을 거예요.’ But, there is the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ after removing ‘다’ from ‘살다.’ And the vowel ‘으’ is added after that. In this case, the vowel ‘으’ is omitted. So, ‘ㄹ 거예요’ is added after ‘살.’
Moreover, here again, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the ending. We’ve just looked at it. In the case, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. And the individual consonant ‘ㄹ’ becomes the final consonant. So it becomes ‘살 거예요.’ Let’s look at some more examples.
살다 +으세요?
How would it become when 살다 meets 으세요? Remove ‘다’. The final consonant ‘ㄹ’ meets the vowel ‘으’. Then, ‘으’ is omitted. It becomes ‘살세요.’
Here again, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ meets the ending that begins with ‘ㅅ’. Then, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted, and it becomes ‘사세요.’ Here is another example.
살다 + 읍니다
What would it become when 살다 meets 읍니다? Remove ‘다’, then the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ meets the vowel ‘으.’ Then, ‘으’ is omitted. It becomes ‘살ㅂ니다.’
Here again, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ meets the ending that begins with ‘ㅂ’ Then, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. And ‘ㅂ’ is used as the final consonant, it becomes ‘삽니다.’
‘살다’ + ‘으려고 하다.’
Lastly, what would it become when ‘살다’ meets ‘으려고 하다.’?
Remove ‘다’, then the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ meets the vowel ‘으.’ Then, the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ is omitted. It becomes ‘살려고 하다.’ So, when the final consonant ‘ㄹ’ in the stem meets the vowel ‘으,’ ‘으’ is omitted. And the endings such as ‘세요, ㅂ니다, 려고 하다’ are added directly after the stem.
Now, let’s look at the regular conjugation. When ‘살다’ meets ‘아요’, it becomes ‘살아요.’ The final consonant ‘ㄹ’ remains the same.
When ‘살다’ meets ‘지만’, it becomes ‘살지만.’ The final consonant ‘ㄹ’ remains the same. Lastly, when ‘살다’ meets ‘고’, it becomes ‘살고.’ The final consonant ‘ㄹ’ remains the same.
