In Korean, both verbs and adjectives function as predicates in a sentence. This means that you don’t need an extra verb like ‘am’, ‘is’ or ‘are’ when using adjectives. They can finish a sentence by themselves. For example;
나는 예뻐요. (I am pretty)
I pretty나는 울어요. (I cry)
I cryBoth verbs and adjectives change their endings through conjugation.
The basic form of verbs and adjectives in Korean ends with -다, which is called the dictionary form. The part before -다, known as the root or stem, carries the core meaning of the word. When speaking, we modify the "ending" based on the sentence type, politeness level, and nuance. This conjugation process involves attaching various endings to the root.
As you memorize some words, you will come across words with certain patterns—verbs or adjectives ending with -하다. When 하다 is used alone, it means ‘to do’, but when it attaches to a noun, it functions like a verb/adjective. For example, ‘marriage’ in Korean is ‘결혼’, and ‘결혼하다’ means ‘to marry, to get married’. ‘행복’ means ‘happiness’ and ‘행복하다’ means ‘to be happy’.
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