Korean Pronunciation Rules
Stems
Stems
Korean verbs and adjectives are made of stems and endings. The stems of verbs and adjectives do not stand alone, and they are always conjugated by various or inflectional endings. These endings carry various grammatical information and roles (e.g., tense, aspect, speech levels, and so forth).
Original stems
An original stem is when a Korean verb or adjective is in plain form (verbs and adjectives that can find in the dictionary), it always ends with 다.
How to get verb stems
1. Search for a verb in the dictionary
eg: eat
2. Find the dictionary form ending with 다 [da]
eg: 먹다 [meokda]
3. Drop the 다 [da] and get the verb stem.
eg: 먹 [meok]
Alternate Stems
You will need to know what kind of irregular verb/adjective it is, before identifying its alternate stem.
Example:
Korean verbs and adjectives are made of stems and endings. The stems of verbs and adjectives do not stand alone, and they are always conjugated by various or inflectional endings. These endings carry various grammatical information and roles (e.g., tense, aspect, speech levels, and so forth).
Original stems
An original stem is when a Korean verb or adjective is in plain form (verbs and adjectives that can find in the dictionary), it always ends with 다.
How to get verb stems
1. Search for a verb in the dictionary
eg: eat
2. Find the dictionary form ending with 다 [da]
eg: 먹다 [meokda]
3. Drop the 다 [da] and get the verb stem.
eg: 먹 [meok]
Alternate Stems
You will need to know what kind of irregular verb/adjective it is, before identifying its alternate stem.
| Regular | Keep the original stem unchanged |
| ㅂ-Irregular | Drop final consonant ㅂ, add hangul 우** |
| ㅅ-Irregular | Drop final consonant ㅅ |
| ㄷ-Irregular | Replace final consonant ㄷ with ㄹ |
| ㅎ-Irregular | Drop final consonant ㅎ |
| ㄹ-Irregular | Drop final consonant ㄹ |
| 으-Irregular | Keep the original stem unchanged |
| 르-Irregular | Add ㄹ as an ending consonant to the second to last hangul |
Example:
| Verbs/Adjectives | Dictionary Form | Meaning | Original Stem |
| Regular | 먹다 | eat | 먹 |
| ㅂ-Irregular | 춥다 | cold | 춥 |
| 돕다 | help | 돕 | |
| ㅅ-Irregular | 낫다 | better | 낫 |
| ㄷ-Irregular | 듣다 | listen | 듣 |
| ㅎ-Irregular | 그렇다 | to be so | 그렇 |
| ㄹ-Irregular | 달다 | sweet | 달 |
| 으-Irregular | 쓰다 | write | 쓰 |
| 르-Irregular | 고르다 | choose | 고르 |