Descriptive verbs

Description verbs

Desription verbs exist because the Korean language does not have adjectives. Could this be a blessing? Let's see...

Some grammars categorise Korean verbs as either 'processive' or as 'descriptive'. Processive verbs relate to common verbs (my terms) or verbs as we know them in English, and, I suspect, most languages. These convey the idea of some sort of action, be it 'to walk', 'to talk', 'to think', etc. Descriptive verbs, also known as 'adjectival verbs' on the other hand refer to a specific conjugation or ending that aims to describe (dahhh) or explain. While in English the words 'cold' or 'interesting' exist, when used in a sentence it demands the use of a verb, usually 'to be' (however not necessarily), hence the translation "to be cold" or "to be interesting" for 추워요 and 재미 있어요 respectively. In Korean this becomes one word, or, more specifically, a descriptive verb.

First and foremost descritption verbs follow the rules of conjugation (not really conjugation but ending attachment) seen in previous verbs.

The only variable from the way the stem changes when the Polite Informal is added is when the verb stem ends in ㅂ, in this cases it changes to ㅜ followed by -어요. These verbs have been identified with (*).

	Polite Formal	Polite Informal
Statement	-ㅂ니다. -습니다.	-아요. / -어요. / 해요.
Question	-ㅂ니까? -습니까?	-아요. / -어요. / 해요.
Command	-십시오. -으십시오.	-세요. -으세요.

Some cases may however be a bit trickier, for example 줗- which becomes 줗아요 and describes something as good. Similarly, 줗아하- becomes 줗아해요 means 'to like' or the process of the subject finding or thinking that something is good.

Examples

많 plus 아요 becomes 많아요

많아요 - (to be) numerous

저워요 - (to be) few

재미 있어요 - (to be) interesting/ fun

재미 없어요 - (to be) boring

반가워요 (반갑-)* - (to be) pleased


고마워요* - (to be) thankful

어려워요* - (to be) difficult

쉬워요* - (to be) easy

더워요* - (to be) hot

추워요* - (to be) cold