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Grammar / Level 1 / Lesson 15

~게, 히, 잘, 못하다, 잘못: adverbs

By Daniel Buckley · 9 minute read · TOPIK 1

Vocabulary

  1. 맛있다 - to be delicious
  2. 짧다 - to be short
  3. 깨끗하다 - to be clean
  4. 조용하다 - to be quiet
  5. 천천히 - slowly
  6. 열심히 - hard, diligently
  7. 빨리 - quickly
  8. 못하다 - to be bad at, to be unable to do
  9. 잘 - well
  10. 잘못 - wrongly, by mistake; a mistake

When someone puts food in front of you in Korea, you may hear 맛있게 드세요. Literally it says "eat deliciously". 맛있다 is the adjective, and that 게 turns it into a word that describes the eating.

English has "-ly" for this job. Korean has 게, which works on any adjective, and 히, which works on some. After those come a few short words that were adverbs from the start, and the three that learners mix up most: 잘, 못하다 and 잘못.

~게: any adjective

Take the stem and add 게. 게 starts with a consonant, so the stem doesn't change, and irregular adjectives stay as they are.

Making the 게 form

  • Adjective stem + 게.맛있다 → 맛있게쉽다 → 쉽게빠르다 → 빠르게

Pick a verb

맛있다맛있맛있게

  1. 맛있게 먹었어요.

    (I) ate deliciously.

  2. 머리를 짧게 잘랐어요.

    (I) cut hair short.

  3. 방을 깨끗하게 청소했어요.

    (I) cleaned room cleanly.

  4. 오늘 옷을 예쁘게 입었어요.

    Today (I) dressed prettily.

  5. 오늘 늦게 일어났어요.

    Today (I) got up late.

  6. 크게 말해요.

    (I) speak loudly.

Look at examples 2 and 3. 게 often describes how things come out, more than the way the action is done. The hair ends up short and the room ends up clean.

※ 어떻게, how, is this same ending on 어떻다. Lesson 18 covers that family.

히: some 하다 words

Some adjectives ending in 하다 swap 하다 for 히. There's no rule that tells you which ones, so learn them as words. If you don't know a 히 form, 게 will usually get you there: 조용히 and 조용하게 are both fine.

The 히 form

  • Drop 하다, add 히.조용하다 → 조용히솔직하다 → 솔직히
  • Some adverbs only make sense as whole words. 열심히 has no adjective behind it, and nobody says 열심하게.천천히열심히
  • A few end in 이 or 리 instead.깨끗이많이빨리

  1. 천천히 먹어요.

    (I) eat slowly.

  2. 열심히 공부했어요.

    (I) studied hard.

  3. 도서관에서 조용히 책을 읽어요.

    At library (I) read book quietly.

  4. 동생이 방을 깨끗이 청소했어요.

    Younger sibling cleaned room cleanly.

  5. 솔직히 잘 몰라요.

    Honestly (I) don't know well.

Where adverbs sit

An adverb normally goes right before the verb or adjective it describes, which puts it after the object. 안 and 못 stick to the verb, so the adverb goes before them. Words for how often sit further forward, and they can start the sentence.

The usual order

  • Object, adverb, verb.밥을 빨리 먹어요
  • Adverb, 안 or 못, verb.많이 안 먹어요
  • Frequency words come early.항상 일곱 시에 일어나요

  1. 친구가 밥을 빨리 먹어요.

    Friend eats meal quickly.

  2. 오늘은 많이 안 먹었어요.

    Today (I) didn't eat a lot.

  3. 항상 일곱 시에 일어나요.

    (I) always get up at seven o'clock.

  4. 저는 자주 공원에 가요.

    I often go to park.

  5. 이 식당은 정말 맛있어요.

    This restaurant is really delicious.

  6. 오늘은 너무 추워요.

    Today is too cold.

※ Word order is loose, so 빨리 밥을 먹어요 is fine too. The order above is the one to copy until your ear tells you otherwise.

잘, 못하다 and 잘못

잘 means "well", and you met 못 as "can't" in Saying no. Joined to 하다 they make two everyday verbs: 잘하다, to be good at, and 못하다, to be bad at or unable to do. 잘못 is a separate word that means "wrongly" or "a mistake".

Four to keep apart

  • 잘하다: to be good at.수영을 잘해요
  • 못하다: to be bad at, or unable to do at all.수영을 못해요
  • 잘 못하다: to not be very good at.수영을 잘 못해요
  • 잘못하다: to do wrong.제가 잘못했어요

  1. 동생은 노래를 잘 불러요.

    Younger sibling sings well.

  2. 어제 잘 잤어요.

    Yesterday (I) slept well.

  3. 저는 요리를 못해요.

    I am bad at cooking.

  4. 저는 술을 못 마셔요.

    I can't drink alcohol.

  5. 한국어를 잘 못해요.

    (I) am not good at Korean.

  6. 버스를 잘못 탔어요.

    (I) took bus wrongly.

  7. 이름을 잘못 썼어요.

    (I) wrote name wrongly.

  8. 제가 잘못했어요.

    I did wrong.

Example 5 is modesty about your Korean. Example 8 is an apology. Only a space separates them on the page, so watch that space when you type.

※ Spacing matters with 못 as well. 수영을 못해요 says the skill isn't there, so you swim badly or not at all. 수영을 못 해요 says something outside you is stopping you, such as the pool being shut. They sound the same, so in speech the context decides.

  1. 저는 한국어를 ___.

    I'm not very good at Korean.

  2. 제가 ___.

    It was my fault.

  3. 버스를 ___ 탔어요.

    I got on the wrong bus.

  4. 동생은 요리를 ___.

    My younger sibling is a good cook.

  5. 어제 ___ 잤어요.

    I slept well yesterday.

Listen and type

1 / 3

Play it as often as you like.

Common mistakes

  1. 옷을 예뻐게 입었어요.

    옷을 예쁘게 입었어요.

    게 goes on the stem, not on the 해요 form.

  2. 열심하게 공부해요.

    열심히 공부해요.

    열심히 is a fixed word, with no 게 form.

  3. 방을 깨끗히 청소했어요.

    방을 깨끗이 청소했어요.

    깨끗이 is one of the few that end in 이, not 히.

Check yourself

Quick check

1 / 6

머리를 ___ 잘랐어요. (짧다) I cut my hair short.

Stem + 게.

Summary

게 forms
DictionaryStem게
맛있다맛있맛있게
예쁘다예쁘예쁘게
크다크크게
쉽다쉽쉽게
짧다짧짧게
깨끗하다깨끗하깨끗하게

Now you can say

  1. 한국어를 잘 못해요.

    (I) am not good at Korean.

  2. 천천히 먹어요.

    (I) eat slowly.

  3. 제가 잘못했어요.

    I did wrong.

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