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Grammar / Level 3 / Lesson 73

이/히/리/기/우/구/추 and 게 만들다: causative verbs

By Daniel Buckley · 13 minute read · TOPIK 3

Vocabulary

  1. 먹이다 - to feed
  2. 입히다 - to dress (someone)
  3. 앉히다 - to sit (someone) down
  4. 울리다 - to make cry
  5. 웃기다 - to make laugh, to be funny
  6. 재우다 - to put to sleep
  7. 깨우다 - to wake (someone)
  8. 태우다 - to give a ride to
  9. 세우다 - to stop (a car), to stand (something) up
  10. 낮추다 - to lower
  11. 늦추다 - to delay

웃겨요 is how you say something's funny. 웃다 is to laugh, and 웃기다 is to make someone laugh, so 웃겨요 is really "it makes me laugh". Someone in danger shouts 살려 주세요, which comes from 살다, to live: please make me live.

Those are causative verbs. Passive verbs slip a syllable into a verb to take the doer away. Causatives use the same trick to do the opposite, and they bring in someone new who makes the action happen.

The seven suffixes

Add 이, 히, 리, 기, 우, 구 or 추 to a stem and you have a new verb, which conjugates like any other: 먹이다, 먹여요, 먹였어요. Which suffix a verb takes has to be learned verb by verb. Nothing reliably predicts it, and many verbs don't have one at all.

이, 히, 리, 기, 우, 구, 추

  • 이:먹다 → 먹이다보다 → 보이다끓다 → 끓이다줄다 → 줄이다
  • 히:앉다 → 앉히다입다 → 입히다눕다 → 눕히다넓다 → 넓히다
  • 리:울다 → 울리다알다 → 알리다살다 → 살리다돌다 → 돌리다
  • 기:웃다 → 웃기다남다 → 남기다벗다 → 벗기다맡다 → 맡기다
  • 우:깨다 → 깨우다자다 → 재우다타다 → 태우다서다 → 세우다
  • 구:달다 → 달구다
  • 추:낮다 → 낮추다늦다 → 늦추다

As with passives, learn each one as a vocabulary word. Some change on the way, like 자다 to 재우다 and 서다 to 세우다. 구 is rare, and 달구다, to heat something up, is about the only one you'll meet early on. Its 달다 is the verb for getting hot, not the adjective for sweet.

Adjectives can do this too. 넓다, wide, gives 넓히다, to widen. 낮다, low, gives 낮추다, to lower.

What happens to the sentence

A new subject arrives, and the person who used to be the subject has to move. If the original verb has no object, that person takes 을/를. If it already has an object, the object stays, and the person usually takes 에게 or 한테.

  1. 아기가 자요.

    The baby is sleeping.

  2. 엄마가 아기를 재워요.

    The mother is putting the baby to sleep.

  3. 아이가 의자에 앉았어요.

    The child sat on the chair.

  4. 아빠가 아이를 의자에 앉혔어요.

    Dad sat the child on the chair.

  5. 아이가 밥을 먹어요.

    The child is eating.

  6. 엄마가 아이에게 밥을 먹여요.

    The mother is feeding the child.

  7. 아이가 옷을 입었어요.

    The child put on some clothes.

  8. 제가 아이에게 옷을 입혔어요.

    I dressed the child.

The ones you'll use every day

Many of these have drifted into verbs of their own, and English gives them separate words. You'll use them far more often than you'd guess, usually with 아/어 주세요.

  1. 사진 좀 보여 주세요.

    Please show me the photo.

  2. 내일 일곱 시에 깨워 주세요.

    Please wake me at seven tomorrow.

  3. 역까지 태워 주세요.

    Please give me a lift to the station.

  4. 여기서 세워 주세요.

    Please stop here.

  5. 결과를 알려 주세요.

    Please let me know the result.

  6. 소리 좀 줄여 주세요.

    Please turn the sound down.

  7. 회의를 조금 늦출 수 있어요?

    Can we push the meeting back a bit?

  8. 여기에 가방을 맡겨도 돼요?

    Can I leave my bag with you here?

  9. 그 사람 정말 웃겨요.

    He's really funny.

Example 4 is what you say to a taxi driver. 서다 is also what a car does when it stops, so 세우다 is making it stop. Now sort some by suffix.

  1. 아이에게 밥을 먹였어요.

  2. 아기를 의자에 앉혔어요.

  3. 동생을 울렸어요.

  4. 친구를 웃겼어요.

  5. 아침에 친구를 깨웠어요.

  6. 소리를 낮췄어요.

  7. 음식을 남겼어요.

  8. 친구를 차에 태웠어요.

Passive or causative?

이, 히, 리 and 기 are shared with the passive, so a few verbs look the same in both. 보이다 is the best-known one. The sentence tells you which you have: a passive takes the attention off the doer, and a causative has someone acting on someone else.

  1. 여기에서 산이 보여요.

    You can see the mountains from here.

  2. 친구에게 사진을 보여 줬어요.

    I showed my friend a photo.

  3. 이 책은 쉽게 읽혀요.

    This book reads easily.

  4. 선생님이 학생들에게 책을 읽혔어요.

    The teacher had the students read the book.

Most verbs keep the two apart, though. 먹다 gives the passive 먹히다, to be eaten, and the causative 먹이다, to feed. 우, 구 and 추 are only causative, so those need no checking.

  1. 엄마가 아기를 ___.

    The mother put the baby to sleep.

  2. 농담으로 친구를 ___.

    I made my friend laugh with a joke.

  3. 아이에게 약을 ___.

    I gave the child the medicine.

  4. 사진 좀 ___ 주세요.

    Please show me the photo.

  5. 회의를 한 시간 ___.

    We pushed the meeting back an hour.

Listen and type

1 / 3

Play it as often as you like.

Causative verb or 게 하다?

You've already met 게 하다, which also says make. A causative verb often means the subject does it directly, with their own hands. 게 하다 usually means the subject brings it about, and the other person does it themselves.

  1. 엄마가 아이에게 밥을 먹였어요.

    The mother fed the child.

  2. 엄마가 아이에게 밥을 먹게 했어요.

    The mother made the child eat.

  3. 제가 아이에게 옷을 입혔어요.

    I dressed the child.

  4. 제가 아이에게 옷을 입게 했어요.

    I got the child to put on some clothes.

This is a tendency, not a rule. 읽히다 in the last section doesn't mean the teacher read anything. Verbs with no causative, like 가다, 마시다 and 만나다, use 게 하다, and many noun plus 하다 verbs use 시키다.

게 만들다: make it turn out that way

만들다 means to make, and 게 만들다 is close to 게 하다, but it covers only the "make" half and not "let". The focus is on the outcome that was forced. You'll often hear it with feelings, and it works on adjectives as well as verbs.

Making 게 만들다

  • Add 게 만들다 to the stem. Tense goes on 만들다.울다 → 울게 만들다화나다 → 화나게 만들다행복하다 → 행복하게 만들다

Pick a verb

울다울울게 만들었어요

  1. 그 영화가 저를 울게 만들었어요.

    That film made me cry.

  2. 친구의 말이 저를 화나게 만들었어요.

    What my friend said made me angry.

  3. 이 노래는 사람들을 기분 좋게 만들어요.

    This song makes people feel good.

  4. 아이들을 행복하게 만드는 일을 하고 싶어요.

    I want a job that makes children happy.

  5. 왜 저를 기다리게 만들어요?

    Why do you make me wait?

Permission is where it parts from 게 하다. 제가 하게 해 주세요 means "please let me do it", and you can't say that with 만들다.

In a conversation

A

아기가 아직 안 자요?

Baby still not sleeping?

B

네. 밥도 먹였고 옷도 갈아입혔는데 계속 울어요.

Yes. Food too fed and clothes too changed, but keeps crying.

A

제가 재워 볼게요.

I put to sleep will try.

B

고마워요. 어, 아기가 웃어요!

Thanks. Oh, baby laughs!

A

제 얼굴이 웃기나 봐요.

My face makes laugh, it seems.

Common mistakes

  1. 아이를 잤어요.

    아이를 재웠어요.

    자다 takes no object. To put someone else to sleep, you need the causative.

  2. 제가 아이에게 옷을 입었어요.

    제가 아이에게 옷을 입혔어요.

    입다 is putting on your own clothes. Dressing someone else is 입히다.

  3. 농담으로 친구를 웃었어요.

    농담으로 친구를 웃겼어요.

    The friend is the one laughing, so you're the one making it happen.

One sentence in each group is wrong. Tap it.

Check yourself

Quick check

1 / 6

엄마가 아기를 ___. (자다, causative, past) The mother put the baby to sleep.

The causative is 재우다.

Summary

~게 만들었어요 forms
DictionaryStem~게 만들었어요
울다울울게 만들었어요
웃다웃웃게 만들었어요
기다리다기다리기다리게 만들었어요
행복하다행복하행복하게 만들었어요

Four ways to make something happen

  • 이/히/리/기/우/구/추: a new verb, learned one at a time. Often hands-on.먹이다, 입히다, 울리다, 웃기다, 재우다, 달구다, 낮추다
  • 게 하다: make or let, often with the other person doing it.제가 하게 해 주세요
  • 시키다: someone gives an instruction.공부시키다
  • 게 만들다: make it turn out that way. Not "let".저를 화나게 만들었어요

Now you can say

  1. 사진 좀 보여 주세요.

    Please show me the photo.

  2. 여기서 세워 주세요.

    Please stop here.

  3. 그 영화가 저를 울게 만들었어요.

    That film made me cry.

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