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Grammar / Level 1 / Lesson 29

이/히/리/기 and 되다: passive verbs

By Daniel Buckley · 10 minute read · TOPIK 1

Vocabulary

  1. 보이다 - to be seen, to be visible
  2. 들리다 - to be heard
  3. 열리다 - to open, to be opened
  4. 닫히다 - to close, to be closed
  5. 막히다 - to be blocked
  6. 잡히다 - to be caught
  7. 팔리다 - to sell, to be sold
  8. 끊기다 - to be cut off
  9. 도둑 - thief
  10. 경찰 - police

You've already seen 길이 막혀서 늦었어요, the road was blocked, so I was late. Nobody in that sentence blocked anything. 막히다 is the passive of 막다, to block.

A passive verb moves the attention from who did something to what it happened to. English adds a helper, "was blocked". Korean makes a new verb by slipping a syllable into the stem.

The four suffixes

Add 이, 히, 리 or 기 to a stem and you have a new verb, which conjugates like any other: 열리다, 열려요, 열렸어요. Which suffix a verb takes has to be learned verb by verb. Nothing reliably predicts it, and plenty of verbs don't have one at all.

이, 히, 리, 기

  • 이:보다 → 보이다놓다 → 놓이다쓰다 → 쓰이다
  • 히:닫다 → 닫히다막다 → 막히다잡다 → 잡히다
  • 리:열다 → 열리다팔다 → 팔리다듣다 → 들리다
  • 기:끊다 → 끊기다안다 → 안기다잠그다 → 잠기다

Learn each one as a vocabulary word. Some change a little on the way, like 듣다 to 들리다, and 잠그다 to 잠기다. 바뀌다, to be changed, is 바꾸다 with 이 squeezed into it.

What happens to the sentence

The object of the active sentence becomes the subject, so 을/를 turns into 이/가. If you mention the doer at all, a person or animal takes 에게 or 한테. Compare the pairs.

  1. 경찰이 도둑을 잡았어요.

    Police caught thief.

  2. 도둑이 경찰에게 잡혔어요.

    Thief was caught by police.

  3. 제가 문을 열었어요.

    I opened door.

  4. 문이 열렸어요.

    Door opened.

Look at example 4. Most Korean passives don't name a doer, and English often uses a plain verb there, so don't go looking for "was". What matters is that nobody in the sentence is doing it.

  1. 길이 막혔어요.

    Road was blocked.

  2. 이 가방은 잘 팔려요.

    This bag sells well.

  3. 전화가 끊겼어요.

    Call was cut off.

  4. 문이 잠겼어요.

    Door got locked.

  5. 모기한테 물렸어요.

    (I) was bitten by mosquito.

보이다 and 들리다

These two you'll use every day. English says "I can see it" and "I can hear it", with yourself as the subject. Korean says the thing is seen or heard, and the thing takes 이/가.

  1. 여기에서 산이 보여요.

    From here mountain is seen.

  2. 밖에서 소리가 들려요.

    From outside sound is heard.

  3. 글씨가 잘 안 보여요.

    Writing isn't seen well.

  4. 잘 안 들려요.

    (It) isn't heard well.

Example 4 is what you say on a bad phone line.

Now sort these by the suffix each verb took.

  1. 산이 보여요.

  2. 문이 닫혔어요.

  3. 음악이 들려요.

  4. 전화가 끊겼어요.

  5. 길이 막혔어요.

  6. 책이 많이 팔렸어요.

Verbs without a suffix: 아/어지다

Many verbs have no 이/히/리/기 form. For these, Korean uses 아/어지다, which you met on adjectives in 추워지다, to get cold. The form is the same on a verb, but the job is different: the action comes about, with the doer out of the picture.

The same form, on a verb

  • As on adjectives: the 해요 form, minus 요, plus 지다.만들어요 → 만들어지다고쳐요 → 고쳐지다지워요 → 지워지다

Pick a verb

만들다만들어요만들어져요

  1. 이 영화는 2000년에 만들어졌어요.

    This movie was made in 2000.

  2. 불이 갑자기 꺼졌어요.

    Light suddenly went out.

  3. 컵이 깨졌어요.

    Cup broke.

  4. 이 글씨는 안 지워져요.

    This writing doesn't erase.

꺼지다 and 깨지다 are so common that dictionaries list them as words of their own, but they're built the same way.

※ Don't put both on one verb. 쓰여지다 stacks 이 and 지다. You'll see it around, but the standard form is 쓰이다.

하다 verbs: swap to 되다

This is the easy one. A verb made of a noun and 하다 often turns passive by swapping 하다 for 되다. 되다 conjugates to 돼요 and 됐어요.

하다 to 되다

  • Keep the noun, swap the verb.시작하다 → 시작되다사용하다 → 사용되다취소하다 → 취소되다준비하다 → 준비되다

  1. 공연이 일곱 시에 시작돼요.

    Show starts at seven o'clock.

  2. 이 말은 요즘 많이 사용돼요.

    This word is used a lot these days.

  3. 비행기 표가 취소됐어요.

    Plane ticket was cancelled.

  4. 저녁이 다 준비됐어요.

    Dinner was prepared completely.

Compare 제가 취소했어요, I cancelled it, with 취소됐어요, it got cancelled. The second one leaves out who did it, which makes it useful for announcements and excuses.

※ Not every 하다 verb has a 되다 form. 사랑하다 doesn't, for example: it takes 받다 instead, as in 사랑받다, which comes in Level 4.

  1. 제가 식당을 ___.

    I booked the restaurant.

  2. 회의가 ___.

    The meeting got cancelled.

  3. 문이 ___.

    The door closed.

  4. 이 글씨는 안 ___.

    This writing won't come off.

Listen and type

1 / 3

Play it as often as you like.

Common mistakes

  1. 문을 열렸어요.

    문이 열렸어요.

    The door is the subject now, so it takes 이/가.

  2. 이 책이 많이 팔았어요.

    이 책이 많이 팔렸어요.

    The book isn't the seller. English "sold" hides this, Korean doesn't.

  3. 문이 닫아졌어요.

    문이 닫혔어요.

    A verb with a 이/히/리/기 form normally uses it, not 아/어지다.

Check yourself

Quick check

1 / 6

문이 ___. (닫다) The door closed.

The passive is 닫히다, in the past.

Summary

Three ways to make a passive

  • 이/히/리/기: a new verb, learned one at a time.보이다, 닫히다, 열리다, 끊기다
  • 아/어지다: for many verbs without one.만들어지다, 꺼지다
  • 되다: for many noun plus 하다 verbs.시작되다, 취소되다

Now you can say

  1. 길이 막혔어요.

    Road was blocked.

  2. 잘 안 들려요.

    (It) isn't heard well.

  3. 비행기 표가 취소됐어요.

    Plane ticket was cancelled.

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