Korean adjectives: how they work, and 82 to start with

Korean adjectives look strange to English speakers at first, because they are not really adjectives in the English sense. 예쁘다 does not mean pretty; it means to be pretty, and it conjugates like any verb. Once that clicks, most of the grammar falls into place, and the only genuinely new thing to learn is the form an adjective takes in front of a noun.

This page covers both jobs an adjective does, then gives 82 common adjectives with both forms and audio, grouped by meaning. If verb endings are new to you, the guide to Korean verb conjugation explains the 아요 and 어요 endings this page relies on.

An adjective that ends a sentence needs no word for is. Where English says the weather is cold, Korean says 날씨가 추워요: the weather, then the adjective, conjugated. The thing being described usually takes the subject particle 이 or 가.

Every tense works the way it does for verbs, and so does the negative, which puts 안 in front:

The irregular patterns carry over too, which matters more for adjectives than for verbs: most adjectives ending in ㅂ change it to 우, so 춥다 gives 추워요 and 맵다 gives 매워요. The Korean irregular verbs guide covers each pattern.

To describe a noun directly, as in a cold day or a small house, the adjective goes first and takes the modifier ending. The basic rule depends on how the stem ends: a vowel takes ㄴ as a final consonant, so 크다 gives 큰, and a consonant takes 은, so 작다 gives 작은. The rest are the patterns you already know from conjugation:

The 있다 and 없다 row is the one that catches people out. Every adjective built on them takes 는, the ending verbs use, so it is 맛있는 and 재미없는, never 맛있은.

These are the adjectives most learners need in their first year, each with the form that ends a sentence and the form that goes before a noun. Where the HanGeul course teaches the word, it links to a page with the full conjugation table. Notice the two kinds of hot and cold: 덥다 and 춥다 are for the weather and how you feel in it, while 뜨겁다 and 차갑다 are for things you touch, like coffee or water.

The basic colour words are adjectives, and all of them are ㅎ irregular: the ㅎ drops before a vowel, so 빨갛다 gives 빨개요 and 빨간 사과, a red apple. Each also has a noun form ending in 색, colour, which is what you use to name the colour itself: 빨간색이에요, it's red. Green and purple only exist as nouns, 초록색 and 보라색.

Korean adjectives do not change form to compare. You put a word in front instead: 더 for more, and 제일 or 가장 for most. For very, use 아주 or 정말. 너무 strictly means too, but in everyday speech it is the most common way to say very.

Six phrases with an adjective before a noun, and two sentences ending in one.