Korean irregular verbs: every pattern, with the full list

Most Korean verbs follow one pattern: take off 다, add 아요 or 어요, and build the tenses on top. A few groups change their stem along the way, so 듣다 becomes 들어요 rather than 듣어요, and 춥다 becomes 추워요. These are the irregular verbs, and they catch out nearly every learner at some point, mostly because several of them are spelled exactly like perfectly regular verbs.

This page takes each pattern in turn, with the rule, worked examples and audio, then lists every verb in the HanGeul course that follows it, 85 in all, each linked to its full conjugation table. If the regular pattern still feels shaky, the guide to Korean verb conjugation is the better place to start.

Before a vowel, the final ㅂ turns into 우, which then merges with the ending: 춥 + 어요 becomes 추우 + 어요, which becomes 추워요. Before the 으 of the future, the 우 absorbs it, giving 추울 거예요. Two verbs take 오 instead and end in 와: 돕다 (to help) becomes 도와요, and 곱다 (to be lovely) becomes 고와요.

This is the largest irregular group, and it is mostly adjectives, including a good share of the words for feelings and textures: 어렵다, 쉽다, 귀엽다, 무겁다, 가볍다. Plenty of action verbs, on the other hand, keep their ㅂ.

Before a vowel, the final ㄷ becomes ㄹ: 듣 + 어요 gives 들어요, and the future is 들을 거예요. Before a consonant the ㄷ comes back, so you still say 듣고 and 듣습니다.

The group is small and closed, which makes it worth learning as a list. Most verbs ending in ㄷ are regular, including very common ones like 받다 and 닫다, and that is exactly why the irregular few are easy to get wrong.

Before a vowel, the final ㅅ drops, and unlike an ordinary vowel stem, nothing merges across the gap it leaves: 낫 + 아요 gives 나아요, never 나요. The future keeps its 으 for the same reason: 나을 거예요.

Like the ㄷ group, this one is small, and most verbs ending in ㅅ are regular. 웃다 and 씻다, two of the first verbs most people learn, both keep their ㅅ.

When 아요 or 어요 is added, 르 becomes ㄹ라 or ㄹ러: the syllable before it picks up a ㄹ, and the ending starts with another. 모르 + 아요 gives 몰라요, and 부르 + 어요 gives 불러요. The vowel comes from the syllable before 르: 모 has ㅗ, so it takes 라.

The future is untouched, because 르 already ends in a vowel: 모를 거예요. Nearly every verb ending in 르 follows this pattern, so this is the group where guessing irregular is almost always right.

Adjectives in this group drop their ㅎ before a vowel and change their vowel to ㅐ: 그렇 + 어요 gives 그래요, and 빨갛 + 아요 gives 빨개요. A ㅑ becomes ㅒ, so 하얗다 gives 하얘요. Before 으, the ㅎ and the 으 both disappear, which is where 그럴 거예요 and 빨간 (red, before a noun) come from.

The group is closed: the words for like this, like that and how (이렇다, 저렇다, 그렇다, 어떻다), plus the colour adjectives, which the Korean adjectives guide covers with their noun forms. Action verbs ending in ㅎ are regular, and so is 좋다.

푸다 (to scoop) is the only 우 irregular verb. Instead of contracting to 풔요 like 주다 → 줘요, it drops the ㅜ and gives 퍼요.

The 러 group keeps its 르 and turns the ending into 러: 푸르다 (to be blue or green, as of the sky or trees) becomes 푸르러요, and 이르다 in the sense of to reach becomes 이르러요. Its twin 이르다, meaning to be early or to tell on someone, is an ordinary 르 irregular and becomes 일러요.

These change too, but every verb of their shape changes the same way, so they are best learned as part of the regular system rather than as exceptions. Korean grammar counts ㄹ and ㅡ stems as regular for exactly that reason.

하다 is formally irregular, since its ending is 여, which shortens to 해. With 1,492 하다 verbs in the course it is the pattern you will use most, and it never varies: 공부하다 becomes 공부해요.

The 67 ㄹ stems drop their ㄹ before ㄴ, ㅂ and ㅅ, so 살다 gives 삽니다, 사세요 and 사는. The 24 ㅡ stems drop the ㅡ before 아 or 어: 쓰다 becomes 써요, and 바쁘다 becomes 바빠요.

The spelling narrows it down, but it cannot settle the question. Several common verbs are two different words with the same dictionary form, one regular and one not:

For everything else, a few rules of thumb get you most of the way:

When in doubt, type the verb into the Korean verb conjugator. It runs on the same rules as this page, and it says so when a verb could go either way rather than guessing.

Type the polite present, the form ending in 요. Two of these are regular.