LEARN + KOREAN / 20 of 125 TOPIK I

Heavy, Light 무거워요

The suitcase feels heavy: 가방이 무거워요. Many adjective stems ending in ㅂ change it to 우 before a vowel-starting ending; that sound then contracts with 어요. 무겁다 becomes 무거워요. You’ve already met this change in How’s the Weather?.

gabangi mugeowoyo.

The bag is heavy.

i gabangeun gabyeowoyo.

This bag is light.

sukjega eoryeowoyo.

The homework is difficult.

hanguk eumsigi maewoyo.

Korean food is spicy.

jejudoga areumdawoyo.

Jeju Island is beautiful.

Hint · 힌트

Learn whether a ㅂ stem is irregular with the word. 덥다 → 더워요 and 어렵다 → 어려워요, but 입다 → 입어요 and 좁다 → 좁아요 keep ㅂ. 돕다 and 곱다 use 와 in 도와요 and 고와요.

Not every adjective plays this game. 하다-adjectives, 따뜻하다 (warm), 시원하다 (cool) from 날씨가 어때요?, conjugate completely predictably, always contracting to 해요 no matter what.

nalssiga ttatteuthaeyo.

The weather is warm.

eoje nalssiga deowosseoyo.

Yesterday the weather was hot.

Hint · 힌트

더웠어요 stacks two things you now know: the ㅂ-irregular shift (덥 becomes 더우) and the past tense from -았/었어요 (더우 + 었어요 → 더웠어요). Irregular verbs don’t get a pass on tense, they just carry the irregularity into whatever ending comes next.

Vocabulary

Korean	English
무겁다 mugeopda	to be heavy
가볍다 gabyeopda	to be light
쉽다 swipda	to be easy
어렵다 eoryeopda	to be difficult
맵다 maepda	to be spicy
아름답다 areumdapda	to be beautiful
따뜻하다 ttatteuthada	to be warm
숙제 sukje	homework
귀엽다 gwiyeopda	to be cute
무섭다 museopda	to be scary
부드럽다 budeureopda	to be soft
딱딱하다 ttakttakhada	to be hard, stiff
재미있다 jaemiitda	to be fun, interesting
지루하다 jiruhada	to be boring
짜증나다 jjajeungnada	to be annoying, irritating
신기하다 singihada	to be amazing, fascinating
힘세다 himseda	to be strong
약하다 yakhada	to be weak
단단하다 dandanhada	to be solid, firm
복잡하다 bokjaphada	to be complicated

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