LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

HOW TO ACTUALLY CONJUGATE VERBS/ADJECTIVES TO THE FUTURE TENSE

You learned how to conjugate words to the future tense by adding 겠어/겠어요/겠다/겠습니다 to the word stem. Though adding ~겠~ to a word stem is one way to conjugate words to the future, there is a more common way to conjugate to do this!

Before learning how to do to this, you needed to learn more grammar first (namely, how to conjugate 이다 properly). Either way, ~겠~ is still used in Korean, but not as much as the method you are about to learn.

For verbs or adjectives, when conjugating into the future tense, you must first add ~ㄹ/을 to the stem of the word.

When you add ~ㄹ/을 to a word stem, ~ㄹ gets attached directly to stems ending in a vowel, and ~을 gets added onto stems ending in a consonant. For example:

가다 ends in a vowel, so
가다 + ㄹ = 갈

먹다 ends in a consonant, so
먹다 + 을 = 먹을

——————-

This is going to sound extremely complicated (and it is): adding ~ㄹ/을 to the stem of an adjective changes it to a word that can describe a noun in the future tense. For example:

행복한 사람 - happy person
행복할 사람 - a person that will be happy

Similarly, (this is where it gets complicated) adding ~ㄹ/~을 to a stem of a verb turns it into a word that can describe a noun in the future:

먹을 음식 - the food that will be eaten.

In practice, entire clauses – ending in verbs, which in turn describe the noun – are commonly used. For example:

제가 먹을 음식 = the food that will be eaten by me (the food that I will eat)

——————-

If you can't understand the explanation between the lines – don't worry. That level of grammar is very difficult to grasp at this stage of learning.

Adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the stem of an adjective allows that adjective to describe a noun in the future tense.

Adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the stem of a verb allows that verb to describe a noun in the future tense
Because these newly formed words can describe nouns, they must be followed by a noun
What does all this have to do with conjugating into the future?

When Korean people conjugate to the future, they usually do so by adding ~ㄹ/~을 to a verb/adjective. This is essentially the same as adding ㄴ/은 to an adjective stem which you already know: (좋다 ~> 좋은).

You should know, however, that you cannot end a sentence like this:

나는 좋은

Because 좋은 is an adjective that modifies a noun, a noun must follow 좋은:

나는 좋은 사람

Now, to end the sentence, you need to add 이다 to the noun:

나는 좋은 사람이다 - I am a good person.

So, again, when Korean people conjugate verbs/adjectives to the future, they usually do so by adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the word stem:

나는 행복할
나는 먹을
나는 공부할

But this changes verbs/adjectives into an adjectives that describe nouns. Therefore, (just like 좋은) a noun must follow these words. The noun that is always used in this situation is 것 (thing):

나는 행복할 것
나는 먹을 것
나는 공부할 것

Now, to end those sentences, you need to add 이다 to the noun:

나는 행복할 것이다
나는 먹을 것이다
나는 공부할 것이다

If you try to directly translate these sentences to English, they have the meaning:

I am a thing who will be happy
I am a thing who will eat
I am a thing who will study

But their actual meanings are:

나는 행복할 것이다 - I will be happy
나는 먹을 것이다 - I will eat
나는 공부할 것이다 - I will study

The 이다 can then be conjugated based on the level of politeness or formality. But keep in mind that even though this sentence is conjugated into the future, the 이다 should stay in the present tense. Because the ~ㄹ/을 creates a future sentence, 이다 does not need to be in the future.

것 is also sometimes shortened to 거, for no other reason than it is easier to say and creates a shorter sentence. For example, these two are exactly the same:

저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 - I will eat rice
저는 밥을 먹을 거예요 - I will eat rice

Notice that ~이에요 is added when 것 (which ends in a consonant) is used and ~예요 is added when 거 (which ends in a vowel) is used. This is the same rule that you learned earlier in the lesson when conjugating 이다 depending on if the final letter of a noun ends in a consonant or vowel.

Note that Korean people are often confused if they need to add "~이에요," or "~예요" or "~에요" to 거 in these cases. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see somebody use "할 거에요."

Other examples:
나는 내일 친구를 만날 것이야 - I will meet my friend tomorrow
나는 내일 친구를 만날 거야 - I will meet my friend tomorrow
저는 내일 학교에 갈 것입니다 - I will go to school tomorrow
저는 영어를 공부할 거예요 - I will study English

You learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~ㄹ/을. Let's look at how irregulars change as a result of adding this grammatical principle.

The ㅅ irregular, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules that were introduced. The addition of the vowel causes a change (or elimination) of the last letter of the stem.
The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition.

Adding ~ㄹ/을 to a word that follows the ㄹ irregular brings about a change you are not familiar with. Normally, you would add ~ㄹ to the stem of a word ending in a vowel, and ~을 to the stem of a word ending in a consonant. For example: 잃다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 잃을
예쁘다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 예쁠

However, when you add ~ㄹ/을 to a stem of a word that ends in ㄹ, the ㄹ is dropped and ㄹ is attached directly to the stem. In effect, you removed something and replace it with exactly the same thing. For example: 갈다 + ㄹ/을 = 갈
빨다 + ㄹ/을 = 빨
열다 + ㄹ/을 = 열
저는 문을 열 거예요 - I will open the door (열 + 을 = 열)

Below is a table showing the changes that result from adding ~ㄹ/을 to a word.

Notice that I also included the word 돕다. As you learned – ㅂ changes to 오 when ~아/어 (or any derivative) is added. When any other vowel is added, ㅂ changes to 우 as you can see above.

You will see these same changes to irregulars anytime you add something that begins in ~ㄹ/을. For example:

~ㄹ/을래(요)
~ㄹ/을까(요)
~ㄹ/을게(요)
~ㄹ/을걸(요)