-어

어 Korean Pronunciation Etymology 1 From ko okm - -어〮 -é, from ko oko 良 *-a, the vowel shift presumably informed by vowel harmony. In Old and Middle Korean, the suffix was solely a connective one and could not be used to end a sentence. Modern sentence-final usage emerged at some point in Early Modern Korean. Indisputable examples of the infinitive serving as an informal imperative, one given below, are found by the eighteenth century. This innovation was probably extended from a practice in which the auxiliary or other subsequent verb was omitted to be determined by context in colloquial speech, transforming the infinitive into a sentence-ending suffix.ko:반말체의 등급과 반말체 어미의 발달에 대하여 ko:고광모 Eoneohak 30 3—27 2001 On the level of the intimate style and the development of intimate-style suffixesko:국어 종결어미의 통시적 변화와 쟁점 ko:장윤희 Gugeosa yeon'gu 14 63—99 2012 A general survey of diachronic change of Korean sentence-terminating endings Suffix -아 suffix The "infinitive" suffix, connecting verbs and adjectives. Joins the main verb or adjective to its auxiliary. ko 해-는 저물-어 간다. The sun is setting. ko 저-거 한 번 먹-어 봐. Have a taste of that. ko 그-는 죽-어 있다. He is dead. ko 날-이 더-워-진다. It's getting hot. and, by; expresses a sequence of actions made by the same subject. There is a nuance that the first action is impacting or enabling the second; compare ko -고, which lacks this nuance. ko -어서 ko 옷-을 벗-어 침대-에 던졌다. I took off my clothes and threw them on the bed. ko 의자-에 앉-아 글-을 쓸 것이다. I will sit on a chair and write. ko 종이-를 접-어 학-을 만들었다. I made cranes by folding paper. since, because; expresses causation. ko -어서 -니까 ko 꽃-이 피-어 기분-이 좋다. I feel happy since the flowers bloomed. In the "intimate" speech level used between friends, by superiors to inferiors, etc., a general-purpose sentence-ending suffix attached to verbs and adjectives: Marks the declarative or indicative mood. ko 나 점심 먹고 있-어. I'm having lunch. ko 소년-이 벽-에 페인트-를 칠하고 있-어-요. A boy is painting on the wall. 소년이 벽에 페인트를 칠하고 있어요.ogg Marks the interrogative mood. ko 너-는 점심 먹었-어? Did you have lunch? Marks the imperative mood. ko 얼른 점심 먹-어. Go have lunch soon. ko 1728 ko 청구영언 [珍](진)[本](본)[靑](청)[丘](구)[永](영)[言](언) Jinbon Cheongguyeong'eon Songs from the Green Hills [日](일)[中](듕)[三](삼)[足](죡)[烏](오)-야 가지 말고 내 말 드러 Ildyung samjyogo-ya gaji malgo nae mal deur-eo Three-legged crow inside the sun, don't go; listen to what I have to say. ko uncommon Marks the hortative mood. ko -자 more common Usage notes connective suffix The verb or adjective to which ko -어 attaches cannot take tense or aspect markers such as ko -었- or ko -겠-; these must occur at the main verb. It does not normally occur after a verb negated with ko 안 not, though it does occur with one negated by ko 못 cannot. sentence-final suffix The distinct moods are distinguished by intonation, e.g. a rising intonation for a question. vowel harmony Most stems whose final vowel is a yang vowel take the ko -아 form. Other stems take ko -어. Note that stems ending in ko ㅐ, if not elided as a contraction, take ko -어; hence the infinitive of ko 새다 to leak is ko 새어. Multisyllabic stems with irregular conjugation of ko ㅂ take ko -어, even if the final vowel is a yang vowel. Hence the infinitive of ko 사납다 to be fierce is ko 사나워. Younger speakers often use ko -어 for verb stems which have ko ㅏ followed by a consonant. For instance, they may use ko 막-어 as the infinitive of ko 막다 to block rather than traditional ko 막-아. This is considered prescriptively incorrect. contractions and allomorphy The infinitive is elided before a stem ending in ko ㅏ or ko ㅓ. The exception is the extremely common verb ko 하다, whose infinitive is the irregular ko 하여 or ko 해, with the former being formal. The infinitive elides a stem ending in ko ㅡ, so that the infinitive of ko 쓰다 is ko 써. In certain verbs, younger speakers generally front ko -아 to ko -애, realized as /e/. This is most common for ko 같다 to be the same, whose infinitive tends to be ko 같-애 for young South Koreans. This is also considered prescriptively incorrect. ko -어 is possible, but rare, after the copula ko -이다 to be and ko 아니다 to not be; the common equivalents are ko -라#after copula -라 for the connective suffix and ko -야 for the sentence-final suffix. Derived terms ko -어 있다 -어지다 -어보다 -어야 -어야 하다 -어야 되다 -어요 -어도 -어야겠- -어서 -었- -어지다 Etymology 2 Sino-Korean suffix; see the main entry. Suffix suffix See the entry at ko 어#語 어(語) language. References ko inflectional suffixes