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500 Basic Korean Verbs: The Only Comprehensive Guide to Conjugation and Usage
This is a complete study guide to the most common Korean verbs
Korean verbs are notorious in their difficulty for foreigners to master. East-to-use 500 Basic Korean Verbs is the only comprehensive guide to the correct usage of Korean verbs available for English-speaking learners.
Each of the 500 most important Korean verbs is presented in a convenient single-page format that gives the verb's meaning and pronunciation, and displays the verb's 48 key tenses, speech levels, and moods (all accompanied by romanizations). Also included are a handy guide to verb conjugation and reference tables of basic Korean verb types, along with 3 indexes (romanized, Hangeul, and English).
Included in this book are:
-Conjugations by tense, speech levels, and mood.
-"Model verb" system quickly identifies each verb's pattern.
-Sample sentenes demonstrating the verb's correct usage.
-Free downloadable audio provides pronunciations for the verbs and 1,000 -example sentences.
-Includes Korean characters (Hangul) as well as romanized pronunciations to help English speakers.
-Two—color design makes reference easy.
Korean verbs are notorious in their difficulty for foreigners to master. East-to-use 500 Basic Korean Verbs is the only comprehensive guide to the correct usage of Korean verbs available for English-speaking learners.
Each of the 500 most important Korean verbs is presented in a convenient single-page format that gives the verb's meaning and pronunciation, and displays the verb's 48 key tenses, speech levels, and moods (all accompanied by romanizations). Also included are a handy guide to verb conjugation and reference tables of basic Korean verb types, along with 3 indexes (romanized, Hangeul, and English).
Included in this book are:
-Conjugations by tense, speech levels, and mood.
-"Model verb" system quickly identifies each verb's pattern.
-Sample sentenes demonstrating the verb's correct usage.
-Free downloadable audio provides pronunciations for the verbs and 1,000 -example sentences.
-Includes Korean characters (Hangul) as well as romanized pronunciations to help English speakers.
-Two—color design makes reference easy.
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
62 people are currently reading
345 people want to read
About the author
Kyubyong Park
9 books8 followersI work in the field of information technology, and have also been an editor at an educational publishing company focusing on language practice books for Koreans learning English. Although my occupation is in the field of natural language, my main personal pursuit has been aiding foreigners in their studies of the Korean language through the many titles. I live in Anyang with a woman who calls me husband. You can send an email to longinglove@nate.com if you have something to talk to me or if you need to know my home address that your generous present will be delivered to.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 3, 2012
A must have verb conjugator. Each verb comes with two example sentences (sometimes three), accompanying audio, illustrating usage and pronunciation.
February 7, 2016
I find this reference quite handy, and it really is one of a kind on the market (as a book, verbix.com is a reasonable internet version). I do have two complaints, one major and one minor. They are detailed at below.
Those points aside, I do find this a useful book when dealing with irregular verbs, I just wished it focused on its stated goal of conjugation and usage in perhaps two separate sections. The conjugations are unnecessarily repeated for the sake of comments on usage; and the usage notes are bogged down by the conjugations, inhibiting the clarity of distinguishing characteristics between verbs/expressions.
- Minor point:
The verbs are listed in transliterated alphabetical order. As someone who has learned hangul, and having to use the index in order to find a verb is a small annoyance (and given the number of different romanization systems that abound, even those that are used to romanization may encounter difficulty.
- Major point:
Basically all 'hada' (하다) verbs are conjugated the same way. Thus it is of little benefit to me to have the book filled with verbs, such as 관찰하다, 관하다, 결혼하다, 결정하다, 결심하다, 경험하다, 계산하다 that all have the same conjugations. [I opened the book a listed the 하다 verbs from the next 10 verbs: 184-193]. This is particularly aggravating in that they note the 'model verb,' but continue to include such freebies.
The book also lists some verbs multiple times, such as 쓰다 (listed 3 times for its different meaning/usage).
Half a page is dedicated to listing conjugation/sentence-endings for each verb, but this is wasted on such verbs. Any student of the Korean interested enough to buy the book is highly likely to have learnt that following 하다 conjugation will apply to all compound 하다 verbs.
The second half of the page, with examples, synonyms/antonyms, causative and passive forms would be more appropriate to a separate section. This would save space and helps emphasize differences in meaning and usage. Particularly, in a few cases [데리다 103], there are no conjugations listed (leaving the page mostly blank) and the entry is mainly a comment on the limited usage of the verb.
Those points aside, I do find this a useful book when dealing with irregular verbs, I just wished it focused on its stated goal of conjugation and usage in perhaps two separate sections. The conjugations are unnecessarily repeated for the sake of comments on usage; and the usage notes are bogged down by the conjugations, inhibiting the clarity of distinguishing characteristics between verbs/expressions.
- Minor point:
The verbs are listed in transliterated alphabetical order. As someone who has learned hangul, and having to use the index in order to find a verb is a small annoyance (and given the number of different romanization systems that abound, even those that are used to romanization may encounter difficulty.
- Major point:
Basically all 'hada' (하다) verbs are conjugated the same way. Thus it is of little benefit to me to have the book filled with verbs, such as 관찰하다, 관하다, 결혼하다, 결정하다, 결심하다, 경험하다, 계산하다 that all have the same conjugations. [I opened the book a listed the 하다 verbs from the next 10 verbs: 184-193]. This is particularly aggravating in that they note the 'model verb,' but continue to include such freebies.
The book also lists some verbs multiple times, such as 쓰다 (listed 3 times for its different meaning/usage).
Half a page is dedicated to listing conjugation/sentence-endings for each verb, but this is wasted on such verbs. Any student of the Korean interested enough to buy the book is highly likely to have learnt that following 하다 conjugation will apply to all compound 하다 verbs.
The second half of the page, with examples, synonyms/antonyms, causative and passive forms would be more appropriate to a separate section. This would save space and helps emphasize differences in meaning and usage. Particularly, in a few cases [데리다 103], there are no conjugations listed (leaving the page mostly blank) and the entry is mainly a comment on the limited usage of the verb.
October 9, 2013
Incredibly useful reference for anyone studying Korean. The index is perfect, making easy to find verbs in hangul or by english meaning. Verb pages are visually very clean and easy to find the right conjugation, as well as including sample sentences and sentence structure at the bottom of the page. Verbs with the same spelling but different meanings (like 쓰다) are given separate pages for separate meanings.
September 4, 2016
Great book
Structure and could be more organized, optimized for mobile view. Overall decent approach to conjugation of verbs that frighten foreigners.
Structure and could be more organized, optimized for mobile view. Overall decent approach to conjugation of verbs that frighten foreigners.
October 3, 2016
An essential to anyone learning Korean.
July 12, 2019
This book helped me a lot when trying to learn Korean. It gives you many different ways each verb is used.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews