Verb Bases

Each verb has a SIMPLE BASE which is the source of all its changes. Some simple bases end with vowels, others with consonants. Some of the vowel-base verbs are L-extending: they add an -ㄹ- before certain markers and endings. A few of the vowel-base verbs end in -르- which changes to -ㄹㄹ- before adding the infinitive ending -어 (or -아). The INFINITIVE of a verb is its base plus an infinitive ending. The infinitive ending has so many shapes, however, that it is perhaps harder to learn rules for adding the ending than it is to memorize the form outright for each verb.Here is a comprehensive list of all the verb bases that have appeared so far in these lessons, classified according to type (vowel base, consonant base). Variant forms are in parentheses; if otherwise unmarked, they mostly represent fast speech forms. [Subsequent lists in this section are representative of the following complete list, in that they contain a base of each type, to act as a pattern for all the others of that type.]

Vowel-base verbs

L-doubling vowel-base verbs

L-extending vowel-base verbs

Consonant-base verbs

W ~ P Verbs

L ~ T Verbs

S ~ Ø Verbs

The plain base of a verb, then, is the verb reduced to its minimum form: nothing can easily be taken away from the simple base, because it has only one part. But a variety of things can be added to it, still without making it a complete verb form ? that is, without putting on an ending. A simple base with further base-forming things attached to it is a COMPLEX BASE. One kind of complex base is an HONORIFIC BASE ? the plain base + the honorific marker:

Nearly every Korean verb form is subject to the dichotomy of plain and honorific, so that when we speak of any form of a verb, we should keep in mind the fact that each form comes in two varieties: one, the general variety; and two, the variety which we must not use for ourselves or younger members of our family.

Here are the other kinds of complex bases you have learned, illustrated by 하- do, first shown with its infinitives:

• INFINITIVES (base + infinitive ending):
  해- 하셔
• PAST BASES (infinitive + the past marker -ㅆ-):
  했- 하셨-
• FUTURE BASES (base + the future-presumptive marker -겠-):
  하겠- 하시겠-
• PAST-PAST BASES (past base + the past marker -었-):
  했었- 하셨었-
• PAST-FUTURE BASES (past base + future-presumptive marker -겠-):
  했겠- 하셨겠-

All complex bases, however many ingredients may go into them, share this feature with one another and with simple bases: none are complete until they are finished off with an ENDING.