Korean Verbs Intermediate: B1 to B2 List with Examples

What you will be able to do after this page

• Recognise the meaning and polite present of the B1 to B2 verbs and adjectives.
• Use 10 honorific, humble and formal verbs correctly, such as 드시다, 주무시다, 계시다, 드리다 and 뵙다.
• Pair transitive and intransitive verbs such as 올리다 and 오르다.
• Spot the 40 irregular entries on the list and give their polite present.

Before you start: read elementary Korean verbs, because this page assumes the A1 and A2 verbs and the polite present. Time: about four hours spread over eight weeks. Level: B1 to B2.

Which Verbs Are on the Intermediate Korean Verbs List?

The list has 179 entries, grouped by topic: 134 verbs in ten topic groups and 45 adjectives in three groups. 163 entries are at B1 and 16 at B2. The levels follow the CEFR labels (a European scale for language level), but the placement is the site's editorial judgement, not an official list and not a frequency count. A learner may meet a B1 word earlier in a song or a drama. The level scale is explained in Korean verbs by level.

B1 and B2 verbs differ from A2 verbs in three ways. The vocabulary becomes formal and abstract. Pairs of related verbs multiply. And the irregular classes spread out: the list holds every irregular class the site teaches.

Each table has five columns: the word with a link to its dictionary page, its Revised Romanization, the meaning, the polite present form and the type (regular, 하다, special or an irregular class). The polite present is the everyday -요 form, so you can say the verb in a sentence at once. The first group is the one that changes how you speak to people.

Honorific and Formal Verbs

Honorific verbs raise the person you talk about, and humble verbs lower yourself. They are the clearest sign that you have moved past the beginner stage. Six of the ten verbs below are honorific or humble, and the other four (허락하다, 환영하다, 방문하다, 참석하다) are formal 하다 verbs you meet in notices and announcements.

How Do Honorific and Humble Verbs Replace Plain Verbs?

An honorific verb shows respect to the person who does the action. A humble verb lowers the speaker and so raises the listener. Both replace the plain verb. The table shows the plain verb, its replacement and the polite present of each.

Honorific verbs go with the person you respect as the subject: 할머니께서 주무세요 (Grandmother is sleeping). Humble verbs go with yourself as the subject and the respected person as the receiver: 선생님께 선물을 드려요 (I give the teacher a present). Never use 드시다 or 주무시다 for yourself. The system behind these forms is explained in Korean honorifics.

계시다 is the honorific of 있다 when it means "to be present" for a person: 어머니는 집에 계세요 (Mother is at home). For a thing a person owns, use 있으세요. 뵙다 has a short polite form, but you will most often hear it in the formal pattern 뵙겠습니다 (I will see you), which is the polite greeting 처음 뵙겠습니다.

Work, School and Office Verbs

These verbs describe life events: entering school, getting a job, passing an exam, holding a meeting and cancelling a plan. Ten of the eleven are 하다 verbs built on Sino-Korean nouns, so a learner who knows 취직 (getting a job) or 합격 (passing) can already guess the verb.

Money, Choices and Effort Verbs

Here the vocabulary turns abstract: choosing, comparing, succeeding, failing and hoping. Most of the 하다 verbs are formal, and 바라다, 꿈꾸다, 참다 and 견디다 are the plain native verbs for wanting and enduring.

What Is the Pattern for the 하다 Verbs on This List?

68 of the 179 entries are 하다 words, mostly nouns from Chinese-derived (Sino-Korean) roots. The rule is the same as at A2: a noun for an activity plus 하다 makes a verb, and its polite present is the noun plus 해요. 취직 (getting a job) gives 취직해요, and 결정 (a decision) gives 결정해요. If you know the noun, you can often guess the verb, and the reverse is also true. Read Sino-Korean vocabulary to see how the same syllables repeat across words. The structure lesson is Korean hada verbs explained.

Digital Verbs

Computer verbs are loanword + 하다: you add 하다 to a borrowed noun. The noun keeps its English sound, and the polite present is always noun + 해요.

Change, Growth and Recovery Verbs

These verbs describe things that become different on their own: prices rise, children grow, a cold gets better. Many are intransitive partners of a transitive verb you learned earlier, such as 열리다 (opens) beside 열다 (open something).

Which Verbs Come in Transitive and Intransitive Pairs?

A transitive verb takes an object, and an intransitive verb does not. The B1 list brings the partner of many verbs you know. The pair changes the particle: the transitive verb takes 을/를 on the thing, and the intransitive verb takes 이/가.

Three observations help. The partner often adds 이, 히, 리 or 기 to the stem, as in 열 → 열리 and 닫 → 닫히. Some pairs use two different stems, as in 오르다 and 올리다. And the last two pairs are different in kind: in the first five, verb B is intransitive, but 먹이다 and 입히다 are causatives of 먹다 and 입다, meaning "make someone eat" and "make someone wear". Causatives and passives have their own lessons in passive and causative verbs.

Moving, Carrying and Following Verbs

This group covers moving people and things: throwing, picking up, pushing, pulling, climbing and following. Several verbs form pairs with a verb you already know, such as 올리다 (raise) and 오르다 (rise).

Fixing, Folding and Joining Verbs

Handling verbs for repairs, packages and crafts. Note the pair 붙이다 (attach) and 붙다 (stick), and the compound 갈아입다 (change clothes), built from 갈다 (change) and 입다 (wear).

Cooking and Kitchen Verbs

Kitchen verbs let you follow a recipe. Most are regular. Watch 따르다 (pour; a ㅡ verb that gives 따라요), 붓다 (pour; a ㅅ verb that gives 부어요) and 푸다 (scoop; the only 우 verb, 퍼요).

Body, Senses and Personal Care Verbs

The senses and grooming. 맛보다, 맡다 and 만지다 are the senses of taste, smell and touch, and 화장하다, 면도하다 and 빗다 are daily care verbs.

Feelings, Relationships and Understanding Verbs

Feelings verbs at B1 often use the pattern adjective + 하다: 기뻐하다 (be glad), 무서워하다 (fear), 부끄러워하다 (be shy). They describe how someone else feels, or a feeling shown outwardly. This group also holds relationship verbs and the verbs of understanding.

What Are the Intermediate Korean Adjectives?

The list holds 45 adjectives, in three tables. Adjectives are conjugated like verbs, so each polite present below ends in -요. In Korean grammar they are "descriptive verbs": they take the same endings.

Adjectives for Character and Manner

Ten adjectives describe a person. Nine are 하다 adjectives, whose polite present is the stem + 해요, and 예의 바르다 is a 르 adjective that becomes 예의 발라요.

Adjectives for Feelings and Judgments

Eighteen adjectives name a feeling or a judgment, such as proud, embarrassed, certain or convenient. The ㅂ adjectives drop the ㅂ and add 워: 부럽다 becomes 부러워요, and 그립다 becomes 그리워요.

Adjectives for Things, Shapes and Textures

Seventeen adjectives describe how something looks or feels: thick, thin, deep, soft, hard, round, blue-green. 이르다 here means early, and it is the 르 adjective that gives 일러요, not the 러 verb 이르다 (to reach).

Which Intermediate Korean Verbs Are Irregular?

40 entries are irregular, and they cover every class on the site. The table shows each class, the number of entries and the entries themselves with the polite present. Learn them as part of the list, and read the lesson for each class when you meet it. The overview is in Korean irregular verbs.

Two traps stand out. 이르다 is two different words on this list: 이르다 (early) is a 르 adjective with the polite present 일러요, 이르다 (reach) is a 러 verb with 이르러요, and the two forms look alike. The second trap is a pair of verbs that both end in ㅂ: 줍다 (pick up) is irregular and gives 주워요, but 접다 (fold) is regular and gives 접어요. The rare 러 and 우 classes have their own page, Korean 러 irregular explained.

How Do You Practise 10 Intermediate Verbs in Sentences?

Read each sentence, cover the English, then say the sentence aloud. All ten use verbs from the list.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Intermediate Verbs?

Which 20 Intermediate Verbs Should You Learn First?

A full list of 179 entries is a lot. Start with this deck of 20 cards: the honorific verbs, the work verbs you need to talk about plans, and the abstract verbs you will meet in news. The cards below are identical to the table.

Review the deck in sessions of 10, once a day. When 15 of the 20 cards feel easy, move on to the full tables above. More decks are in the vocabulary flashcard decks.

How Can You Learn 179 Verbs in Eight Weeks?

This plan is an estimate, not a rule. It gives each week one or two topics from the tables above, in eight weeks. Study on five days and review on the other two. Weeks 4 and 8 are heavier than the others, so split them across two sittings or add a week if you need it.

The weekly totals add up to 179. The levels map roughly to TOPIK I and II, but that mapping is an editorial estimate and not an official equivalence. The exam is run by the National Institute for International Education, and its current format and levels are on topik.go.kr, which you should check before you plan an exam date.

Quick Check: Six Questions

What Should You Learn after Intermediate Korean Verbs?

Next, compare this list with the 100 most useful verbs in 100 Korean verbs, which is grouped by theme and is useful whatever your level. For respectful speech, continue with Korean honorifics. For the Sino-Korean roots behind many 하다 verbs, read Sino-Korean vocabulary. If any entry in the A2 range still feels shaky, return to elementary Korean verbs.

What this page does not cover. It does not cover the A1 and A2 lists, full conjugation tables for each entry (see the verb dictionary), or passive and causative grammar in depth.

About this page. Last updated 2026-10-09. The Korean text and example sentences were drafted with AI assistance and cross-checked with the site's rule-based conjugation engine; a Korean reviewer checks every lesson before it is marked as reviewed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Korean Verbs Are at the Intermediate Level?

The site's intermediate list has 179 entries at B1 to B2: 134 verbs and 45 adjectives. The placement is an editorial judgement, not an official list, so treat the number as a study target.

What Are the Honorific Verbs I Should Learn First?

Start with 드시다 (to eat or drink), 주무시다 (to sleep), 계시다 (to be) and 말씀하시다 (to speak), which replace 먹다, 자다, 있다 and 말하다 for a respected person. The humble verbs 드리다 (to give) and 뵙다 (to meet) lower yourself. Their polite forms are 드세요, 주무세요, 계세요, 드려요 and 뵈어요.

Why Are There so Many 하다 Verbs at B1?

Intermediate topics such as work, school, news and computers use Sino-Korean and loanword nouns, and these nouns take 하다 to form verbs. 68 of the 179 entries on the list are 하다 words, and each one has the polite present noun + 해요.

Which Intermediate Korean Verbs Are Irregular?

40 entries are irregular: ㄹ 13, ㅂ 11, ㅅ 4, ㄷ 3, 르 3, ㅡ 2, 러 2, 우 1, ㅎ 1. Examples are 줍다 (주워요), 낫다 (나아요) and 푸다 (퍼요). Learn them with the lesson for each class.

Is This List the Same as the TOPIK Verb List?

No. The levels on this page are the site's own study levels. TOPIK is run by the National Institute for International Education, and its official information is on topik.go.kr. No official list assigns single verbs to B1 or B2.

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