Korean Verbs for Beginners: the A1 Starter List with Audio

What you will be able to do after this page

• Say what 15 or more A1 verbs mean and give their polite present forms.
• Use a verb with the right particle in a short sentence, such as 밥을 먹어요.
• Recognise the first irregular verbs: 듣다, 걷다, 쓰다, 모르다 and the ㄹ verbs.
• Follow a ten-line conversation built only from A1 words.

Before you start: read how Korean conjugation works, because every verb below is shown in the polite present. Time: about two hours spread over four weeks. Level: A1.

Which Korean Verbs for Beginners Are on the A1 List?

The list holds all 129 A1 entries in the site's verb list: 65 verbs (including 있다 and the copula 이다) and 64 adjectives. The verbs are grouped by situation in the next six sections, and the adjectives follow in one table. A group is small enough to learn in a few days and large enough to build sentences from.

The selection is editorial: it follows learner need, and it is not a frequency list from a corpus. The A1 level means a word you are likely to need in your first months, using the CEFR-style labels explained in Korean verbs by level.

Each table has four columns. The polite present is the 해요체 form you would say to a stranger. The type column says whether the verb is regular, a 하다 verb or irregular, so you meet the exceptions in context. Dictionary pages are linked for each verb. A themed top list of 100 verbs, with a different grouping, is 100 Korean verbs. The first group is the one you will use on day one.

Greeting and Meeting Verbs

These verbs let you meet someone, talk and show feelings. Most are 하다 verbs: you can add 하다 to a noun, as in 인사 (a greeting) + 하다.

Example: 친구를 만나요. (I meet a friend.) uses 만나요, the polite present of 만나다. The next group covers food and money.

Eating, Drinking and Shopping Verbs

These verbs cover meals, buying and giving. Nouns such as 밥 (cooked rice, a meal) and 커피 (coffee) go before them with the object particle 을/를.

Example: 커피를 마셔요. (I drink coffee.) Notice that 마시다 contracts to 마셔요, and 입다 (to wear clothes) is regular: 입어요. The next group moves you around.

Going Places Verbs

These verbs move you from place to place. With 가다 and 오다, the place takes the particle 에: 학교에 가요 (I go to school).

Example: 집에 들어가요. (I go into the house.) The compounds of 가다 and 오다 are the start of a larger family, taught in full on the page about Korean movement verbs. 걷다 is a ㄷ-irregular verb (걸어요). Next come study and work.

Study and Work Verbs

These verbs cover school, work and the mind. 보다 and 듣다 appear here because you use them to learn: you watch and listen.

Example: 한국어를 공부해요. (I study Korean.) 모르다 is a 르-irregular verb (몰라요), and 쓰다 drops its ㅡ (써요). The fourth group is the routine of the day.

Daily Routine Verbs

These verbs describe a day from waking to sleeping. Many are ㄹ-ending verbs (살다, 열다, 놀다), which drop the ㄹ before certain endings.

Example: 일곱 시에 일어나요. (I get up at seven.) The time uses the particle 에. The last group holds four verbs that appear in almost every sentence.

Core Verbs That Appear Everywhere

These four words work as building blocks. 하다 forms hundreds of compound verbs, 되다 means "become", 있다 means "exist" or "have", and 이다 links a noun to a description.

Example: 저는 학생이에요. (I am a student.) uses 이에요, the polite present of 이다. See 이다 conjugation for all forms. Describing words come next.

Which Adjectives Complete the A1 List?

The 64 A1 adjectives describe size, taste, feelings and weather, and they conjugate with the same endings as verbs. Korean adjectives are verbs of state, so 좋다 means "to be good" and not just "good". Each polite present below ends in 요 like a verb.

Eight adjectives in the table, such as 그렇다, 빨갛다 and 노랗다, are ㅎ-irregular, and several (덥다, 춥다, 쉽다) are ㅂ-irregular. The difference between verbs and adjectives is covered in verbs versus adjectives. Now that you have the words, the next question is how they fit into sentences.

Which Five Sentence Patterns Use These Verbs?

Five patterns cover almost every A1 sentence, and each pattern pairs a particle (a small marker after a noun) with a verb. Learn the verb together with its particle and you will use both correctly.

The particles are taught in Korean particles. A ten-line conversation puts the patterns to work.

Can You Follow a Conversation Made Only of A1 Verbs?

You can, and the conversation below uses only A1 verbs and adjectives, with the patterns from the previous section. Read the Korean, check the English, then play each line.

The words 빵 (bread), 커피 (coffee) and 영화 (movie) are nouns, and 몇 시 means "what time". Notice that the polite present does the work of statements, questions and plans, with no change in the verb. Greeting phrases that use these verbs are in Korean greetings.

Which Beginner Verbs Are Irregular?

11 of the 65 A1 verbs are irregular, and they fall into four classes: ㄷ, ㅡ, 르 and ㄹ. They are on the list because you need them in the first weeks, so it helps to meet them early.

Three rules explain the table:

• ㄷ becomes ㄹ before a vowel. 듣다 gives 들어요, and 걷다 gives 걸어요.
• ㅡ drops. 쓰다 gives 써요. With 쓰다, remember that the same word also means "to use", "to wear" (a hat) and "to spend" (money).
• 르 splits and ㄹ drops. 모르다 gives 몰라요. The ㄹ verbs keep their ㄹ before 아/어 (살아요) and lose it before endings that start with ㄴ, ㅂ or ㅅ (사는, 삽니다, 사세요).

The full rules are in Korean irregular verbs. Three pairs of verbs trip up English speakers, so the next section compares them.

Which Beginner Verbs Are Easy to Confuse?

Three groups are easy to confuse because English and Korean divide the meanings differently. The table shows what separates them.

Wrong choices are understood, but they sound odd, so it pays to learn the verb with its usual noun. Now, how long does all of this take?

What Is a Good Four-Week Study Plan?

A good plan spreads the 65 verbs over four weeks, with about 16 new verbs per week. This is an estimate, not a measured result, and you should adjust it to your pace. Three or four new verbs a day, with one review day each week, usually works.

Use the flashcard deck to review. It holds twelve of the most useful verbs, and each card shows the polite present and past on the back. For more decks, see vocabulary flashcards.

To turn the verbs into correct forms, use the present tense recipe. This page does not teach how to build forms from scratch, and it does not cover verbs above A1.

What to Learn Next

Now that you know the Korean verbs for beginners, the next list is elementary Korean verbs. It adds the A2 verbs for travel, shopping, feelings, work and housework, with 하다 verbs and the first transitive and intransitive pairs. If you want a different cut of the same material, 100 Korean verbs groups the most useful verbs by theme. For the section overview, return to Korean verbs by level.

Frequently Asked Questions

What verbs should a beginner learn first? Start with the core verbs 하다, 되다, 있다 and 이다, then the greeting and movement verbs 만나다, 가다 and 오다. Add 먹다, 마시다, 보다 and 공부하다 next. These cover meals, places and study, so you can build sentences such as 밥을 먹어요 and 학교에 가요 within the first week.

How many verbs are in the A1 list? The A1 list on this site has 129 entries: 65 verbs, counting 있다 and the copula 이다, and 64 adjectives. The page covers all of them. The count may grow as the site's verb list grows.

Are irregular verbs included in the beginner list? Yes. The list includes the common irregular verbs 듣다 (들어요), 걷다 (걸어요), 쓰다 (써요), 모르다 (몰라요) and the ㄹ verbs 살다, 알다, 팔다, 열다 and 만들다. Each is marked in the Type column and shown in the irregular table with its past and formal forms.

Is there a flashcard deck for Korean beginner verbs? Yes. A twelve-card deck on this page covers verbs such as 가다, 먹다, 듣다 and 모르다. Each card shows the dictionary form, the meaning and audio, and the back shows the polite present and past. Larger vocabulary decks are listed in the vocabulary flashcards section.

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