Korean Casual Conjugation: Dropping 요 and Using 야

What you will be able to do after this lesson

• Convert a polite present form to its casual form by dropping 요, including 가요 to 가 and 몰라요 to 몰라.
• Use 이야, 야 and 아니야 for the copula.
• Form the casual past and future: 먹었어, 먹을 거야, 먹을래 and 먹을게.
• Decide when casual speech is safe and when to stay polite.

Before you start: read the present tense recipe, because casual forms start from the polite present. Time: about 30 minutes. Level: A1.

How Does Korean Casual Conjugation Work?

You make a Korean verb casual by building its polite present and then removing the final 요. The result is the casual form, called 해체 (haeche) in Korean grammar and 반말 (banmal, "half speech") in everyday speech. Two steps are enough:

1. Build the polite present. 먹다 gives 먹어요 (stem 먹 + 어요).
2. Remove 요. 먹어요 gives 먹어.

The same two steps work for verbs and adjectives, regular and irregular. The irregular change happens in step 1, so step 2 never changes:

The casual form is shorter than the polite form by one syllable, and the meaning is the same. What changes is the relationship between the speakers. The tone of casual speech is intimate or direct, which is why you must know who you are talking to before you use it. The next section shows the rule on 20 words.

Which Forms Change When You Drop 요?

All 20 forms in the table follow the same rule, and the only change is the missing 요. The table covers regular verbs, adjectives, contraction cases and four irregular classes.

Three points make the table easy to use:

• Contractions stay. 와요 becomes 와, 봐요 becomes 봐, 줘요 would become 줘, and 돼요 becomes 돼. The merged vowel is not undone.
• Irregular changes stay. 몰라요 becomes 몰라 and not 모르아. 들어요 becomes 들어, and 추워요 becomes 추워. Step 1 has already applied the class rule.
• The same form means more than one thing. 알아 can mean "I know" or "do you know?" Intonation and context separate the two, which the next section covers.

Pronunciation follows the spelling in these words, with linking of final consonants: 먹어 is pronounced [머거], and 있어 is [이써]. The irregular forms are in Korean irregular verbs. The only common place where the rule does not work is the copula, and it needs its own section.

What Is the Casual Form of 이다 and 아니다?

The casual form of 이다 is 이야 after a noun that ends in a consonant and 야 after a noun that ends in a vowel, and the casual form of 아니다 is 아니야. These are the one common case where you do not simply drop 요, because the polite 이에요/예요 is a fused form. Dropping its 요 would leave 이에, which is not the casual form.

The past follows the same logic: 학생이었어 (consonant noun) and 의사였어 (vowel noun) are the casual pasts of 학생이었어요 and 의사였어요, and 아니었어 is the casual past of 아니었어요. The word 야 also appears after names when you call someone, as in 민수야!, and that is a different use of the same sound. The full copula pattern is in 이다 conjugation.

The copula exception is small. The bigger question is how one casual form can carry so many meanings.

How Can One Casual Form Be a Statement, a Question, a Command and a Suggestion?

One casual form can be a statement, a question, a command or a suggestion, and context and intonation decide which. Korean casual speech does not change the verb for each function the way English changes word order. Take 먹어:

Question words make a question obvious without a rising tone: 뭐 먹어? ("What are you eating?") and 어디 가? ("Where are you going?"). For a clearer suggestion, Korean has the separate ending -자, as in 가자 ("let's go"), which belongs to the casual-only endings covered below. Intonation is the hardest thing for synthetic voices to carry, so read the punctuation as well as listening.

Learners often treat a command in casual speech as rude. A short command like 먹어 is direct, and between friends that is normal, while a stranger would find it abrupt. This is the first reason to know the social rules. The tenses come next.

What Are the Casual past and Future Forms?

The casual past is the polite past without 요, and the casual future is 거야 where the polite future has 거예요. Both follow the same dropping rule, with one small exception in the future: 거예요 contains the copula (거 + 예요), so it follows the copula rule and becomes 거야, not 거예.

Two other casual endings express what the speaker wants or promises, and they are built by adding to the stem, not by dropping 요:

• -(으)ㄹ래 states what you plan or want to do, and asks the same of someone else. 나 갈래 ("I'll go" or "I feel like going"), 뭐 먹을래? ("What do you want to eat?").
• -(으)ㄹ게 makes a promise or commits to an action for the listener. 내가 갈게 ("I'll go" or "I'll be there"), 먼저 먹을게 ("I'll eat first").

The polite forms of these two are 갈래요 and 갈게요, so dropping 요 gives 갈래 and 갈게. They use ㄹ after a vowel stem and 을 after a consonant stem, exactly as the future does. The full set of endings is in Korean sentence endings. The social side comes next, because grammar alone does not tell you when to use these forms.

Who Can You Use Casual Speech With?

You can use casual speech with people who are close to you and equal or younger, and you should use polite speech with everyone else. This is a teaching guideline for English speakers and not a fixed rule, because Korean speakers also take age, setting and the relationship into account.

Casual speech is generally safe with:

• close friends of similar age, once both of you are comfortable;
• younger people who are friends or who you know well;
• young children;
• family members, where practice varies from family to family.

Stay polite with:

• strangers, including people who look younger than you;
• people older than you, unless they invite you to relax;
• teachers, managers and clients;
• shop staff, restaurant staff and anyone you pay for a service.

In Korean, someone who is older or senior may invite you to relax with a phrase like 말 편하게 하세요 ("please speak comfortably"). Until you hear this, polite speech is safer. If you are unsure, polite speech seldom offends, while unexpected casual speech often does. The full social explanation is in Banmal, and the form you start from is described in polite speech. The page how to make banmal casual speech covers how casual speech works as a speech level and what changes besides the ending. This page converts polite forms to casual forms verb by verb, including 이야 and 아니야.

When Does Dropping 요 Not Work?

Dropping 요 fails in three situations: the copula, the honorific -(으)세요 and the formal endings that never had a 요. In every other polite sentence the rule works. The last two rows show spelling slips, not exceptions.

The honorific case deserves a sentence: casual speech and honorific endings are rarely used together, because honorifics show respect and casual speech shows closeness. A speaker might still say 어디 가셔? to an older relative at home, but a learner can skip this combination at first.

The formal endings -ㅂ니다 and -습니다 have no casual version made by dropping, since they are a different style. For the form you start from, use formal conjugation. One more group of casual forms comes from dramas and everyday speech.

What Casual Endings Will You Hear in Dramas?

Most casual endings are polite endings without 요, and a few of them are very common. Learning them by ear helps with the tone of casual speech.

Each of these has its own lesson, and the group is described in Korean sentence endings. Notice that -죠 is a short form of -지요, so its casual form is -지, not -조. This lesson only introduces them. When you can recognise them, practise the rule.

Practice: Can You Make These Casual?

Convert each polite form to its casual form. Answers follow the quiz.

1. 마셔요
2. 몰라요
3. 공부해요
4. 학생이에요
5. 갔어요
6. 먹을 거예요
7. 아니에요
8. 돼요

Answers to the Practice

1. 마셔. The ㅣ + ㅓ merge stays.
2. 몰라. The 르-irregular change stays.
3. 공부해. The 하다 verb keeps 해.
4. 학생이야. The copula needs 이야 after a consonant.
5. 갔어. The fused syllable 갔 stays.
6. 먹을 거야. 거예요 becomes 거야.
7. 아니야. The copula needs 야.
8. 돼. 되 alone is the stem, not a finished form.

If you missed more than two, return to the table of 20 pairs, then to the copula section. You can check any form with the Korean verb conjugator.

What to Learn Next

Now that you know Korean casual conjugation, the next form is the formal style. Formal conjugation builds 합쇼체 with -ㅂ니다 and -습니다, and covers ㄹ stems, irregular stems, questions, past and imperatives. For the social side of casual speech, read Banmal. If you want to see casual forms next to the other four forms for 50 words, use the verbs conjugation list.

This lesson covers how to form casual verbs and adjectives, but not every casual-only ending or the grammar of 반말 in writing. The forms follow the standard orthography of the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원), and the advice on whom to speak casually with is a guideline and not a rule of grammar.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make Korean casual? Build the polite present, then remove the final 요. 먹어요 becomes 먹어, 가요 becomes 가, and 몰라요 becomes 몰라. The copula is the exception: 이에요/예요 becomes 이야/야, and 아니에요 becomes 아니야. The casual past and future follow the same rule, giving 먹었어 and 먹을 거야.

Is dropping 요 always correct in Korean? No. It works for polite present and past forms, but not for the copula, where 학생이에요 becomes 학생이야 and not 학생이에. The honorific 가세요 does not become 가세, and formal endings such as 갑니다 have no 요 to drop. In most other polite sentences the rule is correct.

What is the casual form of 이에요? The casual form of 이에요 is 이야 after a noun that ends in a consonant, as in 책이야, and 야 after a noun that ends in a vowel, as in 의사야. The polite 예요 also becomes 야. The negative 아니에요 becomes 아니야. Dropping the 요 from 이에요 would leave 이에, which is not used.

What is the casual past tense in Korean? The casual past is the polite past without 요. 갔어요 becomes 갔어, 먹었어요 becomes 먹었어, and 했어요 becomes 했어. For the copula, 학생이었어요 becomes 학생이었어, and 의사였어요 becomes 의사였어. Rising intonation turns any of these into a question, so 먹었어? asks "Did you eat?"

When should I avoid casual speech in Korean? Avoid casual speech with strangers, people older than you, teachers, managers, clients and shop or restaurant staff, unless they invite you to relax. A phrase like 말 편하게 하세요 is such an invitation. Casual speech suits close friends, younger friends and children. When unsure, stay polite.

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