보내다 (bonaeda) Conjugation: Meaning, Forms & Examples

Key Facts

• Hangul: 보내다 (bonaeda)
• Meaning: to send; to spend (time)
• Level: A1
• Stem: 보내
• Conjugation class: regular
• Object marking: transitive

What Does 보내다 Mean?

Common meanings:

• to send. Used for sending things or messages: 선물을 보내다, 문자를 보내다.
• to spend (time). Also used for spending time: 주말을 보내다.

With things or messages, 선물을 보내다 and 문자를 보내다 mean send. With time, 주말을 보내다 means spend the weekend. The object takes 을/를, and the receiver takes 에게 or 한테. The wish 잘 보내세요 means 'have a good time'.

Takes an object with 을/를; the receiver takes 에게/한테.

Everyday combinations include: 문자를 보내다 (send a text), 시간을 보내다 (spend time).

A message, a gift or an email is something you send; a weekend or a stretch of time is something you spend. Both take 을/를. The farewell 잘 보내세요 uses the honorific to wish someone a good time, often at the end of a chat about weekend or holiday plans.

How Do You Pronounce 보내다?

How Do You Use 보내다 in a Sentence?

보내요 with 친구에게 and 선물을: the receiver is marked by 에게.

보냈어요 with 주말을 and 가족과 (with family): the spending-time sense.

보낼 거예요 with 내일 and 이메일을: a plan to send.

How Does Bonaeda Conjugation Work?

보내다 is regular. The stem ends in ㅐ, so 보내 + 어요 contracts to 보내요 and the past is 보냈어요. Other endings: 보냅니다, 보내세요, 보내는.

Sound Changes

Common Mistake

Wrong: ✗ 친구를 편지를 보내요

Correct: ✓ 친구에게 편지를 보내요

Why: The receiver takes 에게/한테, and only the thing sent takes 을/를. Learners mark both nouns with 을/를 because English says "send my friend a letter" with no preposition.

How It Differs from Similar Words

Checking an Email before the Weekend

Two coworkers finish a task on Friday. One checks whether the file has been sent, then they wish each other a good weekend.

Mina

Jisu

Mina

Jisu

보냈어요 checks and confirms a completed action. 보내세요 then switches to a wish about spending time well. No one is sending the weekend anywhere. The object changes from an email or file to a period of time, and that change explains the different English translations.

Common Phrases with 보내다

문자를 보내다, 이메일을 보내다 and 사진을 보내다 mean sending a text, an email and a photo. These are everyday combinations, including in conversations where the messaging app is already understood. You can name the recipient with 에게/한테, or leave the person out when both speakers know where the message is going.

시간을 보내다 means to spend time. 휴가를 보내다 means to spend a vacation, and 좋은 시간을 보내다 means to have a good time. The time word takes the object marker just like a message does. A place marked with 에서 can tell the listener where that time was spent.

주말 잘 보내세요 is a common Friday farewell. 연휴 잘 보내세요 extends the same wish to a run of holidays. These are wishes for the listener’s upcoming time, not promises that the speaker will arrange activities. A friendly reply can repeat 잘 보내세요 and add the other person as the topic.

Where Will You See or Hear 보내다?

Messaging apps and email interfaces use 보내기 for “Send”. The 기 ending makes an action name suitable for a button. 보낸 메일 means sent mail, using the past modifier 보낸. Recognizing these forms helps you connect the screen label with the spoken report 보냈어요.

At a post office, 보내다 applies to letters and parcels. A person can be marked with 에게, while a place or address can take 로/으로 to show the destination. The object marker stays on the thing sent. Naming the destination does not change the verb’s conjugation.

보내다 can also have a person as its object. 아이를 학교에 보내다 means to send a child to school. The child is the person being sent; 학교에 gives the destination. This is different from sending the child a gift, where the child is the recipient and would take 에게 or 한테.

In conversation about a trip or holiday, 보내다 often concerns the experience rather than transport. Listen for the object before translating it as “send”. A weekend, vacation or period of time points to spending time; an email, parcel or person points to sending.

What Makes 보내다 Tricky?

The stem ends in 내, not 나. The polite present is 보내요, and the past is 보냈어요. Keep the ㅐ when writing the past. The tense marker sits inside 냈, while the rest of the verb remains recognizable. The formal 보냅니다 also starts from the same 보내 stem.

In the future plan 보낼 거예요, ㄹ attaches to 보내 and 거예요 remains separate. In the past modifier 보낸, ㄴ attaches instead. Compare 보낸 이메일, an email someone sent, with 보낼 이메일, an email someone will send. These short modifiers can carry the timing without a separate sentence.

The person receiving a message is different from the person being sent somewhere. 친구에게 선물을 보내요 sends a present to a friend. A person marked with 를 would instead be what or whom you send. The existing common-mistake example is therefore a meaning problem, not merely an optional change of particle.

For money, 보내다 describes sending or transferring it, while 쓰다 describes spending it. The “spend” meaning of 보내다 belongs to time. Learning 시간을 보내다 as a whole phrase prevents the English word “spend” from pulling money into the wrong pattern.

See business email vocabulary for message and attachment words.

Mini Drill: Sending Forms

1. Give the polite present of 보내다.
2. Give the polite past for a message already sent.
3. Give the future plan form.
4. Complete “sent email” using the past modifier: ____ 이메일.

Quick Self-Test

1. What does 주말 잘 보내세요 mean?
2. What does 보내기 on an email button mean?
3. Can the time-spending meaning of 보내다 be used for spending money?

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does 잘 보내세요 Mean?

It means "have a good time" (for example, have a good weekend). It uses the honorific polite form 보내세요.

How Do I Say "I Spent the Weekend with My Family"?

Say 주말을 가족과 보냈어요. The time you spend takes 을/를, just like a thing you send.

Which Particle Marks the Person Who Receives Something?

Use 에게 or 한테 (친구에게 선물을 보내요). 을/를 goes only on the thing sent.

What Can You Send with 보내다?

Messages, texts, emails and gifts, such as 문자를 보내다 or 선물을 보내다. With a time word as the object, 보내다 means to spend that time.

Which Words Are Related to 보내다?

• 받다
• 주다
• 지내다
• 전화하다

What Should You Learn Next?

Continue with 받다 for the receiving side and 지내다 for living through a period. The conjugation rule is in the polite present recipe, any form can be checked in the Korean verb conjugator, and the full list is in the Korean verb dictionary.