Key Facts
- Hangul: 데우다 (deuda)
- Meaning: to heat up
- Level: B1
- Syllables: 3 (데 · 우 · 다)
- Stem: 데우
- Conjugation class: regular
- Object marking: transitive
- Polite present: 데워요
What Does 데우다 Mean?
What is heated takes 을/를 (우유를 데워요).
Rice and soup that were already cooked are the natural things to warm up, often in the microwave: 전자레인지에 데우다. Milk is the other everyday case, as in 우유를 데워요. Do not mix up the action with the temperature: 뜨겁다 says something is hot, while 데우다 is what you do to make it hot. Bringing liquid to a boil is a different verb, 끓이다.
How Do You Pronounce 데우다?
Deuda has 3 syllables (데 · 우 · 다) and is said as it is spelled.
How Do You Use 데우다 in a Sentence?
우유를 데워요.
I warm up milk.
데워요 is the polite present form.
국을 데웠어요.
I heated up the soup.
데웠어요 is the polite past form.
밥을 데우면 맛있어요.
If you heat up the rice, it tastes good.
데우면 is the if (conditional) form.
Usage Notes
The three examples are all kitchen jobs: milk, soup and rice. In the conditional, 밥을 데우면 맛있어요 says warming the rice makes it taste good. The verb is mostly used for food and drinks that are already made; cooking raw ingredients takes other verbs. The adjective 뜨겁다 only describes the result, and 얼리다 goes the other way.
How Does Deuda Conjugation Work?
데우다 is regular: 우 and the ending 어 contract to 워, giving 데워요 and 데웠어요.
The pattern behind 데우다 (to heat up) is taught step by step in polite present recipe.
데우다
| Form | Korean | Romanization | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polite present | 데워요 | ||
| Polite past | 데웠어요 | ||
| Polite future (plan) | 데울 거예요 | ||
| Polite future (intention or guess) | 데우겠어요 | ||
| Formal present | 데웁니다 | ||
| Formal past | 데웠습니다 | ||
| Formal future | 데울 것입니다 | ||
| Casual present | 데워 | ||
| Casual past | 데웠어 | ||
| Casual future | 데울 거야 | ||
| Want to (polite) | 데우고 싶어요 | ||
| Honorific polite | 데우세요 | ||
| Because / and then | 데워서 | ||
| If (conditional) | 데우면 | ||
| Present modifier (before a noun) | 데우는 | ||
| Past modifier (before a noun) | 데운 | ||
| Future modifier (before a noun) | 데울 | ||
| Negative with 안 (short) | 안 데워요 | ||
| Negative (long form) | 데우지 않아요 |
Before a noun, 데우다 (to heat up) becomes 데우는 (present) or 데운 (past); as a link between clauses it is 데워서 for 'because' and 데우면 for 'if'.
Sound Changes
| Form | Korean | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Polite past | 데웠어요 | [데워써요] |
| Future (plan) | 데울 거예요 | [데울꺼예요] |
| Future (guess) | 데우겠어요 | [데우게써요] |
| Formal present | 데웁니다 | [데움니다] |
| Formal past | 데웠습니다 | [데웓씀니다] |
| Formal future | 데울 것입니다 | [데울꺼심니다] |
| Casual past | 데웠어 | [데워써] |
| Casual future | 데울 거야 | [데울꺼야] |
| Want to | 데우고 싶어요 | [데우고 시퍼요] |
| Long negative | 데우지 않아요 | [데우지 아나요] |
Common Mistake
Wrong (in speech): ✗ 데우어요
Correct: ✓ 데워요
Why: 우 + 어 contracts to 워. The full form 데우어요 can appear in writing, but in speech and everyday spelling the polite form is 데워요.
데우다 Versus Similar Words
| Word | How it differs |
|---|---|
| 끓이다 | 끓이다 is to bring liquid to a boil. |
| 뜨겁다 | 뜨겁다 is an adjective meaning 'is hot', the result rather than the action. |
| 얼리다 | 얼리다 is to freeze, the opposite direction. |
Reheating Lunch in the Office Kitchen
Two coworkers are sharing the microwave. One has finished warming soup, and the other is waiting with rice.
Jisu
국을 데웠어요?
Gugeul dewosseoyo?
Did you heat up the soup?
Alex
네. 이제 밥을 데울 거예요.
Ne. Ije babeul deul geoyeyo.
Yes. Now I’m going to heat up the rice.
Jisu
밥을 데우면 같이 먹어요.
Babeul deumyeon gachi meogeoyo.
Let’s eat together once you’ve heated up the rice.
The past checks on the soup, the future names the next task, and the conditional connects warming the rice with eating together. Here 데우면 is naturally translated “once you’ve heated it up”. The context describes an expected step, rather than an uncertain possibility.
Combinations Used for Reheating
다시 데우다 means “heat up again” or “reheat”. 다시 is written separately and tells you the warming is being repeated. 밥을 데우다 often means reheating cooked rice even without 다시, because cooked rice is the natural object in that setting.
살짝 데우다 means to warm something lightly. 살짝 limits the degree of heating, so the speaker wants a little warmth rather than a very hot result. This is useful with milk or a drink. It does not name a temperature or a cooking time.
전자레인지에 데우다 means to heat something in a microwave. The microwave takes 에 as the appliance used for warming, while the food takes 을/를. A recipe can name both, but conversation often leaves out the food when everyone can see the container.
Where Will You Hear 데우다?
A convenience-store worker may ask whether you want your food warmed. In that situation the food is usually already prepared. The practical question concerns whether it should be heated before you eat it, rather than whether the worker should cook a fresh meal.
At home, 데우다 appears around leftovers, cold rice, and soup from the fridge. The verb names an action with heat; it does not guarantee that the result is evenly warm or very hot. To describe the result, use an adjective such as 따뜻하다, “to be warm”, or 뜨겁다, “to be hot”.
On prepared-food instructions, 데우다 can appear alongside an appliance and a time. The time comes from the particular product. The verb itself gives no timing rule, and it does not tell you which container belongs in which appliance.
데우다 is neutral vocabulary, so the same verb works at home or in a shop. 데우세요 is a polite instruction to warm something; it does not by itself offer to warm it for the listener. The subject of the instruction is the person who will do the heating.
Why Is 데워요 Regular?
데우다 already has 우 in its stem. Adding 어 makes the contracted 워 in 데워요. There is no final ㅂ to remove, so this is different from a ㅂ-irregular adjective such as 뜨겁다. Similar-looking polite endings can come from different stems.
Compare 데워요 with 데우면 and 데우는. The latter endings do not begin with 어, so 우 stays visible. The future 데울 거예요 also keeps 우 within 울. Learning these forms together helps you recognize the dictionary form when a recipe uses a different ending.
데운 밥 means rice that has been warmed. 데우는 describes warming that is ongoing or habitual. The past modifier reports that someone has performed the heating; it does not promise the rice is still hot by the time you eat it.
Words around the Microwave
| Korean | Meaning | Useful note |
|---|---|---|
| 전자레인지 | microwave | The appliance frequently named with 데우다. |
| 냉장고 | refrigerator | Where food may have been kept before reheating. |
| 따뜻하다 | to be warm | Describes a temperature rather than the heating action. |
| 식다 | to cool down | Describes hot food losing heat on its own. |
See cooking vocabulary for other actions used before serving a meal.
Mini Drill: Keep the Right Stem
- Give the polite present of 데우다.
- Give the conditional form.
- Complete “rice that has been warmed”: ____ 밥.
- Give the long negative from the table.
Show drill answers
- 데워요.
- 데우면.
- 데운 밥.
- 데우지 않아요.
Quick Self-Test
- Does 데우다 always mean bringing a liquid to a boil?
- Is 데우다 a ㅂ-irregular verb?
- What does 살짝 add to 살짝 데우다?
Show answers
- No. 끓이다 names bringing it to a boil.
- No. Its stem is 데우, with no final ㅂ.
- It asks for light warming rather than strong heating.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Say 'I Warm up Milk' in Korean?
우유를 데워요. What is heated takes 을/를.
How Is 데우다 (to heat up) Different from 끓이다?
끓이다 brings liquid to a boil; 데우다 only warms food or a drink that is already made.
How Is 데우다 (to heat up) Different from 뜨겁다?
뜨겁다 is an adjective that says something is hot; 데우다 is the action that makes it warm.
Is 데우어요 Correct Korean?
It is the uncontracted form and is not used in normal speech. Say 데워요: 우 + 어 contracts to 워.
What Is the Polite past of 데우다?
For 'to heat up', the polite past is 데웠어요; the polite present is 데워요 and the formal present is 데웁니다.
How Do You Say 'Not Heat up' with 데우다?
For 'not heat up', the short negative is 안 데워요 and the long one is 데우지 않아요.
Which Words Are Related to 데우다?
- 끓이다 (to boil)
- 얼리다 (to freeze)
- 뜨겁다 (hot)
- 차갑다 (cold)
- Korean verb dictionary
What Should You Learn Next?
Try other forms of 데우다 in the Korean verb conjugator, then continue with 끓이다 (to boil). More entries like 데우다 (to heat up) sit together in the Korean verb dictionary.