Key Facts
- Hangul: 걸리다 (geollida)
- Meaning: to take (time); to get caught
- Level: A2
- Part of speech: verb
- Stem: 걸리
- Conjugation class: Regular
- Grammar: The thing that takes time or gets caught takes 이/가; the illness or trap takes 에 (감기에 걸리다), not 을/를.
- Honorific polite: 걸리세요
- Usage: Extremely common for travel time: 얼마나 걸려요? asks how long it takes. Illnesses use 걸리다 for colds and flu (감기, 독감).
What Does 걸리다 Mean?
- to take (time): Says how long something takes, e.g. 한 시간 걸려요 (it takes an hour).
- to get caught; to catch (an illness): Used for being caught by something or catching an illness, e.g. 감기에 걸리다 (to catch a cold).
- to hang (be hung): Describes something hanging on a wall, e.g. 벽에 그림이 걸려 있어요.
걸리다 describes something that happens to the subject rather than something the subject does. That explains its three meanings. The first is time: 한 시간 걸려요 means "it takes an hour", and 얼마나 걸려요? asks how long it takes. The second is being caught by something, above all an illness. Colds and flu use it: 감기에 걸리다. The third is hanging, as in 벽에 그림이 걸려 있어요, a picture on a wall.
Because the subject does not control the event, the thing that takes time or gets caught takes 이/가. The illness or trap takes 에, so the person is the one who gets caught by it.
Which Set Phrases Use 걸리다?
- 얼마나 걸려요?: The standard question for travel time.
- 감기에 걸리다: To catch a cold, with 에 on the illness. 독감 (flu) works the same way.
- 시간이 오래 걸리다: To take a long time; the time word is the subject.
How Do You Pronounce 걸리다?
걸리다 is read as spelled. The past 걸렸어요 is [걸려써요], with the tensed ㅆ, and the formal 걸립니다 sounds like [걸림니다]. The future 걸릴 거예요 is [걸릴꺼예요].
How Do You Use 걸리다 in a Sentence?
학교까지 삼십 분 걸려요.
It takes thirty minutes to get to school.
삼십 분 is the amount of time, and 학교까지 sets the destination with 까지 (up to). No person is the subject; the trip itself takes the time.
어제 감기에 걸렸어요.
I caught a cold yesterday.
감기에 shows the illness marked with 에. English says "I caught a cold", and the Korean idea is that you were caught by it.
시간이 오래 걸리면 전화할게요.
If it takes a long time, I will call you.
The if-form 걸리면 introduces a condition, and 전화할게요 is the promise that follows. 오래 (a long time) goes with 걸리다 very naturally.
How Does Geollida Conjugation Work?
걸리다 is regular. The stem 걸리 ends in ㅣ, and ㅣ + 어 contracts to ㅕ, so the polite present is 걸려요 and the past is 걸렸어요. Formal 걸립니다 and the if-form 걸리면 keep the stem whole.
걸리다
| Form | Korean | Romanization | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polite present | 걸려요 | ||
| Polite past | 걸렸어요 | ||
| Polite future (plan) | 걸릴 거예요 | ||
| Polite future (intention or guess) | 걸리겠어요 | ||
| Formal present | 걸립니다 | ||
| Formal past | 걸렸습니다 | ||
| Formal future | 걸릴 것입니다 | ||
| Casual present | 걸려 | ||
| Casual past | 걸렸어 | ||
| Casual future | 걸릴 거야 | ||
| Honorific polite | 걸리세요 | ||
| Because / and then | 걸려서 | ||
| If (conditional) | 걸리면 | ||
| Present modifier (before a noun) | 걸리는 | ||
| Past modifier (before a noun) | 걸린 | ||
| Future modifier (before a noun) | 걸릴 | ||
| Negative with 안 (short) | 안 걸려요 | ||
| Negative (long form) | 걸리지 않아요 |
No want-to cell is given for 걸리다: you cannot decide to be caught or to take time, so the -고 싶다 ending is not normally used.
Sound Changes
| Form | Korean | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Polite past | 걸렸어요 | [걸려써요] |
| Polite future | 걸릴 거예요 | [걸릴꺼예요] |
| Polite future guess | 걸리겠어요 | [걸리게써요] |
| Formal present | 걸립니다 | [걸림니다] |
| Formal past | 걸렸습니다 | [걸렫씀니다] |
| Formal future | 걸릴 것입니다 | [걸릴꺼심니다] |
| Casual past | 걸렸어 | [걸려써] |
| Casual future | 걸릴 거야 | [걸릴꺼야] |
| Long negative | 걸리지 않아요 | [걸리지 아나요] |
Common Mistake with 걸리다
Wrong: ✗ 감기를 걸렸어요.
Correct: ✓ 감기에 걸렸어요.
Why: 걸리다 marks the illness with 에, not 을/를. The person is the one who gets caught by the cold, so the cold is not treated as an object.
What Is Easy to Confuse with 걸리다?
| Word | How to tell it from 걸리다 |
|---|---|
| 잡다 | 잡다 is the active verb to catch or grab something; 걸리다 is the passive-like 'be caught' or 'take (time)'. |
| 필요하다 | 필요하다 says time or things are needed; 걸리다 says how much time actually passes. |
Planning the Walk to a Station
Two friends are deciding when to leave. Mina asks for a duration, Jisu gives a past journey as a reference, and Mina checks whether the same estimate applies today. The forms are 걸려요, 걸렸어요 and 걸릴 거예요.
Mina
역까지 얼마나 걸려요?
Yeokkkaji eolmana geollyeoyo?
How long does it take to get to the station?
Jisu
어제는 십 분 걸렸어요.
Eojeneun sip bun geollyeosseoyo.
Yesterday it took ten minutes.
Mina
오늘도 십 분 걸릴 거예요?
Oneuldo sip bun geollil geoyeyo?
Will it take ten minutes today too?
까지 marks the destination, while 십 분 gives the time spent reaching it. Jisu reports an actual past walk, not a guarantee about today's conditions. The future question makes that distinction explicit.
Time, Illness and Things That Get Caught
시간이 걸리다 means “to take time”. Add 오래 for a long duration, or a specific amount such as 한 시간 for an hour. A question with 얼마나 asks for the amount of time. It does not ask the arrival time on a clock: “ten minutes” and “at ten o'clock” answer different questions.
감기에 걸리다 means “to catch a cold”. English makes the cold sound like something you catch; Korean presents the person as affected by the illness. The past 감기에 걸렸어요 reports catching it. Depending on context, the person may still have the cold now, so a past ending does not announce recovery.
문에 걸리다 can describe something catching on a door. Here 걸리다 is literal: movement is stopped by an obstruction. In stories, 경찰에 걸리다 can mean getting caught by the police. The noun with 에 tells you what catches or affects the subject; there is no need to force a time meaning onto every use.
마음에 걸리다, literally something like “to catch on the mind”, means that something bothers you or stays on your conscience. A forgotten promise might keep troubling someone. This is figurative, unlike a bag strap catching on a door, and it is different from saying that a task takes time.
Where Will You Encounter 걸리다?
Travel conversations and service desks use duration phrases such as 삼십 분 걸려요 or the formal 삼십 분 걸립니다. The same pattern can describe a repair, preparation or a wait. Listen for the task being discussed: the verb measures the time it takes, without naming the task by itself.
Health conversations use the illness pattern, while room descriptions can use 걸려 있어요 for an object hanging in place. In 벽에 그림이 걸려 있어요, the picture is already hanging. Someone actively putting it up would use the related verb 걸다, “to hang something”. The object in place and the person placing it need different sentence patterns.
One Spelling Trap: the Stem Ends in 리
The ㄹ in 걸리다 belongs before the final 리; it is not a stem-final ㄹ. This verb therefore does not follow the ㄹ-drop pattern. The present contraction joins 리 and 어 into 려, giving 걸려요. The formal 걸립니다 keeps 리 and adds ㅂ니다.
| Related word | Meaning | Why you need it |
|---|---|---|
| 시간 | time; hour | Names the duration or time being discussed. |
| 분 | minute | Used with Sino-Korean numbers for a duration. |
| 감기 | cold | Takes 에 with the illness sense of 걸리다. |
| 걸다 | to hang something | Describes actively placing what 걸리다 describes as hanging. |
The transportation vocabulary lesson helps you name the journey when asking how long it takes.
Mini Drill: Time and Illness
- Give the polite past of 걸리다.
- Complete the illness marker: 감기____ 걸렸어요.
- Give the conditional “if it takes time”: 시간이 ____.
- Give the polite future estimate with 거예요.
Show drill answers
- 걸렸어요.
- 감기에 걸렸어요.
- 시간이 걸리면.
- 걸릴 거예요.
Quick Self-Test
- Does 얼마나 걸려요 ask for a duration or a clock time?
- Does 감기에 걸렸어요 necessarily mean the cold has gone away?
- Is 마음에 걸리다 usually about a physical obstruction?
Show answers
- A duration, such as 십 분.
- No. It reports catching the cold; the speaker may still be ill.
- No. It describes something troubling you or staying on your conscience.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Ask How Long Something Takes?
Say 얼마나 걸려요? The answer repeats the verb: 삼십 분 걸려요.
Which Particle Follows the Illness?
Use 에: 감기에 걸렸어요, never 감기를 걸렸어요.
What Is the Polite Present of 걸리다?
걸려요. The stem's ㅣ merges with 어 into ㅕ.
Is 걸리다 the Same as 잡다?
No. 잡다 is the active verb to catch or grab. 걸리다 is the passive-like be caught, or take time.
Which Words Are Related to 걸리다?
What Should You Learn Next?
Practise the time pattern with 얼마나 걸려요?, then add 기다리다 for waiting and 지나가다 for passing time. The illness meaning pairs well with other health words you may already know. For the rule behind these forms, read how ㅣ stems become ㅕ, then try another stem in the Korean verb conjugator or browse the Korean verb dictionary.