Connect in Korean: 잇다 Meaning & Forms

Key Facts

• Hangul: 잇다 (itda)
• Pronunciation: [읻따]
• Meaning: to connect; to link
• Level: B2
• Stem: 잇
• Conjugation class: ㅅ-irregular
• Grammar: transitive

How Do You Say Connect in Korean?

잇다 joins things so they run on continuously. The first sense is physical or visual: 선을 잇다 (to connect a line), and in the example a bridge links two islands. The second is continuing: 말을 잇다 (to carry on speaking) and 전통을 잇다 (to carry on a tradition). What is connected takes 을/를.

It is literary and written. The connector 이어서 means 'and then' or 'next', and teachers use it often when giving instructions.

How Do You Pronounce 잇다?

잇다 is read [읻따]: the final ㅅ becomes ㄷ and the next ㄷ is tensed. Before 고, the same thing happens: 잇고 싶어요 is [읻꼬 시퍼요]. Before ㄴ it becomes [인는]. Vowel endings drop the ㅅ, so 이었어요 sounds like [이어써요].

How Do You Use 잇다 in a Sentence?

이어요 with 다리가: the bridge is the subject and the two islands are the thing connected.

이었어요 with 점을 and 선으로: the children joined dots with a line. 으로 gives the means.

이어서 here means 'continuing on': a request to go on speaking, with the polite 말씀해 주세요. The same form works as the connector 'and then'.

How Does 잇다 Conjugation Work?

ㅅ-irregular: 잇 + 어요 becomes 이어요 and 잇 + 었어요 becomes 이었어요. With 으 endings the stem is 이으: 이으세요, 이으면, 이을 거예요. The ㅅ remains before consonants: 잇습니다, 잇는, 잇지 않아요. The -어서 form is 이어서.

Sound Changes

Common Mistake

Wrong: ✗ 잇어요

Correct: ✓ 이어요

Why: 잇다 is a ㅅ irregular verb: ㅅ drops before a vowel ending, so 잇 + 어요 becomes 이어요. The ㅅ is kept only before consonant endings, as in 잇고 and 잇습니다.

How It Differs from Similar Words

Connecting Dots in a Drawing Lesson

An adult learner is following a teacher's drawing instructions. This practical use of 잇다 gives you a request, an if-form, and a completed action in the past.

Teacher

Learner

Teacher

Learner

점을 names what is connected, and 선으로 gives the means: a line. The learner's 이으면 asks whether that way of connecting is acceptable. The teacher repeats 이으세요 with 나머지 점, “the remaining dots”, and the learner's 다 이었어요 confirms completion. All three forms lose the stem's ㅅ because the ending begins with a vowel.

Which Phrases Extend the Idea of Connecting?

With 말을 잇다, the link is between stretches of speech. A person overcome by emotion may be unable to continue talking. With 전통을 잇다, there may be no physical object joining anything: teaching a craft to the next generation is enough to keep the tradition alive.

가업을 잇다 is more specific than simply getting a job. It concerns continuing the family's business. 생계를 잇다 focuses on supporting everyday life, often with a sense of difficulty. The Korean Learners' Dictionary entry for 잇다 includes these uses of continuing speech, work and a livelihood.

Where Will You See 잇다 outside a Workbook?

In news about a new bridge or road, 잇다 describes a route linking two places. Look for the two endpoints and the connecting structure. A bridge can be the subject, as in the existing island example; a person drawing a line is the subject in the dot example. The verb does not require a human subject.

Profiles of craftspeople may use 전통을 잇다 or 가업을 잇다. The focus is continuity: a person preserves an earlier practice through present work. These are useful phrases for reading cultural news, museum descriptions and interviews about family businesses.

이어서 is also common in spoken announcements and presentations. It introduces what follows, much like “next” or “following that”. Although several uses of 잇다 sound written or literary, a teacher's 이으세요 in a drawing activity is ordinary instruction. Choose the register from the whole phrase rather than treating every occurrence as literary.

Why Do 이으면 and 잇는 Look so Different?

The ending determines whether ㅅ stays. The conditional ending begins with 으, so 잇 becomes 이으 in 이으면. The modifier ending 는 begins with a consonant, so 잇는 keeps the ㅅ in writing. Its changed pronunciation does not mean you should change the spelling to match the sound.

Compare 이은, the completed-action modifier, with 잇는, the present modifier. The first loses ㅅ before a vowel; the second retains it before ㄴ. This difference helps you read descriptions of something already connected versus something that connects two places now.

Keep 잇다 separate from 있다, “to exist” or “to have”. The extra ㅅ changes the word and its conjugation pattern. The polite present 이어요 on this page belongs to connecting; the familiar 있어요 belongs to existence or possession.

Words for Talking about Connections

For the wider set of route and travel words around bridges, use the transportation vocabulary lesson.

Mini Drill: Keep or Drop ㅅ

1. Give the polite past of 잇다.
2. Add the conditional ending to 잇다.
3. Give the present modifier before a noun.
4. Make a polite request to connect: 잇다 → ____.

Quick Self-Test

1. Which form means “connect”: 이어요 or 있어요?
2. Does 전통을 잇다 require physically joining objects?
3. In 점을 선으로 이었어요, what does 으로 identify?

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Polite Present of 잇다?

It is 이어요.

What Does 이어서 Mean?

It is the because-and-then form of 잇다 and works as a connector: 'and then, next'.

Is 잇다 the Same as 연결하다?

Close, but 연결하다 is the common noun-verb for connecting phones and networks, while 잇다 is the native verb for lines, words and generations.

How Do I Say 'to Carry on a Tradition'?

Use 전통을 잇다.

Which Words Are Related to 잇다?

• 짓다
• 붙이다
• 붙다
• 끝나다

What Should You Learn Next?

See 짓다, which shares the same ㅅ pattern, then 붙이다, 붙다 and 끝나다.

The ㅅ-irregular lesson explains the pattern behind 이어요, and the conjugator checks any other form. The dictionary lists the rest.