Key Facts
- Hangul: 짓다 (jitda)
- Pronunciation: [짇따]
- Meaning: to build; to make (a name, a meal)
- Level: B1
- Stem: 짓
- Conjugation class: ㅅ-irregular
- Grammar: transitive
What Does 짓다 Mean?
짓다 is more specific than 만들다. It has three clusters of meaning. The first is building: 집을 짓다 (to build a house). The second is naming and cooking rice: 이름을 짓다 and 밥을 짓다. The third is composing and expressing: 시를 짓다 (to compose a poem) and 웃음을 짓다 (to smile). What is made takes 을/를.
Most of these are set phrases, so learn them as chunks.
How Do You Pronounce 짓다?
짓다 is read [짇따]: the final ㅅ is said as ㄷ and the following ㄷ is tensed. The same applies before 고 and 지, as in 짓지 않아요, said [짇찌 아나요]. Before ㄴ, ㅅ becomes ㄴ, so 짓는 is said [진는]. Vowel endings pull the ㅅ away, so 지었어요 sounds like [지어써요].
How Do You Use 짓다 in a Sentence?
사람들이 큰 집을 지어요.
People are building a big house.
지어요 with 사람들이 and 큰 집을: people are building a large house.
아기 이름을 지었어요.
We named the baby.
지었어요 with 아기 이름을: a baby has been given a name.
새로 지은 집이 예뻐요.
The newly built house is pretty.
지은 before 집이 describes a house that was built recently. The past modifier is 지은, with no ㅅ.
How Does Jitda Conjugation Work?
ㅅ-irregular stems lose ㅅ before vowels and keep it before consonants. 짓 + 어요 becomes 지어요, and the past is 지었어요. With 으 endings the stem appears as 지으: 지으세요, 지으면, 지을 거예요. Consonant endings keep ㅅ: 짓습니다, 짓는, 짓지 않아요.
짓다
| Form | Korean | Romanization | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polite present | 지어요 | ||
| Polite past | 지었어요 | ||
| Polite future (plan) | 지을 거예요 | ||
| Polite future (intention or guess) | 짓겠어요 | ||
| Formal present | 짓습니다 | ||
| Formal past | 지었습니다 | ||
| Formal future | 지을 것입니다 | ||
| Casual present | 지어 | ||
| Casual past | 지었어 | ||
| Casual future | 지을 거야 | ||
| Want to (polite) | 짓고 싶어요 | ||
| Honorific polite | 지으세요 | ||
| Because / and then | 지어서 | ||
| If (conditional) | 지으면 | ||
| Present modifier (before a noun) | 짓는 | ||
| Past modifier (before a noun) | 지은 | ||
| Future modifier (before a noun) | 지을 | ||
| Negative with 안 (short) | 안 지어요 | ||
| Negative (long form) | 짓지 않아요 |
Sound Changes
| Form | Korean | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Polite past | 지었어요 | [지어써요] |
| Future plan | 지을 거예요 | [지을꺼예요] |
| Future guess | 짓겠어요 | [짇께써요] |
| Formal now | 짓습니다 | [짇씀니다] |
| Formal past | 지었습니다 | [지얻씀니다] |
| Formal future | 지을 것입니다 | [지을꺼심니다] |
| Casual past | 지었어 | [지어써] |
| Casual future | 지을 거야 | [지을꺼야] |
| Want to | 짓고 싶어요 | [짇꼬 시퍼요] |
| Modifier now | 짓는 | [진는] |
| Long negative | 짓지 않아요 | [짇찌 아나요] |
Common Mistake
Wrong: ✗ 짓어요
Correct: ✓ 지어요
Why: 짓다 is a ㅅ irregular verb: ㅅ drops before a vowel ending, so 짓 + 어요 becomes 지어요. A regular verb would keep its final consonant here, but 짓다 loses the ㅅ in front of a vowel.
How It Differs from Similar Words
| Word | How to tell it from 짓다 |
|---|---|
| 만들다 | 만들다 is the general word for making anything; 짓다 is for houses, names, rice, poems and some fixed phrases. |
| 세우다 | 세우다 is to set up or erect something upright (a statue, a plan); 짓다 is to construct a house or building. |
Choosing a Name for a Baby
Two relatives discuss a baby's name before the parents have chosen one. The same verb appears as a noun modifier, a conditional and a wish.
Mina
아기 이름을 짓는 게 어려워요.
Agi ireumeul jinneun ge eoryeowoyo.
Choosing a name for the baby is difficult.
Alex
이름을 지으면 알려 주세요.
Ireumeul jieumyeon allyeo juseyo.
Please tell me when you choose the name.
Mina
네. 좋은 이름을 짓고 싶어요.
Ne. Joeun ireumeul jitgo sipeoyo.
Yes. I want to choose a good name.
짓는 게 turns the action of naming into the topic of the first sentence. 지으면 places the announcement after the name is chosen. 짓고 싶어요 expresses a wish while keeping the written ㅅ before 고. Here “make a name” means choosing the name itself, rather than becoming famous.
Which Nouns Naturally Go with 짓다?
집을 짓다 means “to build a house.” The object is the building produced by the work. Buying a finished house is a different action, so 짓다 does not simply mean obtaining a home. News about construction and descriptions of a newly built home often use this collocation.
밥을 짓다 means “to cook rice.” 밥 can mean a meal elsewhere, but this pairing commonly focuses on preparing rice itself. It is useful when reading about rice cookers or home cooking. For making an entire dinner with several dishes, a general cooking expression can be clearer.
시를 짓다 means “to compose a poem.” The product is a piece of writing rather than a physical structure. 짓다 emphasizes creating it. This use helps explain why a single English gloss such as “build” does not cover every object the Korean verb takes.
웃음을 짓다 means “to smile.” Literally the expression is “make a smile.” It is common in written descriptions of someone's reaction, such as a character's response in a story. 웃음 is the expression produced; the phrase does not imply that the person constructed an object or necessarily laughed aloud.
표정을 짓다 means “to make a facial expression.” The surrounding description identifies the expression as surprised, sad or something else. This is another set pairing: recognizing 표정 before 짓다 helps you choose an English translation about someone's face rather than about building.
Where Will You See 짓다?
Housing reports and property descriptions use 짓다 for construction. Family conversations use it for names. Recipes and rice-cooker discussions use it for rice. Stories use it for smiles and facial expressions. The noun before the verb often resolves the meaning before you reach the ending.
만들다 covers many kinds of making, but 짓다 is not a replacement for every instance of “make.” A sandwich or a phone app normally calls for another expression. Learn the established noun-and-verb pairs so that the broad English meaning does not lead you to extend 짓다 to every new object.
짓습니다 is formal, while 지어요 suits ordinary polite conversation. The form changes with the ending, not with whether you are discussing a building or a baby. There is no special naming conjugation and no separate rice-cooking conjugation.
Why Do 지은 and 짓는 Look so Different?
지은 집 is a house that has been built; 짓는 집 is a house being built or one someone builds. The past modifier 은 starts with a vowel, so the ㅅ disappears. The present modifier 는 starts with a consonant, so the ㅅ stays written. The difference tells you both the irregular pattern and the timing of the building.
In 지으면 and 지으세요, the 으 remains after ㅅ drops. Do not shorten the spelling simply because the stem now appears to end in a vowel. These are established ㅅ-irregular forms, not forms built by starting over from a new dictionary verb 지다.
The audible change in 짓는 is separate from the spelling change in 지은. In 짓는 the consonant remains written even though pronunciation changes before ㄴ. In 지은, the ㅅ is absent in the written form itself. Check which ending follows before deciding whether to preserve it.
| Related word | Meaning | Useful distinction |
|---|---|---|
| 만들다 | to make | Covers a wider range of objects. |
| 이름 | name | 이름을 짓다 means choosing or creating a name. |
| 밥 | cooked rice or a meal | 밥을 짓다 commonly refers to cooking rice. |
| 웃음 | a smile or laughter | 웃음을 짓다 describes producing a smile. |
The cooking vocabulary lesson gives the surrounding kitchen words for the rice-cooking sense.
Mini Drill: Keep or Drop ㅅ?
- Give the polite present of 짓다.
- Complete “a newly built house”: 새로 ____ 집.
- Complete “a house being built”: ____ 집.
- Give the conditional meaning “if someone builds or names.”
Show building and naming answers
- 지어요.
- 새로 지은 집.
- 짓는 집. The consonant stays before 는.
- 지으면. Keep 으 after dropping ㅅ.
Quick Self-Test
- Does 밥을 짓다 normally mean cooking rice or buying a meal?
- What does 웃음을 짓다 describe?
- Can 짓다 replace 만들다 for every object?
Reveal the self-test answers
- Cooking rice.
- Smiling, often in a written account of someone's reaction.
- No. Use 짓다 with its established objects and collocations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Polite Present of 짓다?
It is 지어요.
How Do I Say 'to Name a Baby'?
Use 이름을 짓다, as in 아기 이름을 지었어요.
Can I Use 만들다 Instead of 짓다?
For a general 'make', yes. For houses, names, rice and poems, 짓다 is the natural choice.
Which Other Verbs Follow the Same ㅅ Pattern?
잇다 and 낫다 do, but plenty of other ㅅ-ending verbs stay regular.
Which Words Are Related to 짓다?
What Should You Learn Next?
Compare 만들다, then look at 낫다, 붓다 and 잇다, which share the ㅅ pattern.
The ㅅ-irregular lesson explains the pattern behind 지어요, and the conjugator checks any other form. The dictionary lists the rest.