Key Facts
- Hangul: 찌다 (jjida)
- Meaning: to steam
- Level: B1
- Stem: 찌
- Conjugation class: regular
- Particles: What is steamed takes 을/를 (만두를 쪄요); in 살이 찌다 the subject is 살이.
What Does 찌다 Mean?
찌다 means to cook with steam, as in 만두를 찌다. What is steamed takes 을/를. Gaining weight is 살이 찌다, where 살이 is the subject; dictionaries treat it as a separate word, but the forms are identical. It sits among cooking verbs beside 삶다 for boiling in water, 굽다 for grilling or baking, and 끓이다 for boiling a liquid or soup.
How Do You Pronounce 찌다?
The dictionary form has 2 syllables and is read as written. The initial ㅉ is a tense sound, which Revised Romanization shows as jj. In the polite present 찌 and 어 fuse into one syllable, so 쪄요 is spoken [쩌요] and the past 쪘어요 gets a tense ending, [쩌써요]. The formal 찝니다 sounds like [찜니다].
How Do You Use 찌다 in a Sentence?
만두를 쪄요.
I steam dumplings.
만두를 marks the dumplings, and 쪄요 is the polite present. The single syllable 쪄 replaces 찌어.
감자를 쪘어요.
I steamed potatoes.
감자를 쪘어요 is the past. The ㅆ is part of the past marker.
고구마를 찌면 달아요.
If you steam sweet potatoes, they are sweet.
고구마를 찌면 달아요 gives a condition and a result: steamed sweet potatoes taste sweet.
How Does Jjida Conjugation Work?
찌다 is regular. The vowel ㅣ plus 어 contracts to 쪄, giving 쪄요, 쪘어요 and 쪄서. A consonant ending needs no change: 찌면, 찌는, 찔. The same forms serve both senses, steaming and gaining weight. Plain written style, as in a recipe description, uses 찐다.
찌다
| Form | Korean | Romanization | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polite present | 쪄요 | ||
| Polite past | 쪘어요 | ||
| Polite future (plan) | 찔 거예요 | ||
| Polite future (intention or guess) | 찌겠어요 | ||
| Formal present | 찝니다 | ||
| Formal past | 쪘습니다 | ||
| Formal future | 찔 것입니다 | ||
| Casual present | 쪄 | ||
| Casual past | 쪘어 | ||
| Casual future | 찔 거야 | ||
| Want to (polite) | 찌고 싶어요 | ||
| Honorific polite | 찌세요 | ||
| Because / and then | 쪄서 | ||
| If (conditional) | 찌면 | ||
| Present modifier (before a noun) | 찌는 | ||
| Past modifier (before a noun) | 찐 | ||
| Future modifier (before a noun) | 찔 | ||
| Negative with 안 (short) | 안 쪄요 | ||
| Negative (long form) | 찌지 않아요 |
Sound Changes
| Form | Korean | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Polite present | 쪄요 | [쩌요] |
| Polite past | 쪘어요 | [쩌써요] |
| Plan future | 찔 거예요 | [찔꺼예요] |
| Guess future | 찌겠어요 | [찌게써요] |
| Formal present | 찝니다 | [찜니다] |
| Formal past | 쪘습니다 | [쩓씀니다] |
| Formal future | 찔 것입니다 | [찔꺼심니다] |
| Casual present | 쪄 | [쩌] |
| Casual past | 쪘어 | [쩌써] |
| Casual future | 찔 거야 | [찔꺼야] |
| Want to | 찌고 싶어요 | [찌고 시퍼요] |
| Because | 쪄서 | [쩌서] |
| Short negative | 안 쪄요 | [안 쩌요] |
| Long negative | 찌지 않아요 | [찌지 아나요] |
Common Mistake
Wrong: ✗ 찌어요 (in everyday speech)
Correct: ✓ 쪄요
Why: 찌어요 is the full, uncontracted form. Spelling rules accept it, but in speech and everyday writing 찌 + 어 contracts to one syllable, so the form you say is 쪄요.
How It Differs from Similar Words
| Word | How to tell it apart |
|---|---|
| 삶다 | 삶다 is to boil food in water, which differs from steaming above the water. |
| 굽다 | 굽다 is to grill or bake. It uses dry heat or flame. |
| 끓이다 | 끓이다 is to boil a liquid or soup. |
Steaming Dumplings for Dinner
Two housemates are preparing dinner. One asks about the dumplings, then checks whether the potatoes are already cooked. The exchange uses the present, past and a future plan.
Mina
만두를 쪄요?
Mandureul jjyeoyo?
Are you steaming the dumplings?
Jun
네. 감자도 쪘어요.
Ne. Gamjado jjyeosseoyo.
Yes. I steamed potatoes too.
Mina
저는 고구마를 찔 거예요.
Jeoneun gogumareul jjil geoyeyo.
I am going to steam sweet potatoes.
만두를 marks the food being steamed. In 감자도, 도 means “too” and replaces the object marker in this sentence. 찔 거예요 describes the next cooking plan; keep a space between 찔 and 거예요. All three forms come from 찌다, despite their different shapes.
Phrases in Recipes, Menus and Daily Talk
만두를 찌다, 감자를 찌다 and 고구마를 찌다 name foods commonly cooked with steam. The food takes 을/를 because someone is cooking it. 찌다 tells you the method; it does not tell you the seasoning, filling or whether the food was fresh or frozen.
찐 감자 means “steamed potatoes,” and 찐 고구마 means “steamed sweet potatoes.” 찐 is the past modifier from 찌다, used before the food noun to describe the cooked result. In a recipe title or a food label, a short noun phrase can therefore contain the cooking information that English puts in “steamed.”
살이 찌다 means “to gain weight.” This is a separate meaning with the same conjugation. Here 살이 is the subject, so no food object is being steamed. Compare 만두를 쪘어요, “I steamed dumplings,” with 살이 쪘어요, “I gained weight.” The particle and the noun do most of the work of separating the meanings.
The weight phrase can be sensitive when directed at someone else. A neutral cooking question about 쪘어요 is ordinary kitchen talk; a question about another person’s weight may feel personal. Recognizing the second meaning helps you follow a conversation without treating it as a useful greeting or casual compliment.
Where Will You Encounter 찌다?
Cooking videos often describe a procedure with the plain written present 찐다. A spoken explanation may instead use 쪄요. These describe the same method in different styles. When following a recipe, distinguish steaming above water from 삶다, where the food cooks in water, and 굽다, where dry heat cooks it.
On menus, 찜 is a related dish name. Menu names do not always map neatly onto one English cooking method: dishes called 찜 can involve simmering or braising as well as steaming. A recipe’s instructions give more precise information about the process than a dish name alone.
찌다 does not specify a safe cooking time. A sentence such as 만두를 쪄요 identifies the action but leaves out quantity, heat and duration. When translating a recipe, keep those instructions alongside the verb; do not infer them from the dictionary meaning.
Kitchen Words to Learn with 찌다
| Related word | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 찜기 | steamer | Holds food for steaming. |
| 김 | steam | In a kitchen context, this is the visible steam. |
| 뚜껑 | lid | A recipe may tell you when to cover the pot. |
| 삶다 | to boil food | The food cooks in water rather than above it. |
The cooking vocabulary lesson groups tools and methods used in recipes.
Why Do 쪄요 and 찝니다 Look so Different?
The contraction happens with 어: 찌 plus 어 gives 쪄. It does not change the stem for every ending. 찝니다 attaches the formal ending to 찌, and 찌면 attaches 면 directly. Replacing every 찌 with 쪄 would produce the wrong forms before those endings.
The initial ㅉ remains tense in every form. It is part of the verb, not emphasis added by the speaker. In 쪘어요, the final ㅆ marks the past; it is separate from the initial ㅉ. Keep these two spelling jobs apart when moving between 쪄요 and 쪘어요.
찌는 describes the ongoing method before a noun, while 찐 describes the cooked result. The difference is useful when reading a sentence about steaming equipment versus a label for food that is already steamed. Both forms keep the original 찌 stem rather than the contracted 쪄.
Mini Drill: Practice the Forms
- Make 찌다 polite present.
- Change 만두를 쪄요 to the polite past.
- Give “if you steam” using the conditional.
- Complete “steamed potatoes”: ____ 감자.
Show drill answers
- 쪄요. 찌 and 어 contract.
- 만두를 쪘어요. The past adds ㅆ.
- 찌면. The stem stays 찌 before 면.
- 찐 감자. 찐 describes the cooked result.
Quick Self-Test
- What is the object in 만두를 쪄요?
- Does 살이 쪘어요 concern steaming?
- Which verb usually describes boiling food in water: 찌다 or 삶다?
Show answers
- 만두, the dumplings being steamed.
- No. It uses the separate weight-gain meaning.
- 삶다. 찌다 describes cooking with steam.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Say I Steam Dumplings?
Say 만두를 쪄요.
Does 찌다 Also Mean to Gain Weight?
Yes, in the phrase 살이 찌다.
Why Is the Polite Form 쪄요?
찌 and 어 contract into one syllable, 쪄.
Which Verb Boils Soup?
끓이다 boils a liquid or soup.
Which Words Are Related to 찌다?
What Should You Learn Next?
Compare 삶다, 굽다 and 볶다 to cover the main cooking methods. The pattern behind 찌다 is covered in how to conjugate Korean verbs in the present tense; to check any other form, open the Korean verb conjugator, or browse the Korean verb dictionary.