Mongmareuda Conjugation: 목마르다 Meaning, Forms & Examples

Key Facts

• Hangul: 목마르다 (mongmareuda)
• Meaning: thirsty
• Part of speech: adjective (형용사)
• Level: A2
• Stem: 목마르
• Class: 르-irregular
• Spoken as: [몽마르다]

What Does 목마르다 Mean?

목마르다 is the word for thirsty: 목 is the throat and 마르다 here means dry. 목말라요 is the form you will hear most often. Many speakers write it as two words, 목이 마르다, with 목이 말라요 as the polite present. Both forms are used, and the one-word spelling is the dictionary headword. Someone who is thirsty can be offered a drink: 목마르면 물을 드세요.

How Do You Pronounce 목마르다?

The dictionary form is [몽마르다]: the ㄱ closes the syllable and becomes ㅇ before the ㅁ. The same change happens in 목말라요, which is [몽말라요], and in the past 목말랐어요, which is [몽말라써요]. The formal 목마릅니다 is [몽마름니다], and the long negative 목마르지 않아요 is [몽마르지 아나요].

How Do You Use 목마르다 in a Sentence?

운동을 해서 목말라요 gives the cause, 운동을 해서 ('because I exercised'), then the state of thirst.

목마르면 물을 드세요 uses the conditional and the honorific request 드세요, the respectful way to say 'please drink'.

목마른 사람에게 물을 줬어요 shows the modifier 목마른 before 사람에게, 'to a thirsty person'. 줬어요 means gave.

How Does Mongmareuda Conjugation Work?

Is 목마르다 Regular or Irregular?

목마르다 is a 르 word. When 아/어 follows, the ㅡ of 르 drops and an extra ㄹ joins the syllable in front: 목마르 + 아요 becomes 목말라요. The vowel before 르 is ㅏ, so the ending is 아 and gives 라. In front of consonant endings nothing changes. The 르-irregular lesson covers the full pattern.

Common Mistake with 목마르다

Wrong: ✗ 목마르어요 / 목마러요

Correct: ✓ 목말라요

Why: The 르 rule needs a second ㄹ, so the stem becomes 목말라. Keeping the ㅡ gives 목마르어요, and dropping it without the extra ㄹ gives 목마러요; neither is standard.

목마르다 Versus 배고프다 and 마르다

Stopping for Water after a Walk

Two friends have finished a long walk. One notices that the other is thirsty and offers water. The scene uses the present 목말라요, the reason 목말라서 and the condition 목마르면.

Jisu

Alex

Jisu

Alex

The question needs no word for “you”: the person being asked is clear. In the answer, 목말라서 explains the desire to drink. 마시고 싶어요 carries “want to”, because 마시다 names the action. The adjective 목마르다 supplies the state that motivates it.

What Makes the Spelling and Sound Tricky?

The compound 목마르다 is one word. 목이 마르다 is a phrase with the subject marker 이 after 목, “throat”. It is more than adding a space to the compound: the marker is part of the phrase. The polite phrase is 목이 말라요. Both constructions express thirst naturally.

The two constructions also put different sounds next to ㄱ. In 목마르다, ㄱ comes directly before ㅁ, so the pronunciation is [몽마르다]. In 목이, the following vowel allows the final consonant to link into the next syllable. Keep the spelling 목 in both; a change in sound is not a change in the written noun.

For conjugation, separate the sound change from the 르 rule. The nasal sound at the start is about ㄱ before ㅁ. The doubled ㄹ in 목말라요 is about the ending attached to 르. These happen in different parts of the same word.

The doubled ㄹ appears in 목말라요, 목말랐어요 and 목말라서. It does not spread to every form. 목마르면 keeps 르, and the modifier 목마른 also keeps it. Copying the present-tense shape into all the other cells produces errors.

Compare 목마른 with 목마를 before a noun. The first describes someone already thirsty; the second looks ahead to a possible later state. For identifying a person who needs water now, 목마른 사람 is the useful choice. The modifier follows the state being described, not the English word order.

Which Phrases Express Ordinary or Figurative Thirst?

너무 목말라요 means “I’m so thirsty”. 너무 strengthens the state in an everyday complaint, such as after exercise or a hot journey. It is a report of how the speaker feels, rather than a request for a particular drink. Add a separate request if you want someone to bring water.

목마른 사람 is “a thirsty person”. This modifier appears in the existing example about giving someone water. It identifies the person by their need. You can understand the noun phrase even without a full sentence ending after 목마르다.

사랑에 목마르다 means “to thirst for love”. The thirst is figurative: the person strongly longs for affection. Here 에 introduces what is longed for. In a song, novel or emotional drama scene, look for an abstract noun such as 사랑 before deciding that someone simply needs a drink.

Where Will You Hear 목말라요?

Children and adults say 목말라요 on walks, during meals and after exercise. In a close relationship the casual 목말라 is common. The word can stand alone because the person feeling thirsty is usually obvious. It does not need an English-style “I am” construction.

A café menu normally names drinks rather than the customer’s thirst. In conversation before ordering, 목말라요 explains why someone wants to stop for a drink. 마시다 then names the action of drinking, while 물, 주스 or another drink word supplies what they want.

The drinks vocabulary lesson gives the words to use once you have explained that you are thirsty.

Mini Drill: Where Does ㄹ Double?

1. Make 목마르다 polite in the present.
2. Add the reason ending: “because I’m thirsty”.
3. Give the conditional: “if thirsty”.
4. Complete “a thirsty person”: ____ 사람.

Quick Self-Test

1. Is 목이 마르다 just the compound split by a space?
2. Which verb names the action of drinking?
3. Does 사랑에 목마르다 ask for water?

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Write 목마르다 or 목이 마르다?

Both are used. The one-word spelling is the dictionary headword, and 목이 말라요 is the spaced equivalent.

Why Is the ㄱ Pronounced Like ㅇ?

The ㄱ is followed by ㅁ, which makes it nasal, so 목마르다 is said [몽마르다].

How Do I Say 'Drink Some Water' to a Thirsty Person?

Say 목마르면 물을 드세요.

What Is the Polite Present?

It is 목말라요.

Which Words Are Related to 목마르다?

• 배고프다
• 배부르다
• 마시다
• Korean verb dictionary

What Should You Learn Next?

Pair it with 배고프다, then use 마시다 for the action of drinking. The Korean verb conjugator tests other stems, and the Korean verb dictionary lists the rest of the family.