Twigida Conjugation: 튀기다 Meaning, Forms & Examples

Key Facts

• Hangul: 튀기다 (twigida)
• Meaning: to deep-fry
• Part of speech: verb (동사)
• Level: B1
• Stem: 튀기
• Class: regular
• Objects: transitive

What Does 튀기다 Mean?

튀기다 is the verb behind 튀김 and fried chicken: food goes into hot oil and comes out crisp. What is fried takes 을/를, as in 감자를 튀겨요. It is for deep frying only; stir-frying in a pan with a little oil is a different verb, 볶다. The word is B1, so it appears once cooking vocabulary opens up.

Senses:

• to deep-fry. Fry food in plenty of oil: 닭을 튀기다.

How Do You Pronounce 튀기다?

The first syllable 튀 is a glide, said like 'twee' in a quick sound: t, w, then i. The polite past 튀겼어요 is said [튀겨써요], and the formal present 튀깁니다 is said [튀김니다], because ㅂ turns into ㅁ before ㄴ. The plan form 튀길 거예요 is said [튀길꺼예요].

How Do You Use 튀기다 in a Sentence?

집에서 닭을 튀겨요 gives the place with 에서 and the food with 을. The polite present 튀겨요 states what the speaker does at home.

감자를 튀겼어요 is a simple past report. 튀겼어요 is the contracted past, in which the stem and the ending merge into 겼.

기름에 튀기면 바삭해요 is a condition: 기름에 gives the medium, and 튀기면 attaches 면 to the stem.

How Does Twigida Conjugation Work?

튀기다 is regular. The syllable 기 merges with 어 into 겨, so the polite present is 튀겨요, the past is 튀겼어요 and the reason form is 튀겨서. Endings that begin with a consonant keep the full stem: 튀기면, 튀기는, 튀긴, 튀길 and 튀깁니다. In the table, only the 아/어 endings change shape.

Sound Changes

Is 튀기다 Regular or Irregular?

튀기다 has no irregular behaviour. The stem ends in a vowel, so it does not drop or add anything, and the only change is 기 + 어 turning into 겨. If you know 튀겨요, you can build the same pattern for any verb ending in 기다. See the polite present recipe.

Common Mistake with 튀기다

Wrong: ✗ 튀기어요 (unnatural)

Correct: ✓ 튀겨요

Why: In everyday Korean 기 and 어 join into 겨, so the polite present is 튀겨요. The unmerged 튀기어요 sounds stiff and bookish, so use the contracted form in speech and normal writing.

튀기다 Compared with 볶다, 굽다 and 튀다

Frying, grilling and splashing oil all look alike in English, but Korean keeps them apart by cooking method.

Making Dinner at Home

Jisu

Minho

Jisu

The first question asks about today's food. The reply contrasts present 튀겨요 with past 튀겼어요, and the last line uses 튀기고 싶어요 to express a wish. The food stays the object in all three patterns. 뭘 is a conversational contraction of 무엇을, “what” with the object marker.

From the Cooking Action to the Menu Name

튀김 names fried food or a category of fried dishes. 튀기다 names the action that produces it. At a snack stall, a label such as 오징어튀김 means fried squid; you are reading the name of something to order. In a recipe, 튀기세요 tells the reader to deep-fry something. The noun and verb answer different questions: what is the dish, and what do you do to cook it?

The phrase 기름에 튀기다 literally means “fry in oil”. Here 에 identifies the cooking medium. In 집에서 닭을 튀겨요, 에서 identifies the location of the cooking. A kitchen and oil can therefore both appear in the same description without having the same grammatical role.

튀긴 감자 means “deep-fried potatoes”. The modifier 튀긴 presents the potatoes as already fried. 튀기는 사람 means “the person who is frying”; 튀기는 describes the action associated with that person. These short forms are useful in food descriptions because the cooking method appears before the thing being described.

Where Will You Meet 튀기다?

Cooking videos, recipes and conversations about homemade food use 튀기다. A recipe may use the polite instruction 튀기세요, while a friend reporting dinner uses 튀겼어요. A menu is more likely to show the dish noun 튀김 than a complete sentence with the verb.

바삭하게 튀기다 means “to fry until crisp” or “to fry crisply”. 바삭하게 describes the desired texture. 노릇하게 튀기다 means “to fry until golden”. These are cooking collocations, with literal meanings: one points to texture and the other to color. Neither expression by itself specifies a temperature or cooking time.

The question of cooking method matters when translating English “fried”. Potatoes immersed in oil fit 튀기다. Vegetables moved around a pan with a little oil fit 볶다. An English menu label alone may not tell you which Korean verb to use; picture how the dish is cooked.

Keep the Stem, Contraction and Spaces Straight

튀겨요 changes the appearance of the vowel, but that is ordinary contraction rather than an irregular stem change. Compare 튀기면: because 면 does not begin with 어, there is nothing to contract. The stem remains 튀기. The same distinction explains why 튀겨서 has 겨 but 튀기고 싶어요 keeps 기.

Write 안 튀겨요 with a space after 안. In 튀기지 않아요, 지 attaches to the verb and 않아요 is separate. The two negatives deny the frying action; they do not mean that a different person is frying. In 튀길 거예요, 거예요 is also separate. These spaces make the negative and future expressions easier to recognize in recipes and messages.

Cooking Words to Learn Alongside 튀기다

The cooking vocabulary lesson groups cooking actions and kitchen words.

Mini Drill: Build the Frying Forms

1. Say “I deep-fried” politely.
2. Give the “if” form of 튀기다.
3. Put 튀기다 into the short negative.
4. Complete “deep-fried potatoes”: ____ 감자.

Quick Self-Test

1. What does 튀김 name: an action or fried food?
2. Which verb suits vegetables stir-fried with a little oil?
3. In 기름에 튀기다, what does 에 mark?

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 튀기다 Transitive?

Yes. What is fried takes 을/를, as in 감자를 튀겨요.

What Is the Polite past of 튀기다?

튀겼어요, said [튀겨써요].

Can I Use 튀기다 for Stir-Frying?

No. Stir-frying with little oil is 볶다. 튀기다 is for frying in plenty of oil.

How Do I Say 'If You Deep-Fry It'?

Say 기름에 튀기면 바삭해요. The oil takes 에, and the whole sentence means that deep-fried food gets crispy.

Which Words Are Related to 튀기다?

• 굽다
• 볶다
• 끓이다
• 찌다

What Should You Learn Next?

Continue through the cooking verbs with 굽다, 볶다 and 찌다. Try other verbs in the Korean verb conjugator, or browse the Korean verb dictionary.