Most Important Basic Korean Grammar Patterns

Most Basic Korean Verb Endings

1. 입니다, 이에요/예요 – Is/am/are
2. 있다 – To have, To exist and 없다 – Not to have, To not exist
3. V + 아요/어요 or ㅂ니다/습니다 – Present tense verb ending
4. V + 았어요/었어요 – Past Tense Verb Ending
5. V + 겠어요 and V + (으)ㄹ 거예요 – Future Tense Ending
6. V + 지 않아요/ 않았어요/않을 거예요 – Negative Verb Endings (Don’t, Didn’t, Won’t)
7. V + 지 못 해요/ 했어요/할 거예요 – Negative Verb Endings (Can’t, Couldn’t, Won’t be able to)
8. 안/못 + Verb안 + V + Ending = Do Not; 못 + V + Ending = Cannot
9. V + 죠/지요  – Isn’t it? (used for confirmation)– 잖아요 – As you know/You know that …..
10. V + 고 있다 – V + ing
11. V + 고 싶다 – Want to V
12. V+ (으)세요/십시오 – Please do.. / Making a Request
13. V + 아/어 보다 – To try doing …
14. V + 아/어 주다 – To do .. for someone
15. Adj+아/어지다  – To become/get …
16. -(으)ㄹ 수 있다/없다 – Can/Can’t
17. -(으)ㄹ까요? – Shall we ..?
18. -(으)ㅂ시다 – Let’s do ..
19. V + 게 됐어요 – Happened to do
20. V + 아야/어야 해요 and V + 아야/어야 돼요have to/ need to/ must Do ..
21. -아도/어도 돼요 (It’s ok to …)(Asking for/granting permission)-(으)면 돼요 (You just have to…), You can just do..(으)려고 하다 Intend/Plan to do something(으)기로 했어요 – Decided to do..
22. Modifiers – V + (으)ㄴ – Past; V + 는 – Present; V + (으)ㄹ – future; Adj. + (으)ㄴ
23. V/Adj + Modifier + 것 같아요- It seems like, looks like
24. -라고/다고/자고/냐고 하다– Indirect Speech

Most Basic Korean Connectors

1. V + 고 + V  – V + and + Verb
2. V + 지만 – I do V But
3. N 보다 – Than N
4. V + 아서/어서 – And (Sequence), So (Reason)
5. N + 때문에  and V + 기 때문에 – Because, So (Used to express reason)
6. V + (으)니까 – Because, So (Used to express reason but mainly with commands, request or proposals)
7. Adj + (으)ㄴ데 and V + 는데 –   but…, Used to express background information
8. V + (으)러 –  in order to do .., For doing … (Used with verbs come/go)
9. V + (으)려고 + Verb – To do … in order to do .. (Can be used with any verb)
10. N + 때 and V – (으)ㄹ 때 – At the time of …, When..
11. Time + 동안 – During .., For the duration of ..
12. V + (으)면 – If, When
13. V + 았/었으면 좋겠다 – I hope/wish/desire
14. V+ (으)면서 – While doing ..
15. V + 기 전에 – Before doing …
16. V + (으)ㄴ 후에 – After doing ..
17. N + 에 대해서/대해 + Verb and N + 에 대한 + Noun  – About something
18. N + 을/를 위해서/위해 and V + 기 위해서/위해 – In order to do, For the sake of
19. 그리고 – and
20. 그래서 – So
21. 그러면 – Then, In that case
22. 그러니까 – That’s why, For that reason
23. 그러나, 그런데, 그렇지만, 하지만 – But

In case you find your grammar skills a little rusty, you can check this course on Udemy – Korean Grammar for Beginners Course (A special discount coupon is embedded for TOPIK GUIDE readers). The course which has 50 video lectures explaining these most important Korean grammar particles, verb endings and connectors.