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ㅎ Ending Words Posted by on Apr 2, 2010 in Grammar, Korean Language

A lot of color words have the ending. For example, 빨갛다 (red) falls in this category. There are other words that are not color words that have a ending. 그렇다 (to be in that way, to be like that) is another example

In the standard polite present tense form 그렇다 will be 그래요. Drop the and the and change the 어 vowel in  to , which will become . The past tense of 그렇다 will be 그랬어요.

In the deferential polite present tense form 그렇다 will be 그렇습니다. Drop the in 그렇다 and add 습니다. In the past tense it’ll be 그랬습니다.

In the honorific polite 그렇다 will be 그러세요. Drop the and and add 세요. The past tense will be 그러쎴어요.

The honorific deferential of 그렇다 will be 그러십니다. Drop the and and add 십니다. The past tense will be 그러셨습니다.

Other words that will have conjugation changes like 그렇다 are :

이렇다 (to be in this way, to be like this)

저렇다 (like that, that way)

노랗다 (yellow)

하얗다 (white)

However, just because a word ends in doesn’t mean that it will be conjugated like 그렇다. Words like 많다 (to be many, to be a lot), 싫다 (to dislike), 좋다 (to like) will not conjugate like 그렇다. They will conjugate in the normal manner. For example 많다 in the standard polite present tense form will be 많아요.

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