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The Imperative Posted by on Mar 28, 2010 in Grammar

To form the polite imperative, just use the honorific polite form of the verb.

도우세요! = Please help!

(돕다 = to help)

To give the impression of urgency, place 어서 in front of the verb.

어서 가세요! = Please leave!

(어서 = gives sense of urgency. 가다 = to go)

Other adverbs can be placed in front of the verb:

빨리 오세요! = Come quickly!

(빨리 = quickly. 오다 = to come)

To form the formal imperative negative, use the ending ~지 마세요 :

쓰지 마세요! = Don’t use [it]!

(쓰다 = to use.)

Words that end in 으세요 in the polite imperative like will end in  :

말 좀 들어! = Listen to me!

( = word. = little. 듣다 = to listen. 들으세요 in the polite positive imperative. Phrase literally means, “Listen to a bit of the words”.)

하다 words will end in in the informal imperative :

조용해! = Be quiet!

(조용하다 = to be quiet.)

In the negative informal imperative, add 지마 to the stem of the verb :

하지마! = Don’t do [it]!

(하다 = to do.)

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Comments:

  1. Ta’Qiya:

    I thought 쓰다 meant to write, cause that’s what I learned from Jenny’s class from 99Korean. And she said that there were two ways to say to write, 쓰다 and 적다. Is this correct?