Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 5 - Intermediate Korean #2 (Lessons 121 to 150) ᚛ Lesson 129 - Causative verbs in Korean [사동사]

Causative verbs in Korean [사동사]

In this lesson, we are going to talk about causative verbs (사동사 in Korean), that is, verbs that cause something for someone through an action.

Causative verbs in English

In English, we do not really think in terms of causative verbs. Instead, we generally use different verbs, new vocabulary words.

Let’s take the sentence "The baby eats."

In everyday life, a baby rarely eats a meal on its own. Instead, it is for example a parent who feeds the baby. The parent therefore causes the baby to eat; thanks to the parent, the baby eats.

The verbs "to eat" and "to feed" thus have this relationship where one creates the cause of the other. We then say that "to feed" is the causative verb of "to eat".

A great many examples of this kind exist:

"to kill" is the causative verb of "to die", because killing someone causes their death.
"to save" is the causative verb of "to live", because saving someone causes them to live.
"to inform" is the causative verb of "to know", because informing causes knowing.
… etc.

In English, it is also common to use the verb "to make" to express the fact that an action causes something for someone.

"to make (someone) cry" is the causative verb of "to cry".
"to make (someone) sit down", or "to seat", is the causative verb of "to sit down".
"to make (someone) laugh" is the causative verb of "to laugh".
… etc.

In English, we have never really been aware of this kind of relationship because it is totally invisible in everyday life, a verb and its associated causative verb generally being two completely different words that we learned naturally (to eat / to feed, to see / to show, to rise / to raise), or structures that we use without realizing it.

However, in Korean, verbs are closely linked to their associated causative verb.

Causative verbs in Korean

General rule

There are a huge number of causative verbs in Korean, and making an exhaustive list of them would be complex. However, the causative verb associated with a verb generally follows the following pattern:
[Stem][Infix]다

The majority of causative verbs consist of adding an infix after the stem of a verb.

Let’s look at a few examples:

If we add the infix -이- to the verb 먹다 (= to eat), we get the verb 먹이다 (= to cause to eat, to feed)
If we add the infix -리- to the verb 알다 (= to know), we get the verb 알리다 (= to cause to know, to inform)
If we add the infix -추- to the verb 늦다 (= to be late), we get the verb 늦추다 (= to cause to be late, to delay)

A problem then arises: how do we know which infix to add to the base verb to get its causative verb? There are in fact a few infixes that you need to learn in order to create new verbs.

The infix -이-

먹다 (= to eat) has the causative verb 먹이다 (= to feed)
보다 (= to see) has the causative verb 보이다 (= to show, to make visible)
줄다 (= to decrease, to shrink) has the causative verb 줄이다 (= to reduce, to make smaller)
녹다 (= to melt) has the causative verb 녹이다 (= to melt something)
죽다 (= to die) has the causative verb 죽이다 (= to kill)
끓다 (= to boil) has the causative verb 끓이다 (= to boil something)
높다 (= to be high) has the causative verb 높이다 (= to raise, to make higher)
붙다 (= to be stuck on, to be attached) has the causative verb 붙이다 (= to stick, to attach)
속다 (= to be fooled, to be deceived) has the causative verb 속이다 (= to fool, to deceive)
…

The infix -히-

입다 (= to put on, to wear) has the causative verb 입히다 (= to dress someone)
읽다 (= to read) has the causative verb 읽히다 (= to make someone read, to have someone read aloud)
앉다 (= to sit down) has the causative verb 앉히다 (= to seat someone)
좁다 (= to be narrow) has the causative verb 좁히다 (= to narrow)
넓다 (= to be wide) has the causative verb 넓히다 (= to widen)
눕다 (= to lie down) has the causative verb 눕히다 (= to lay someone down)
굽다 (= to be bent) has the causative verb 굽히다 (= to bend)
식다 (= to cool down) has the causative verb 식히다 (= to cool something down)
맞다 (= to be right (for an answer)) has the causative verb 맞히다 (= to get the right answer)
…

The infix -기-

벗다 (= to take off a piece of clothing) has the causative verb 벗기다 (= to undress someone)
웃다 (= to laugh) has the causative verb 웃기다 (= to make someone laugh)
씻다 (= to wash oneself) has the causative verb 씻기다 (= to wash someone or an animal)
감다 (= to wash one’s hair) has the causative verb 감기다 (= to wash someone’s hair)
신다 (= to wear on one’s feet) has the causative verb 신기다 (= to put shoes on someone)
남다 (= to remain, to be left over) has the causative verb 남기다 (= to leave, to set aside)
맡다 (= to take charge of, to look after) has the causative verb 맡기다 (= to entrust, to leave in someone’s charge)
옮다 (= to move over, to be transferred) has the causative verb 옮기다 (= to move something, to relocate, to transfer)
숨다 (= to be hidden, to hide oneself) has the causative verb 숨기다 (= to hide, to conceal)
…

The infix -리-

The infix -리- only concerns verbs whose stem ends in ㄹ or 르.

울다 (= to cry) has the causative verb 울리다 (= to make someone cry)
알다 (= to know) has the causative verb 알리다 (= to inform)
살다 (= to live) has the causative verb 살리다 (= to save)
얼다 (= to freeze) has the causative verb 얼리다 (= to freeze something)
늘다 (= to increase, to grow) has the causative verb 늘리다 (= to increase something)
돌다 (= to turn) has the causative verb 돌리다 (= to turn something, to spin)
날다 (= to fly) has the causative verb 날리다 (= to fly something, to make fly)
…

Note that verbs whose stem ends in 르 present an exception:

오르다 (= to go up) has the causative verb 올리다 (= to raise something, to upload)
마르다 (= to be dry) has the causative verb 말리다 (= to dry)
흐르다 (= to flow) has the causative verb 흘리다 (= to spill, to shed)
…