Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 3 - Korean for Beginners #2 (Lessons 61 to 90) ᚛ Lesson 63 - The neutral style in Korean, the style written [-(ㄴ/는)다]

The neutral style in Korean, the style written [-(ㄴ/는)다]

In this course: 다 / ㄴ다 / 는다 / ㄴ가 / 은가 / 는가

Until now, we've studied three styles of politeness that are chosen depending on whom we are speaking to. However, some sentences aren't intended for a particular person and therefore do not need a style of politeness. For this type of sentence, the neutral style is used.

Conjugation of the neutral style in the present tense

The neutral style is not always conjugated in the same way. It depends on whether the verb used is a descriptive verb (adjective) or an action verb.

With descriptive verbs and 이다

Using the neutral style with present tense descriptive verbs is very simple. Basically, one simply uses the infinitive form.

The descriptive verb 맛있다 (= to be delicious) has the neutral present tense form 맛있다.
The descriptive verb 예쁘다 (= to be pretty) has the neutral present tense form 예쁘다.

With action verbs

To conjugate an action verb in the neutral style in the present tense, one proceeds in the following manner:

If the stem ends in a vowel: [Stem]ㄴ다
If the stem ends in a consonant: [Stem]는다

The action verb 가다 (= to go) has 가, which ends in a vowel, for its stem, so we add ㄴ다.

가다 → 간다. (= I go.)

The action verb 먹다 (= to eat) has 먹, which ends in a consonant, for its stem, so we add 는다.

먹다 → 먹는다. (= I eat.)