A2
Making adverbs — 게 and 히
How Korean turns adjectives into adverbs with 게, which words take 히 instead, and the irregular forms worth knowing early.
게 attaches to any adjective stem and makes it an adverb. It is completely regular, which makes it the one to reach for.
크게 말해 주세요.
Keuge malhae juseyo.
Please speak up.
맛있게 드세요.
Masitge deuseyo.
Enjoy your meal.
The second is a set phrase — literally eat deliciously — and one of the most useful things to be able to say at a Korean table.
히 is a closed set
A number of adverbs are formed with 히 instead, and there is no rule that predicts which. They are learnt as vocabulary.
| 조용히 | quietly |
| 천천히 | slowly |
| 열심히 | diligently |
| 깨끗이 | cleanly |
| 안녕히 | peacefully |
깨끗이 takes 이 rather than 히, which shows how little the spelling can be relied on.
조용히 해 주세요.
Joyonghi hae juseyo.
Please be quiet.
Some adverbs are their own words
빨리 (quickly), 잘 (well), 많이 (a lot), 일찍 (early). These are not derived from anything and have to be learnt directly.
빠르게 오세요.
빨리 오세요.
빠르게 is grammatical and 빨리 is the word people use. Where a dedicated adverb exists, it wins over the 게 form.
잘 is the one to notice: 잘 해요 (do it well), 잘 몰라요 (don’t really know).
Position
Adverbs go before the verb, but not necessarily immediately before it, and Korean tends to put them early.
어제 아주 열심히 공부했어요.
Eoje aju yeolsimhi gongbuhaesseoyo.
I studied very hard yesterday.