Present Tense -아요/어요

Korean verbs change their endings to express tense and politeness. The polite present-tense ending you'll use most in everyday conversation is "-ayo/eoyo."

Conjugation Rule

Drop "-da" from the dictionary form to find the stem. If the stem's last vowel is "a" or "o," add "-ayo"; otherwise, add "-eoyo."

Dictionary	Stem Vowel	Present (-아요/어요)
살다 (salda, to live)	ㅏ	살아요 (sarayo)
먹다 (meokda, to eat)	ㅓ	먹어요 (meogeoyo)
읽다 (ikda, to read)	ㅣ	읽어요 (ilgeoyo)

Contractions

When a stem ends in a vowel, the sounds merge. For example, "gada" becomes "gayo," not "gaayo," and "oda" becomes "wayo."

Dictionary	Contracted Present	Meaning
가다	가요 (gayo)	to go
오다	와요 (wayo)	to come
하다	해요 (haeyo)	to do

"Hada" is the most common verb, and it changes irregularly to "haeyo." Memorize patterns like "gongbuhada → gongbuhaeyo" and "ilhada → ilhaeyo."

Negation with 안

Placing "an" before a verb makes it negative, as in "meogeoyo → an meogeoyo" (don't eat) and "gayo → an gayo" (don't go).

Stems ending in ㅣ

When a stem ends in "i," it merges with "-eoyo" to make a "yeo" sound, as in "masida → masyeoyo" and "gareuchida → gareuchyeoyo."

💡 Tip: "-Ayo/eoyo" works not only for the present tense but also for the near future and gentle commands. Raise your tone at the end and it becomes a question: "gayo?" (Are you going?).