haru Korean › Grammar › Level 3B › 사동 -이/히/리/기/우

사동 -이/히/리/기/우 — causative verbs — making or helping someone do something (a first look: ten common ones)

Causative verbs — making or helping someone do something (a first look: ten common ones). Korean grammar for intermediate learners — Level 3B, lesson 2: 언제든지 일할 수 있어요 (I can work any time — jobs and ways of working).

What it means

A causative verb says that someone makes or helps another person do something. Compare 아이가 밥을 먹어요 'the child eats' with 엄마가 아이에게 밥을 먹여요 'the mother feeds the child': the person who acts is now the subject, the child becomes 아이에게 or 아이를, and the verb takes -이-, -히-, -리-, -기- or -우-. No rule always tells you which, so learn them as words; these ten are the ones you will hear most: 먹이다 'to feed', 입히다 'to dress', 앉히다 'to sit someone down', 울리다 'to make cry', 알리다 'to let someone know', 웃기다 'to make laugh', 맡기다 'to leave in someone's care', 깨우다 'to wake someone up', 재우다 'to put to bed' (자다 changes to 재-) and 태우다 'to give a ride' (타다 → 태-). You already know a few as ordinary words: 라면을 끓이다 (끓다), 길이를 줄이다 (줄다), 아이를 키우다 (크다). They conjugate like any verb: 먹여요, 입혔어요, 깨울게요, 알려 주세요. Many look like the passives of Lesson 3A-6 — 보이다 means both 'be seen' and 'show' — and the sentence tells you which: 문이 닫혔어요 (passive: we don't say who) but 제가 아이를 깨웠어요 (causative: someone did it to someone). Today is a first look; Lesson 3B-6 adds a pattern that works with every verb.

Forms

Key points

• Causative = someone makes or helps another person do it: 아이가 밥을 먹어요 → 엄마가 아이에게 밥을 먹여요. The verb takes -이-, -히-, -리-, -기- or -우-.
• The partner of Lesson 3A-6's passives — learn them as words: 먹이다 · 입히다 · 앉히다 · 울리다 · 알리다 · 웃기다 · 맡기다 · 깨우다 · 재우다 · 태우다.

Examples

• 다른 사람이 먹도록 · 자도록 · 웃도록 해 줄 때 써요: 아이가 밥을 먹어요 → 엄마가 아이에게 밥을 먹여요.
• -이-: 먹이다 · 끓이다(이미 아는 말) -히-: 입히다 · 앉히다
• -리-: 울리다 · 알리다 -기-: 웃기다 · 맡기다
• -우-: 깨우다 · 재우다(자다) · 태우다(타다) — 모양이 조금 바뀌어요.
• 3A 6과 피동과 짝이에요: 문이 닫혔어요(피동) ↔ 제가 아이를 깨웠어요(사동).

Where university textbooks teach it

This point also appears in: Seoul National University Korean 3B, lesson 11; Yonsei University Korean 3-1, lesson 9; Ewha Womans University Korean 3-1, lesson 4; Hongik University Korean 3B, lesson 9; Hanyang University Korean 3-2, lesson 10.

Also in this lesson

• 무엇이든(지) · 언제든지 · 누구든지 · N(이)든(지) — any … at all — it doesn't matter which: open offers and free choices
• A-다면 · V-ㄴ/는다면 · N(이)라면 — if … (really happened) · if I were … — imagining and 'what if' questions
• A/V-다거나 · V-ㄴ/는다거나 — things like … or … — giving a few examples, not the whole list

← A-다면 · V-ㄴ/는다면 · N(이)라면All grammarA/V-다거나 · V-ㄴ/는다거나 →