Conjugating 이다
이다 is conjugated differently than other verbs/adjectives. Not just when conjugating, but when doing other things to 이다, it usually behaves in another way (you will learn about those other things later). As of now, the only conjugation you know for 이다 is the formal low respect present tense:
나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher
If the last syllable of the word before 이다 ends in a vowel, you can eliminate 이, although both are correct:
나는 의사다 = I am a doctor
나는 의사이다 = I am a doctor
But now it is time to learn how to conjugate in all the other forms
In almost every case, you must conjugate 이다 differently depending on if the word ends in a vowel or consonant. The reason they are different is simply to make pronunciation easier. For example, when conjugating into the past tense, “이었다” is added when the noun ends in a consonant. However, “였다” is added when the noun ends in a vowel. The reason for this is because ‘선생님였다’ is hard to pronounce. It is difficult to move your mouth from the ㅁ sound directly to the 였 sound. It is much easier to pronounce it like this: 나는 선생님-이-었-다.
If you keep this in mind when learning these conjugations, it will be much easier to grasp.
If you keep this in mind when learning these conjugations, it will be much easier to grasp.
이다 Present Tense
Conjugating 이다 to the present tense is relatively confusing compared to the past tense because new syllables are added with no real logic behind them. Whereas past conjugations are simply done by connecting the stem “이” to the typical past tense addition of “었다”, present tense conjugations have additions that are not seen with any other verb or adjective. Let’s talk about these first.
Informal Low Respect
Add ~이야 to a word ending in a consonant, or ~야 to a word ending in a vowel:
나는 좋은 학생이야
= I am a good student
그 것은 책이야 = That thing is a book
나는 선생님이야 = I am a teacher
이 것은 여권이야 = This is a passport
그 것은 사과야
= That thing is an apple
나는 의사야 = I am a doctor
야구는 좋은 스포츠야
= Baseball is a good sport
When conjugating “아니다” in this respect, you simply add “~야” to “아니다:”
나는 학생이 아니야
= I am not a student
그 것은 책이 아니야
= That thing is not a book
Informal High Respect
Add ~이에요 to a word ending in a consonant, or ~예요 to a word ending in a vowel:
그 것은 사진이에요
