LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

ADJECTIVES

Present Tense

You learned previously that you need to add ㄴ/는다 to a verb stem in order to conjugate it in the present tense. In order to conjugate an adjective into the present tense you don't need to do anything! Just leave the adjective as it is, and it is conjugated in the present tense. Some examples:

그 선생님은 아름답다 - That teacher is beautiful
그 길은 길다 - That street is long
나의 손은 크다 - My hand is big

Past Tense

In order to conjugate adjectives to the past tense, you must follow the same rule as when you conjugate verbs to the past tense. This rule, again, is:

You must add 았다 or 었다 to the stem of a word. 았다 is added to words with the last vowel being ㅗ or ㅏ, and 었다 is added to words with the last vowel being anything but ㅏ or ㅗ. For example:

그 음식은 맛있었다 - That food was delicious
그 선생님은 좋았다 - That teacher was good
그 식당이 오래되었다 - That restaurant is old*

*{The meaning of 오래되다 is not "old" in a bad, negative sentence. Rather, it is indicating that something has existed for a long time, and now it is "old." A more appropriate way to indicate that something is "old and decrepit" is to use the word 낡다... not to be confused with the word 늙다, which refers to an "old" person.

This is a little bit complicated for you now, but although 었다 is attached to 되 to make 되었다, this can be contracted.

Also, while 되다 is commonly used and conjugated as a verb, in this case, 오래되다 is an adjective. Which means that [in addition to other ways it will change when used with other grammatical principles], ㄴ can be added to it to describe an upcoming noun.

For example: 우리는 오래된 집에 갔다 - We went to the old house}

Just like with verbs, if the final letter of a verb/adjective stem is a vowel, 았다/었다 can be merged to the actual stem itself:

이것은 비싸다 - This was expensive
그 남자는 잘생겼다 - That man was handsome
그 사람은 뚱뚱했다 - That person was fat

Future Tense

Conjugating adjectives into the future tense is the same as conjugating verbs into the future tense. All you need to do is add 겠다 to the stem of the adjective:
나는 행복하겠다 - I will be happy
그것은 맛있겠다 - That thing will be delicious
나는 배고프겠다 - I will be hungry

In general, not only is this basic form rare in conversation, but Korean people do not use adjectives in the future as often as English speakers.

Check out the table giving a breakdown of adjectives in the past, present and future forms.