아/어 하다

Overview

The grammatical pattern -아/어 하다 is used to express the speaker's observation or inference about someone else's feelings, emotions, or states. It transforms a descriptive verb (adjective) into an action verb, allowing it to be used with various action verb conjugations when describing a third person.

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Usage

Korean descriptive verbs (adjectives) directly describe the subject's state (e.g., "I am sad" - 저는 슬픕니다). However, when you want to describe someone else's feelings or state based on their actions or expressions, you cannot directly use the descriptive verb with action verb endings. This is where -아/어 하다 comes in.

By attaching -아/어 하다 to a descriptive verb, you indicate that the speaker is perceiving or inferring the subject's internal state through their external behavior. For example, you wouldn't typically say "그는 슬픕니다" (He is sad) if you're merely observing; instead, you'd say "그는 슬퍼합니다" (He acts sad / He seems sad), implying you're describing his sadness based on his actions (e.g., crying, looking down). This pattern is crucial for expressing empathy or describing others' emotional states from an observational standpoint. It's commonly used with psychological verbs like 슬프다 (to be sad), 기쁘다 (to be happy), 배고프다 (to be hungry), 졸리다 (to be sleepy), etc.

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Conjugation Rules

The conjugation of -아/어 하다 follows standard vowel harmony rules:

• If the verb stem's last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ: attach -아 하다.
  • Examples:
    • 좋다 (to be good) → 좋아하다 (to like / to act pleased)
    • 고프다 (to be hungry) → 고파하다 (to act hungry / to be hungry, as perceived)
• If the verb stem's last vowel is not ㅏ or ㅗ (or ends in a consonant): attach -어 하다.
  • Examples:
    • 슬프다 (to be sad) → 슬퍼하다 (to act sad / to be sad, as perceived)
    • 예쁘다 (to be pretty) → 예뻐하다 (to cherish / to act fond of)
    • 배고프다 (to be hungry) → 배고파하다 (to act hungry / to be hungry, as perceived) - Note: 고프다 is irregular, 고파하다 is the correct form.
• If the verb stem ends in 하다: attach -여 하다, which commonly contracts to -해 하다.
  • Examples:
    • 행복하다 (to be happy) → 행복해하다 (to act happy / to be happy, as perceived)
    • 피곤하다 (to be tired) → 피곤해하다 (to act tired / to be tired, as perceived)

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Knowledge Plus

When expressing your own feelings, you use the descriptive verb directly (e.g., 저는 기쁩니다 - I am happy). However, when describing someone else's feelings, you must use the -아/어 하다 form (e.g., 친구가 기뻐합니다 - My friend is happy / acts happy). This distinction is fundamental in Korean.

Some verbs formed with -아/어 하다 have become so common that they are often treated as independent action verbs in dictionaries and everyday usage. Examples include 좋아하다 (to like, from 좋다), 싫어하다 (to dislike, from 싫다), and 미워하다 (to hate, from 밉다). While they originated from this grammatical pattern, their meaning has solidified into direct action verbs.

This pattern is distinct from -아/어 보이다, which means "looks like" or "appears to be" and focuses more on visual appearance or outward impression. -아/어 하다 emphasizes the behavior or action that reflects an internal state.