One Stem, Many Branches
Korean conjugated forms can be understood as related forms built from a shared stem rather than as completely separate words.
Think of the stem as the trunk of a tree and the endings introduced in this course as its branches. This helps you build and compare many regular forms systematically.
For 가다 , remove -다 to identify the vowel-final stem 가- . Then check the selection rule of each ending before combining it with the stem.
Direct Attachment and Vowel Contraction
Some endings introduced in this course attach directly to 가- without a vowel or batchim choice.
가- + -고 → 가고
가- + -지만 → 가지만
To build the basic 해요-style form, 가- selects -아요 . The identical vowels contract: 가- + -아요 → 가아요 → 가요 .
Endings with Alternating Forms
Parentheses in endings such as -(으)면 and -(으)세요 show that the ending has alternating forms selected according to how the stem ends.
Because 가- ends in a vowel, select -면 and -세요 . The 으 is not added or removed freely as an extra sound.
가- + -면 → 가면
가- + -세요 → 가세요
A common mistake is choosing -으면 after the vowel-final stem 가- and producing 가으면 .
Choosing -ㄹ 거예요
For the basic future-context form reviewed here, a vowel-final stem selects -ㄹ 거예요 .
가- ends in a vowel, so 가- + -ㄹ 거예요 becomes 갈 거예요 . In the written result, ㄹ appears as the final consonant of the stem's last syllable.
This completes the map of the regular 가다 forms introduced in this lesson.