Finding the Dictionary Form

In ordinary speech and sentences, verbs and adjectives often appear in conjugated forms such as 먹어요 and 먹었어요 rather than as dictionary headwords. Forms ending in -다 can also appear in Korean writing, so the surrounding context still matters.

To search for an unfamiliar word, identify the ending, restore the stem, and infer the likely dictionary form. In this course, we call this process reverse analysis.

Begin with transparent regular forms in which a consonant-final stem remains clearly visible before the ending.

In 먹어요 , identify and remove -어요 to recover 먹- .

In 먹었어요 , identify and remove -었어요 to recover the same stem 먹- .

Later lessons cover forms in which contraction or deletion makes the boundary less visible.

Once you have the stem simply attach -다 .

먹- + -다 = 먹다 .

Now you can look up 먹다 in the dictionary to find its meaning.

Let us look at a few more examples where the stem ends in a consonant.

읽어요 → remove -어요 → 읽- → add -다 → 읽다

좋았어요 → remove -았어요 → 좋- → add -다 → 좋다

입어요 → remove -어요 → 입- → add -다 → 입다

Some modern dictionaries and search tools can recognize conjugated forms such as 먹어요 or 먹었어요 . However, dictionary entries are generally organized under the headword 먹다 .

Restoring the stem and adding -다 gives you a reliable form to search and helps you understand how the word was conjugated.