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Korean

B1Intermediate

먹는 사람, 먹은 사람

Modifiers: turning verbs into adjectives for nouns

Korean puts the whole description before the noun. The verb's ending shows the time:

action verb example
present -는 먹는 사람 — the person who eats/is eating
past -(으)ㄴ 먹은 사람 — the person who ate
future -(으)ㄹ 먹을 사람 — the person who will eat

Descriptive verbs (adjectives) use -(으)ㄴ for the present: 큰 집 (big house), 좋은 사람 (good person), 예쁜 꽃. 있다/없다 take -는: 맛있*는 음식*, 재미없*는 영화*.

ㄹ stems drop the ㄹ: 살다 → 사는 곳 (the place where I live), 멀다 → 먼 곳 (a far place).

Relative clauses: 어제 본 영화 — the film I watched yesterday. 내가 좋아하는 노래 — the song I like.

stan runge c757d08 source