-아요/어요
polite present tense
The ending you will use more than any other. Which vowel you get is decided by the last vowel of the stem — and then the two often merge into a single syllable.
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When to use it
This is the everyday polite level, used with strangers, colleagues, shopkeepers, and anyone you are not close to. It covers present tense and, in conversation, the near future as well: 내일 가요 means “I’m going tomorrow.”
The choice is mechanical. Look at the last vowel of the stem. If it is ㅏ or ㅗ, add 아요. Anything else takes 어요. 하다 verbs are the one exception and become 해요 — and since a huge share of Korean verbs end in 하다, that single form does a lot of work.
Then the merging begins, and this is where learners stall. 가 + 아요 does not stay 가아요; the identical vowels collapse into 가요. 보 + 아요 becomes 봐요, 마시 + 어요 becomes 마셔요. The rules are regular, but you will absorb them faster by reading them aloud than by memorising a table.
How to attach it
| Stem type | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Last vowel ㅏ or ㅗ | -아요 | 살다 → 살아요 |
| Identical vowel merges | -아요 absorbed | 가다 → 가요 |
| Any other vowel | -어요 | 먹다 → 먹어요 |
| 하다 verbs | 해요 | 공부하다 → 공부해요 |
| ㅗ + 아 merges | 와 | 보다 → 봐요 |
| ㅣ + 어 merges | 여 | 마시다 → 마셔요 |
| ㅡ drops out | -어요 | 쓰다 → 써요 |
| 이다 | 이에요 / 예요 | 학생이에요 / 친구예요 |
In use
저는 매일 학교에 가요.
I go to school every day.
아침에 보통 빵을 먹어요.
I usually eat bread in the morning.
지금 한국어를 공부해요.
I’m studying Korean right now.
주말에 영화를 봐요.
I watch movies at the weekend.
저녁에는 물만 마셔요.
In the evening I only drink water.
이름을 여기에 써요.
Write your name here.
Compared with
-ㅂ니다/습니다
Both are polite, but -ㅂ니다 is formal: announcements, presentations, the news, the military. -아요/어요 is warmer and is what you want in almost every conversation.
갑니다. (formal report) / 가요. (everyday polite)
-아/어 (반말)
Drop the 요 and you have casual speech, used with close friends and people clearly younger. Adding or removing that one syllable is the whole difference.
어디 가요? (polite) / 어디 가? (casual)
Future meaning
Korean does not need a future tense for planned events. -아요/어요 with a time word does the job; -(으)ㄹ 거예요 adds intention or prediction.
내일 가요. (I’m going tomorrow) / 내일 갈 거예요. (I intend to go tomorrow)
Watch out
저는 학교에 가아요.
저는 학교에 가요.
When the stem already ends in ㅏ, the 아 of the ending disappears into it. The same happens with 사다 → 사요 and 만나다 → 만나요.
한국어를 공부하어요.
한국어를 공부해요.
하다 never takes -아요 or -어요 in the regular way. It becomes 해요, and every 하다 compound follows: 일해요, 사랑해요, 운동해요.
저는 빵을 먹아요.
저는 빵을 먹어요.
The stem 먹 has ㅓ as its last vowel, which is neither ㅏ nor ㅗ, so it takes -어요. Check the vowel, not the consonant.
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