Top 10 Most Commonly Used Korean Adjectives

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The following ten Korean words have been found to be the most commonly used words (adjectives) in Korean according to Korean Words & Phrases Use Frequency Statistics.

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1. 없다 = (Lit. not existing) there is/are not
2. 그렇다 = be so (Yes)
3. 같다 = same
4. 어떻다 = be how
5. 이렇다 = be this way
6. 다르다 = different
7. 크다 = big/large
8. 많다 = many
9. 좋다 = good
10. 이러하다 = 이렇다 (이렇다 is a contracted form of 이러하다)


1. 시간이 없어 = There's no time (to lose).

• 시간 = time
• 없어 = there's not

2. 그래 = Yeah. Yes. All right. OK.

Note: 그래 is the informal spoken form of 그렇다.


3. 이 사진은 저 사진과 같아 = This photo is the same as that photo.

• 사진 = photo
• 이 사진 = this photo
• 저 사진 = that photo
• 같아 = same

4. 이 옷 어때? = How about these clothes?

Note: 어때 is the informal spoken form of 어떻다.

• 옷 = clothes
• 이 옷 = these clothes
• 어때 = how, how about

5. 김밥은 이렇게 만들어 = This is how you make Gim-bab (Korean sushi roll). (Lit. In regards to Gim-bab (Korean sushi roll), (you) make it this way.)

• 김밥 = Korean sushi roll
• 이렇게 = like this
• 만들어 = make

이렇다 → 이렇게 (Adverb) = like this

• 이렇게 describes 만들어 (make)
• 이렇게 만들어 = make it this way

어떻다 → 어떻게 (Adverb) = how

• 어떻게 만들어? = How (do you) make?

For More Word Building Exercises:

• Top 10 Most Commonly Used Korean Words (Nouns)

Source:
http://riks.korea.ac.kr/bmkang/book_mwfreq.htm