Describing things: 커요, 작아요, 바빠요

No word for “is”

가방이 커요 — the bag is big. 방이 작아요 — the room is small. 친구가 많아요 — friends are many, which is how Korean says “I have a lot of friends”. 사람이 적어요 — there are few people.

Count the words: noun with 이 or 가, then one describing word, and the sentence is finished. 커요 does not mean “big”; it means “is big”. You have done this already with 이거 비싸요 and 김밥 맛있어요.

Korean adjectives conjugate like verbs

작 + 아요 = 작아요. 많 + 아요 = 많아요. 좋 + 아요 = 좋아요. 적 + 어요 = 적어요. Dictionary forms: 작다, 많다, 좋다, 적다.

These are adjectives, but they behave like verbs: a stem, the same ㅏ/ㅗ test, the same past. 어제 사람이 많았어요 — there were a lot of people yesterday. Because the “is” lives inside the ending, 이에요 is never added to them.

ㅎ goes silent before a vowel: 많아요 sounds like [마나요], 좋아요 like [조아요].

Stems ending in ㅡ

바쁘다 → 바빠요 (busy). 나쁘다 → 나빠요 (bad). 예쁘다 → 예뻐요 (pretty). 크다 → 커요 (big).

See what happens: the ㅡ at the end of the stem disappears, and the vowel before it picks the ending. In 바쁘 and 나쁘 that vowel is ㅏ, so 아요. In 예쁘 it is ㅖ, so 어요. 크 has nothing before the ㅡ, and takes 어요. You do not need to drill this; just recognise the pairs.

How much: 아주, 너무, 조금, 정말

가방이 아주 커요 — very big. 이거 너무 비싸요 — too expensive. 오늘 조금 바빠요 — a bit busy. 옷이 정말 예뻐요 — really pretty.

The degree word stands directly before the adjective, where English puts it too. 너무 strictly means “too”, but in everyday speech it is often simply a strong “so”: 너무 예뻐요 is praise, not a complaint.

있어요 and 없어요 inside adjectives

맛있어요 — it tastes good. 맛없어요 — it tastes bad. 재미있어요 — it is fun. 재미없어요 — it is boring.

These are built from a noun plus 있어요 or 없어요: 맛 is “taste” and 재미 is “fun”, so literally “taste exists”, “there is no fun”. That is why the opposite is made by swapping 있어요 for 없어요, not with 안.

맛없어요 is pronounced [마덥써요].

좋아요 is “is good”; 좋아해요 is “like”

저는 커피가 좋아요. 저는 커피를 좋아해요. Both come out as “I like coffee” in English, but they are built differently.

좋아요, from 좋다, is an adjective: “coffee is good (to me)”. The coffee is what is being described, so it takes 이 / 가. 좋아해요, from 좋아하다, is a verb: “I like coffee”. The coffee is its object, so it takes 을 / 를. The particle and the last word must agree.