#korean adjective

Hi! This is Admin Hyun.

Today’s grammar I want to introduce is ‘same vowel elision’(동음 탈락). Same vowel elision is not an irregular conjugation. Under the conditions, it always happens.

A phenomenon where an ending(어미) that starts with ‘-아’ or ‘어’ follows after verb’s or adjective’s(용언) stem(어간) that end with ‘-아’ or ‘어’, and as a result, the same vowel ‘아’ or ‘어’ is repeated(comes consecutively), one of the same vowels is omitted(elision)

ㅏelision (ㅏ 탈락)

• 가+아서 가서(go and-)
• 가+아  가(go)
• 가+았 + 다  갔다(went)
• 차+아서 차서(kick and-)
• 차+아  차(kick)
• 차+았 + 다  찼다(kicked)

ㅓ elision (ㅓ 탈락)

• 건너+어서 건너서(cross the street and-)
• 건너+어  건너(cross the street)
• 건너+었 + 다   건넜다(crossed the street)
• 나서+어서  나서서(take the lead and-)
• 나서+어 나서(take the lead, step ahead)
• 나서+었 + 다  나섰다(took the lead)

Keep in mind that if the stem ends with a consonant, same vowel elision doesn’t take place. For example,

• 먹 + 어  먹어(eat)
• 먹 + 었 + 다  먹었다(ate)
• 잡 + 아  잡아(catch)
• 잡 + 았 + 다  잡았다(caught)

Elision of vowels is a kind of ‘elision of phoneme(음운)’. Not only vowels but also consonants are subject to elision. For example, if in 딸(daughter)+님(honorific ending), ‘ㄹ’ is omitted when it is followed by ㄴ and becomes 따님(honorific form of daughter). Elision of phoneme is one of many ‘changes in phoneme’ which include alteration, elision, addition and contraction.

Written by Admin Hyun

Edited by Admin Yu