Four Verbs You Can’t Live Without in Korean (And How to Actually Use Them)

Welcome back to GoTxt, everyone! I’m Soo-jin, and today we’re going to talk about the absolute backbone of the Korean language. Forget the fancy grammar for a second. If you only learn four things, make it these: 있다 (it-da, to have/exist), 없다 (eop-da, to not have), 하다 (ha-da, to do), and 말하다 (mal-ha-da, to say/speak). Think of them as the four wheels on your Korean car — you can go nowhere without them. Honestly, I’ve seen students try to memorize hundreds of vocabulary words, but they still can’t order a coffee because they don’t know how to say “I want” or “I have”. So, let’s fix that. We’ll break each one down, look at how they bend and twist in real life, and get you speaking from the very first minute.

1. 있다 (it-da): To Have, To Exist

This is your Swiss Army knife verb. 있다 means “to have” or “to be located.” It’s how you say you have a friend, you have time, or that something exists. The polite present form is 있어요 (i-sseo-yo). You’ll use this constantly.

• 저는 시간이 있어요. (Jeo-neun si-gan-i i-sseo-yo.) — I have time.
• 화장실이 어디에 있어요? (Hwa-jang-sil-i eo-di-e i-sseo-yo?) — Where is the bathroom? (Literally: Where does the bathroom exist?)

Notice how the subject changes? In Korean, you don’t say “I have a book” directly. You say “Book exists (to me).” It’s a shift in perspective, but once you get it, it clicks. The opposite is 없다 (eop-da), which becomes 없어요 (eop-seo-yo). No time? 시간이 없어요. (Si-gan-i eop-seo-yo.)

2. 하다 (ha-da): The Do-Everything Verb

If 있다 is the Swiss Army knife, 하다 is the engine. It means “to do,” but it’s also the magic suffix that turns nouns into verbs. Think of it as glue. You take a noun like 공부 (study) and add 하다 to get 공부하다 (to study). Same with 운동 (exercise) → 운동하다 (to exercise), and 청소 (cleaning) → 청소하다 (to clean).

In the present polite form, it becomes 해요 (hae-yo). It’s softer and shorter than the dictionary form. Here’s the trick: you can say 저는 한국어를 공부해요. (Jeo-neun han-gu-geo-reul gong-bu-hae-yo.) — I study Korean. Or, if you’re busy, 저는 일해요. (Jeo-neun il-hae-yo.) — I work. Just remember: 하다 is the action, and the noun before it is the “what.”

3. 말하다 (mal-ha-da): To Speak, To Say

You might think this is just “to speak,” but 말하다 is specifically about saying or telling. It’s different from 말하다 vs. 이야기하다 (to have a conversation). 말하다 is more direct — you say a word, you tell a story. The polite form is 말해요 (mal-hae-yo).

• 천천히 말해 주세요. (Cheon-cheon-hi mal-hae ju-se-yo.) — Please speak slowly. (This is your lifeline in Korea!)
• 뭐라고 말했어요? (Mwo-ra-go mal-hae-sseo-yo?) — What did you say?