3 · Helping verbs and modal patterns
Getting and becoming: -아/어지다
change of state, and the passive of verbs
After an adjective -아/어지다 means "become"; after a verb it makes a passive. Always written as one word.
The stem takes -아/어 with the usual vowel choice and 지다 follows — written together with it, unlike every other helping verb in this area: 많아지다, 길어지다, 깨끗해지다. Irregular stems change exactly as before -아요: 춥다 → 추워지다, 빨갛다 → 빨개지다. 지다 itself contracts: 져요, 졌어요.
After an adjective the pattern means "become, get": 날씨가 따뜻해졌어요, "the weather has got warmer". The result is a verb, not an adjective, and behaves like one: a change in progress takes -고 있다 (점점 추워지고 있어요), and the present modifier is -는 (추워지는 날씨, "the weather that is turning cold").
After a verb, -아/어지다 makes a passive or says that something happens by itself: 이 펜은 잘 써져요, "this pen writes well"; 불이 꺼졌어요, "the light went off". It is mainly used with verbs that have no passive suffix of their own: 만들어지다, 정해지다, 알려지다, 지켜지다. The passive is covered in detail in the area on passive and causative.
The usual slips are writing a space (추워 졌어요), using -게 되다 with an adjective (춥게 됐어요), and confusing two verbs built on the same adjective: 좋아지다, "to get better", and 좋아하다, "to like".
The form
| adjective, last vowel a or o | 많다 → 많아져요 |
| adjective, other vowels | 길다 → 길어져요 |
| 하다 adjectives | 깨끗하다 → 깨끗해져요 |
| irregular stem | 춥다 → 추워져요 |
| change in progress | 추워지고 있어요 |
| verb: passive | 만들다 → 만들어져요 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
After an adjective, -아/어지다 means "become", written as one word with the stem.
봄이 되니까 날씨가 따뜻해졌어요.Spring has come and the weather has got warmer.
The result is a verb, so a change in progress takes -고 있다.
요즘 채소 값이 계속 비싸지고 있어요.Vegetables keep getting more expensive these days.
Irregular stems change before -아/어 exactly as they do in -아요/어요.
부끄러워서 얼굴이 빨개졌어요.I was embarrassed and my face went red.
After a verb, -아/어지다 makes a passive, mainly for verbs without a passive suffix.
이 노래는 여러 나라에 알려졌어요.This song has become known in many countries.
A closer look
From adjective to verb
Because -아/어지다 turns a description into an event, it opens the adjective to everything a verb can do. It can take -고 있다, the modifier -는, and even a request: 행복해지세요, "may you be happy", is a common closing line on a card.
Several adjectives form a family with two verbs. 좋다 gives 좋아지다 "get better" and 좋아하다 "like"; 싫다 gives 싫어지다 "come to dislike" and 싫어하다 "dislike". The first verb of each pair describes a change, the second a feeling shown towards something.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the verb already has a passive with a suffix
that suffix passive is the usual word: 문이 열렸어요, not 문이 열어졌어요.
바람 때문에 문이 열렸어요.The door blew open in the wind.
Common verbs such as 열다, 닫다 and 보다 have short passives of their own, and piling -아/어지다 on top of one (열려지다) is a double passive that editors correct.
How to spot it
- -아/어지다
- 점점
- 갈수록
- -아/어졌어요
Example sentences
운동을 시작한 후로 건강이 좋아졌어요.My health has improved since I started exercising.
점점 한국어가 쉬워지고 있어요.Korean is gradually getting easier.
겨울이 되면 해가 짧아져요.When winter comes, the days get shorter.
방을 정리하니까 훨씬 넓어졌네요.Now that you've tidied the room, it looks much bigger.
이 펜은 잘 안 써져요.This pen doesn't write well.
그 가게는 손님이 많아져서 이제 예약해야 해요.That place has got so busy that you have to book now.
8 more example sentences
요즘 날씨가 갑자기 더워졌어요.The weather has suddenly got hot.
아이가 작년보다 키가 많이 커졌어요.The child has grown a lot taller since last year.
약을 먹으니까 두통이 많이 나아졌어요.After I took the medicine, my headache got much better.
주말에는 길이 복잡해져요.At weekends the roads get busy.
친구랑 이야기하니까 기분이 좋아졌어요.Talking to my friend cheered me up.
그 영화 덕분에 이 마을이 유명해졌어요.That film made this village famous.
불이 꺼지니까 아무것도 안 보였어요.When the lights went out, I could not see anything.
머리를 짧게 자르니까 훨씬 시원해졌어요.I had my hair cut short and it feels much cooler.
Worth knowing (1)
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좋아지다 and 좋아하다
좋아지다 is "to get better": 날씨가 좋아졌어요, "the weather has improved". 좋아하다 is "to like" and takes an object with 을/를. One describes a change in the thing, the other your attitude to it.
수술 후에 할아버지 건강이 많이 좋아지셨어요.Grandfather's health has got much better since the operation.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Unlike 보다, 주다 or 놓다 after -아/어, 지다 is always written together with the stem. The spelling rules treat the result as one new verb.
Adjective plus -a or -eo jida: it becomes so — one word, and now a verb.
Your turn
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