Lesson 11
In English, when you want to say, “make someone do something” or “make something do something”, you need to add that extra word “make”, or other words such as “let”, “have”, etc. However, in Korean, this works in a slightly different way. In Level 6 Lesson 21, we introduced the suffixes -이/히/리/기- that make a verb “passive voice”. These same suffixes are also used to convert a regular verb into a causative verb.
Causative suffixes:
-이-
-히-
-리-
-기-
-우-
-구-
-추-
There are general rules for which suffix to use, but there are also a lot of exceptions, so it is best to learn by trial and error as well as by looking at a lot of common examples.
Not all verbs, however, can be changed into causative verbs by adding these suffixes. You cannot form a causative verb with -이/히/리/기/우/구/추- when the verb is already a transitive verb. For example, “to push” is 밀다 in Korean and is already a transitive verb. So if you add - 리 to it and make it 밀리다, it changes into the passive voice, “to be pushed”.
At first, it will be easier for you to “understand” these suffixes than to “use” them.
When a certain verb does not work with these suffixes, you can still change it into the causative form by adding -게 하다. An example of such a verb is 가다. 가다 cannot work with -이/히/리/기/우/구/추-, so you can only conjugate it as 가게 하다 to say “to make someone go”.
All verbs can be changed into the causative form by using -게 하다.
Some verbs can be changed into the causative form by using -이/히/리/기/우/구/추-; these verbs are more commonly used with -이/히/리/기/우/구/추- than with -게 하다.
1. -이-
-이- is used mostly after a vowel or sometimes after ㄱ.
Ex)
녹다 = to melt / 녹이다 = to make something melt, to melt something
보다 = to see / 보이다 = to show
높다 = to be high / 높이다 = to make something higher, to heighten
2. -히-
-히- is used mostly after ㄱ, ㄷ, or ㅂ.
Ex)
입다 = to wear / 입히다 = to make someone wear something
읽다 = to read / 읽히다 = to make someone read something
앉다 = to sit / 앉히다 = to seat someone, to make someone sit
밝다 = to be bright / 밝히다 = to brighten
3. -리-
-리- is used mostly after ㄹ or ㄷ irregular.
Ex)
울다 = to cry / 울리다 = to make someone cry
놀다 = to play / 놀리다 = to let/make someone play, to tease
4. -기-
-기- is used mostly after ㄴ, ㅁ, or ㅅ.
Ex)
신다 = to wear (shoes) / 신기다 = to make someone wear (shoes/socks)
안다 = to hug / 안기다 = to make someone hug someone
5. -우/구/추-
-우/구/추- have too many exceptions to generalize the rule.
낮다 = to be low / 낮추다 = to lower, to make something lower
맞다 = to fit / 맞추다 = to make something fit, to have something tailor-made
자다 = to sleep / 재우다 = to make someone sleep
크다 = to be big, to grow / 키우다 = to make something bigger, to make something grow, to grow something
차다 = to be filled up / 채우다 = to fill
하다 and 시키다
If you remember from the passive voice lessons, 하다 changes to 되다 when you make it passive. When you want to use 하다 and say “make someone do something”, you can use the word 시키다. This can also be applied to many “Noun + -하다” verbs.
Ex)
공부하다 = to study / 공부시키다 = to make someone study
준비하다 = to prepare / 준비시키다 = to get someone ready
Sample Sentences
아이들 울리지 마세요.
= Do not make the kids cry.
너무 높으니까 좀 낮춰 주세요.
= It is too high, so lower it a little.
* You cannot say, “낮아 주세요.” You cannot use imperative conjugations with an adjective.
다른 것도 보여 주세요.
= Show me some other things, too.
* If you say, “다른 것도 봐 주세요”, it means, “Please look at some other things.”
제가 너무 바빠서 다른 사람한테 시켰어요.
= I was too busy, so I made another person do it.
아이 세 명을 키우고 있어요.
= I am raising three kids.
Even More Examples
1. 좁다 = to be narrow / 좁히다 = to make something narrower
2. 넓다 = to be wide / 넓히다 = to widen
3. 남다 = to remain / 남기다 = to leave (a comment), to leave something over
4. 숨다 = to hide / 숨기다 = to hide something, to make something hidden
5. 넘다 = to go over / 넘기다 = to make something go over something