How to use Korean Grammar V + (으)려고

The Korean text pronunciation feature (🔊) is only available for Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Opera browsers.

Verb + 려고 / 으려고

려고 - if a word ends in a vowel or ㄹ, 으려고 - if it ends in a consonant (except ㄹ)

Korean grammar pattern -려고 / -으려고 is very similar to -러 / -으러 가다. -려고 / -으려고 is also used to express the purpose of an action. However, unlike -러 / -으러 which can only be used with verbs of motion, -려고 / -으려고 can be used with any verb.

See examples,
(click on translation and grammar buttons)

잠을 자려고 불을 꺼요.

Korean

자다

끄다

English

sleep

to sleep

light

to turn off

I turn off the light to go to sleep.

려고 끄+어요.

그는 다리를 뻗으려고 자리에서 일어났어요.

Korean

다리

뻗다

자리

일어나다

English

he

leg

to stretch

seat

to get up

He stood up to stretch his legs.

다리으려고 자리에서 일어나++어요.

편지를 쓰려고 공책을 꺼냈어요.

Korean

편지

쓰다

공책

꺼내다

English

letter

to write

notebook

to take out

I took out my notebook to write a letter.

편지려고 공책 꺼내++어요.

저는 밖에 나가려고 코트를 입어요.

Korean

나가다

코트

입다

English

I

outside

to go out

coat

to put on

I wear a coat to go outside.

나가려고 코트어요.

Quick reference (click to open)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j

Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)

Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')

Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.

Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky

Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her

Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel

Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive

Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently

Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till

Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while

Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.

Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?

Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!

Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!

Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).