In the previous post, you saw "V아/어/여 주세요." It was a good expression to ask the listener to do something in a favor. The expression actually came from the basic form "아/어/여 주다." You'll learn about the details of this grammar today!
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1. 아/어/여 주다 Grammar
"아/어/여 주다" is a grammatical expression to show the action of giving help to benefit others. Depending on how you conjugate the ending, we can mean many things related to help! It can be used to offer or promise help to others, or when asking for help, etc.
Here, I will provide you with examples to illustrate its meaning. Please consider the significance and the contexts in which we can apply this grammar. Further elaboration on each detail will be discussed below.
You can ask the listener to do you a favor. 가방 좀 들어 주세요. Please help me to carry this bag.
You can explain a helping situation. 친구 가방을 들어 줬어요. I carried my friend's bag (to help my friend.)
You can promise to help someone. 가방을 들어 줄게요. I'll carry your bag (for you.)
You can ask the listener if he or she needs help. 가방을 들어 줄까요? Do you want me to carry your bag?
2. Conjugation Information
아/어/여 주다 is a grammar to talk about the action of giving help. So, you can attach it only to a verb stem! It consists of two parts. The first part is 아/어/여 which is attached to a verb stem and then 주다. I'll divide each part and explain it to you!
V아/어/여
When a conjugation rule begins with 아/어/여, it is important to pay attention to the last vowel of the stem. If you have studied the present or past tense in my lessons, you will be familiar with this concept! If you want to know more about the 아/어/여 conjugation, please click here for more information!
Regular Rules
모음 Vowels | 아/어/여 주다 | 예시 Examples |
ㅏ, ㅗ | 아 주다 | 앉다(to sit) → 앉아 주다 |
하다 | 해 주다 | 말하다(to tell) → 말해 주다 |
Others | 어 주다 | 읽다(to read) → 읽어 주다 |
Irregular Rules
You'll also need to pay attention to the irregular final consonants(받침) and ㅡ, 르 rules. If you want to learn the details about the rules, please use the links below to learn the irregular conjugations.
불규칙 Irregular Rules | 아/어 주다 | 예시 Examples |
받침 ㄷ | Change ㄷ to ㄹ + 아/어 주다 | 듣다(to listen) → 들어 주다 |
받침 ㅅ | Erase ㅅ + 아/어 주다 | 잇다(to connect) → 이어 주다 |
받침 ㅂ | Erase ㅂ + 와/워 주다 | 돕다(to help) → 도와 주다. |
모음 ㅡ/르 | Erase ㅡ + 아/어 주다 | 쓰다(to write) → 써 주다 |
주다
Depending on how you change this 주다 (give), you can show the many different meanings and tones. You can add various speech levels as well, but I'll focus on the most commonly used one―informal polite endings.
줘요: Present tense ending 아/어/여요
You can express all four sentence types with the present tense ending, the statement, question, propositive, and command.
Without the context, if you say "도와 줘요." with a period, you can mean "I help," "Help me!" "Let's help."
친구가 도와 줘요. My friend helps (me). - statement
친구를 도와 줘요. Help your friend. - command
⇨ Can you tell how the two are different? The first one is used with the subject marker. So, you are explaining what your friend (친구) is doing. In the second sentence, 친구 is attached by the object marker. So, 친구 is the one who needs to get help.
동생을 도와 줘요? Do you help your younger sibling? - question
같이 민지 씨를 도와 줘요. Let's help Minji together. - propositive
주고 있어요: Present progressive ending 고 있어요
You can use this to explain the current situation.
도와 주고 있어요. I'm helping.
친구가 저를 도와 주고 있어요. My friend is helping me.
지금 친구한테 요리를 해주고 있어요. I'm cooking for my friend now.
줬어요: Past tense ending 았/었/였어요
You can explain the past event of helping. You can talk about A gave help to B.
도와 줬어요. I helped.
친구가 비빔밥을 만들어 줬어요. My friend made bibimbop (for me).
친구가 책을 빌려 줬어요. My friend lent me his/her book.
With a question mark, you can make a question―obviously!
도와 줬어요? Did you help?
철수 씨가 도와 줬어요? Did Cheol-su help you?
주세요: Command ending (으)세요
It's the expression you saw in the previous lesson. You can use it to ask the listener to do something for you (or for someone else).
도와 주세요! Help me!
쓰레기 좀 주워 주세요. Please pick up the trash.
창문 좀 닫아 주세요. Please close the window.
줄래요?: Intention ending (으)ㄹ래요?
It is another way to ask for help. By using the intention ending, you are asking if the listener has the intention to help you. You can translate it like "Can you" in English.
저 좀 도와 줄래요? Can you help me?
쓰레기 좀 주워 줄래요? Can you pick up the trash (for me, please)?
문 좀 닫아 줄래요? Can you close the close?
주시겠어요?: Determination 겠
This one is also can be used to ask for help. "주시겠어요?" sounds a little politer than the "줄래요?" ending. You can think of it as "Could you please?" in English. Even if you don't know about 겠, memorize 주시겠어요 as a chunk! It is a very useful one!
저 좀 도와 주시겠어요? Could you help me?
쓰레기 좀 주워 주시겠어요? Could you pick up the trash?
문 좀 닫아 주시겠어요? Could you close the door?
줄까요?: Suggestion ending (으)ㄹ까요?
If you conjugate 주다 with the suggestion ending, you can offer to give help to the listener. You can translate it like "Do you want me to?" in English.
도와 줄까요? Do you need help? / Do you want me to help you?
가방을 들어 줄까요? Do you want me to hold your bag?
한국어를 가르쳐 줄까요? Do you want me to teach you Korean?
사진을 찍어 줄까요? Do you want me to take a picture?
3. Sentence Information
This section is more advanced. If you are a beginner, you can skip this part for now. Make sure you are familiar with the sections above before proceeding.
Negative Forms
You can create a negative sentence by employing either the short or long negative methods. Usually, the shorter one is used in daily conversation and the longer one is used in formal situations or writing.
Short negative: 안 V어 주다
Watch out where you put "안" here! You must put 안 before the verb stem that you'll attach 어 주다.
(O) 친구가 저를 안 도와 줬어요. My friend didn't help me.
(X) 친구가 저를 도와 안 줬어요.
Long negative: 어 주지 않다
The long negative form is "-지 않다." This time you attach it to 주다!
(O) 친구가 저를 도와 주지 않았어요. My friend didn't help me.
드리다
드리다 is a honorific version of 주다. You use this 드리다 to be super polite! You have to use it for someone much older than you or who has a higher social status than you. You can also hear this word in a store. A clerk or worker will use this politer version to a customer.
저는 할머니를 도와 드려요. I help my grandmother.
할아버지께 컴퓨터를 알려 드리고 있어요. I'm teaching my grandpa about computers.
사장님께 보고서를 전달해 드렸어요. I delivered the report to the boss.
할아버지께 이 식사를 가져다 드리세요. Please bring this food to grandfather.
할아버지께 이 식사를 가져다 드릴래요? Can you bring this food to grandfather?
할머니, 가방을 들어 드릴까요? Grandma, do you want me to hold your bag?
손님, 무엇을 도와 드릴까요? (To a customer,) How can I help you?
주시다
주시다 is a combination of 주다 and honorific marker (으)시. When someone who gives help is an elder or superior to you, then you must use 주시다.
할머니께서 저를 도와 주셨어요. My grandmother helped me.
할아버지가 이 식사를 가져다 주셨어요. My grandfather brought this food for me.
4. Examples
1
Q: 창문을 열어 드릴까요? Do you want me to open the windows?
A: 네, 열어 주세요. Yes, please open them.
↪ You can offer help with "(으)ㄹ까요" ending. When you offer super politely, you'd better use "드릴까요?" You can accept the offer by using "주세요.
2
Q: 청소를 좀 도와 주세요. Please help me cleaning.
A: 네. 도와 줄게요. Okay. I will help you.
↪ "좀" is an adverb that is inserted to soften the tone. Without 좀, the sentence has a tone of command than asking a favor.
3
Q: 할머니가 청소를 하세요. 가서 도와 드리세요. An old lady is cleaning. Go and help her.
A: 네. 그럴게요. Ok, I will.
↪ 할머니 originally means "a grandmother." However, even if not blood-related, you can refer to a very old woman as 할머니. We need to use 드리세요 instead of 주세요 because the one who receives help (할머니) is old.
4
Q: 이 문제가 너무 어려워요. 좀 알려 줄래요? This problem is too difficult. Can you teach me?
A: 네. 제가 가르쳐 줄게요. Sure. I will teach you.
↪ 알려 주다 means to let someone know. It can work like 가르쳐 주다 which means give teaching.
5. Wrap-up & Worksheet
You saw the different uses of the expression "아/어/여 주다." The basic meaning is "give help", but depending on what kind of ending you attach to it, you can use it in very many situations.
Let's practice it with the free and printable worksheet! The answers are already here, throughout this post! So once you solve the quiz check and confirm your answers with this lesson again! 🤗
The ones I showed you here, of course, do not cover all the possible usage of the expression! As you go through the lessons with me, you'll have a chance to get to know more!
If you found this lesson useful, kindly click the heart icon below and consider subscribing to my website for upcoming content! In the upcoming lesson, we'll delve into the pre-final ending 겠. You were introduced to it briefly today, and you'll get a more in-depth understanding in the next session! Thank you for learning from My Korean lesson. 감사합니다! 🤗
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