안녕하세요! In this lesson, I'll teach you how to say "become N." At the end of the lesson, you will be able to say the sentences like; "I will become a colleague student next year," or "She became a singer." Before proceeding, if you want more job-related nouns, please click here to read my other free post!
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1. 이/가 되다 Grammar
되다 means "to become" in Korean. To use this verb with a noun, we will need the subject marker 이 or 가. So by attaching the expression "이/가 되다" to a noun, you can show that N1 becomes or became N2.
Here is an example: "I will become a college student soon." Since I'm referring to myself, I began the sentence with "저는" with the topic marker. A college or university student is referred to as 대학생.
To express that I will become a college student, I used today's expression (이/가 되다) with 대학생. Do you know why I used "이 되다" instead of "가 되다"? That's right, it's because 대학생 ends with the syllable "생," which has a final consonant!
⚐ If you want to learn more job-related words, please read my other free lesson here.
I believe the meaning of the 이/가 되다 grammar is not too difficult! But you may wonder why I ended the sentence with "돼요." I'll show you the conjugation in the next section!
2. Conjugation Information
"N이/가 되다" has the two parts; 이/가 and 되다. I briefly explained the 이/가 choice, but here I'll show you again with the chart.
이/가
받침 | 이/가 되다 | example |
O | 이 되다 | 학생이 되다 become a student |
X | 가 되다 | 가수가 되다 become a singer |
되다
되다 is a regular verb. It can be conjugated in many versions depending on the types of sentences, tone, and levels of politeness. I will show you some here.
If you are a beginner, please concentrate on the first part; the informal polite ending. If you want to learn the details of 되다 conjugation, please read my other free post here.
Informal Polite Ending
Tense | Form | Examples |
이/가 되어요. 이/가 돼요. | 학생이 돼요. I become a student. | |
이/가 되었어요. 이/가 됐어요. | 학생이 됐어요. I became a student. | |
이/가 될 거예요. | 학생이 될 거예요. I will become a student. |
Present Tense Explanation
The stem of 되다 is 되. The vowel of this syllable is ㅚ. It is not ㅏ or ㅗ. This is obviously not 하. So, we will need to add "어요" to this stem. 되어요. You can use 되어요, but often in conversations, this 되어요 will be shortened to 돼요.
되다: 되 + 어요 → 되어요 → 돼요
Do you remember the informal polite present tense can also mean the future tense? When you say 학생이 돼요, it can mean both "I become a student," or "I'll become a student." It depends on the context.
내년에 초등학생이 돼요. I'll become an elementary student next year.
With the context "내년에(next year)" even though it is used with 돼요, it talks about the future setting.
Formal Ending
Tense | Form | Examples |
Present Tense-Statement | 이/가 됩니다. | 학생이 됩니다. I become a student. |
Present Tense-Question | 이/가 됩니까? | 학생이 됩니까? Do you become a student? |
Past Tense-Statement | 이/가 되었습니다 이/가 됐습니다. | 학생이 됐습니다. I became a student. |
Past Tense-Question | 이/가 되었습니까? 이/가 됐습니까? | 학생이 됐습니까? Did you become a student? |
Future Tense-Statement | 이/가 될 것입니다. | 학생이 될 것입니다. I will become a student. |
Future Tense-Question | 이/가 될 것입니까? | 학생이 될 것입니까? Will you become a student? |
For the present and future tense of the formal ending, you need to take care of the final consonant. So, the form you can see remained as "되" with extra final consonants.
To form the formal past tense, you need to use "았/었/였습니다." This requires checking the vowel in the stem. The stem 되 contains ㅚ, which is neither ㅏ nor ㅗ. Therefore, according to rule number 3, you should attach 었습니다. The form 되었습니다 can be abbreviated to 됐습니다. However, since it is a formal ending, the non-abbreviated version is also frequently used. (Abbreviations are common in everyday conversation for quicker and easier communication!)
Informal Casual Ending
Tense | Form | Examples |
Present Tense-Statement | 이/가 돼. | 학생이 돼. I become a student. |
Present Tense-Question | 이/가 돼? | 학생이 돼? Do you become a student? |
Past Tense | 이/가 됐어. | 학생이 됐어. I became a student. |
Future Tense | 이/가 될 거야. | 학생이 될 거야. I will become a student. |
3. Sentence Information
In this post, you learned how to say "to become N" using "N이/가 되다" grammar. If you want to conjugate a verb or an adjective, you have to use another version. You will learn about it in the next lesson.
4. Examples
1
조지가 벌써 대학생이 되었어요.
= 조지가 벌써 대학생이 됐어요.
Geroge has become a university student already.
벌써-already, 대학생-university or college student
2
유리 씨는 내년에 선생님이 될 거예요.
Yuri will become a teacher next year.
내년-next year, 선생님-teacher
3
미나 씨는 언제 대학원생이 되었어요?
=미나 씨는 언제 대학원생이 됐어요?
Mina, when did you become a graduate student?
While 대학생 is a college or university student, 대학원생 is a graduate student.
4
미나야, 넌 언제 대학원생이 됐어?
Mina, when did you become a graduate student?
Examples 3 and 4 have the same meaning, but this one is an informal casual one. If you are a close friend with 미나, or if 미나 is younger than you, you can use this version.
5
잭 씨는 작년에 임원이 되었습니다.
=잭 씨는 작년에 임원이 됐습니다.
Mr. Jack became an executive last year.
임원-executive, board member
6
저는 좋은 학생이 될 거예요.
I will become a good student.
좋은 came from the adjective 좋다(to be good). To describe 학생 directly, 좋다 is conjugated with the noun modifier form (으)ㄴ.
5. Wrap-up & Worksheet
Let's review today's lesson! 이/가 되다 is attached to a noun and shows "become N".
You conjugate 이/가 depending on the last syllable of the noun that you will attach it to. You will conjugate 되다 depending on the politeness level, tense, tone, etc.
I have created a free, printable worksheet for you. The answers can be found throughout the lesson. After completing the worksheet, please come back to the lesson to verify your answers. This will also aid in your review!
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