Korean: Everyday Phrases
Korean · Getting by
How to say I need to study in Korean
공부해야 해요.
gong-bu-hae-ya hae-yo
공부 (gongbu) is "study", 하다 is "to do", and -아/어야 하다 is the "must" pattern. Together: "I have to do study".
What people actually say: 공부해야 돼요. Same meaning with 되다 instead of 하다, and slightly more common in everyday speech. Either is correct and neither will sound wrong.
The phrases around it
| English | Korean | Note |
|---|---|---|
| I need to study. (polite) | 공부해야 해요. | gongbuhaeya haeyo — the everyday polite form. |
| I need to study. (formal) | 공부해야 합니다. | gongbuhaeya hamnida — for strangers and in writing. |
| I gotta study. (casual) | 공부해야 해. | gongbuhaeya hae — friends and people younger than you. |
| I need to study more. | 더 공부해야 해요. | deo gongbuhaeya haeyo |
| I have to study for the exam. | 시험공부 해야 해요. | siheom-gongbu haeya haeyo |
| I need to study Korean. | 한국어 공부해야 해요. | hangugeo gongbuhaeya haeyo |
| I am studying. | 공부하고 있어요. | gongbuhago isseoyo |
| I studied all night. | 밤새 공부했어요. | bamsae gongbuhaesseoyo |
| I cannot, I have to study. | 안 돼요, 공부해야 해요. | an dwaeyo, gongbuhaeya haeyo |
| I have an exam tomorrow. | 내일 시험이 있어요. | naeil siheomi isseoyo |
The ending is the politeness
Korean marks how formal you are being at the end of the sentence, not in the words before it. 해 to a close friend, 해요 to almost everybody, 합니다 in a presentation or to somebody much older. The verb itself does not change — only the tail does, and getting the tail wrong is the mistake learners notice too late.
공부하다 is a noun plus 하다
공부 is the noun "study" and 하다 is "to do", so 공부하다 is literally "to do study". This is why 시험공부 — "exam study" — works as a compound, and why you will also see 공부를 해요 with the object marker spelt out. Hundreds of Korean verbs are a noun bolted to 하다.
Read it in hangul, not in romanisation
Hangul was designed to be learnt quickly and it is: 24 letters, assembled into square syllable blocks. 공부 is ㄱ+ㅗ+ㅇ and ㅂ+ㅜ. An afternoon on the alphabet saves you from romanisation, which is inconsistent between systems and teaches sounds Korean does not have.
Free Korean sets to study
Korean: Hangul Letters
Korean · The alphabet