V + 아/어 보세요 [Korean Grammar] 

 March 23, 2023

By  Uruba Kashish

Let's learn how to use "V+아/어 보세요 [Korean grammar]" and make some example sentences.

V+아/어 보세요 (Korean Grammar)

USE:

V+아/어 보세요 Korean grammar pattern is used to ask someone to try something the same as "try doing this".

CONJUGATION RULE:

아/어 보세요 grammar is used with verbs. The first step of ‘아/어 보세요’ conjugation is to remove ‘다’ from the base form of the verb.


  • If the verb stem ends with the vowel ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’, ‘아 보세요’ is used. 
  • If the verb stem ends with any other vowel, then ‘어 보세요’ is used. 
  • When the verb ends with 하, the form changes to '해 보세요'. 

So let's take a verb 먹다(to eat). if you remove 다 from 먹다, 먹 (stem) is left. And then, look at the last vowel. So in the 먹, the last vowel is 어.

According to the conjugation rule, if the last vowel of stem is 어, we add 어 보세요.

so it becomes 먹어 보세요.

EXAMPLE SENTENCES:

  • 한번만 이 책 읽어 보세요. (Read this book once).
  • 이런 음식 한국에서 못 먹었죠? 한번 먹어보세요? (You can't eat this kind of food in Korea, right? Try it once)
  • 이거는 새 CD예요, 한번 들어 보세요. (This is a new CD. Try listening to it once).
  • 한번만 이 책 읽어 보세요. (Read this book once).
  • 아직도 머리가 아파요? 그럼 이 약을 먹어 보세요. (do you still have a headache? Then, try this medicine).

    • Tip: If you want to suggest someone to try something once, you can add 한번 (once) before V + 보세요.

    EXCEPTIONAL CASES:

    There are some exceptional cases as well:

    1. 듣다 = 들어 보세요 (ㄷ irregular conjugation)
    2. 자르다 = 잘라 보세요 (ㄹ irregular)
    3. 짓다 = 지어 보세요 (ㅅ irregular)
    4.  쓰다 = 써 보세요 (으 disappears)
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    Uruba Kashish

    Uruba Kashish completed her schooling in Commerce, bachelor's in English literature& Education. Currently doing her Masters in Translation studies (MATS). She is working as a Educational content writer with reputed websites like LKI, Annyeong India & TOPIK Guide. She is a Korean language and culture enthusiast and has been working across multiple disciplines which broadly addresses narratives of similarities between Korean and Indian culture. Apart from being a content writer at LKI, she is a Korean language Instructor at LKI. She manages Annyeong India website as Creative Head and has had her pieces published in TOPIK GUIDE website as well. In her other life, she is a rising entrepreneur, life enthusiast and a learner and is involved with multiple Korean-Indian projects. We are a team of passionate researchers from Seoul National University specializing in Korean language and linguistics. We are committed to helping international students prepare for the TOPIK test. You can connect with us.

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    1. Hello Team,

      Always coming to this site to clear the doubts and grammar rules with examples are very well provided here.
      Just a feedback, this example is mentioned twice.

      한번만 이 책 읽어 보세요. (Read this book once)

      Thank You.

      Reply
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