Adverbs in Korean

How to add emphasis to verbs in Korean

Here’s how to say words like “quickly” and “well” in Korean. Let’s cover some examples.

잘 (well)
많이 (a lot)
너무 (very)
빨리 (quickly)
조금 (a little, kind of)
더 (more)

Let’s see how they pair with verbs:

한국어를 잘하다 (to speak Korean well)
많이 먹다 (to eat a lot)
너무 예쁘다 (to be very pretty)
빨리 일하다 (to work quickly)
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Did you know?

하다 (to do) is used by itself with a language to mean “to speak (language).”

한국어를 잘해요?

Do you speak Korean well?

일 (work) is a noun, so it can be separated from 일하다. We covered this in the lesson on 하다. So both of these are valid:

빨리 일하다

quickly do work

일/(일를) 빨리 하다

work quickly do


Adverbs can also pair with each other:

조금 더 (a little more)
더 빨리 (more quickly)

E.g.

저는 조금 더 먹고 싶어요.

I want to eat a little more.


How to say “really” in Korean

정말 and 진짜 both mean “really.” However, 진짜 is usually only used in casual or informal situations, while 정말 can be used in any situation.

You can also use these two with the conjugation of the verb 이다 (to be) to say something is real or really the case:

정말이에요 / 진짜예요!

Both mean “It’s real” or “I’m being serious!”

How to say “Really?” in Korean

진짜, 정말, and the conjugation of the verb 그렇다 (to be so) are all valid:

진짜?
정말?
그래요? (is it so?/really?)
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Did you know?

진짜 literally means an object/something is real/genuine (as opposed to a fake). The opposite of 잔짜 is 가짜 (something fake).

정말 more literally means true words/speech. You can start a sentence with “정말…” to mean “Honestly…” The opposite of 정말 is 거짓말 (lie/lies).

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Vocab Review!

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예쁘다 (to be pretty)
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일하다 (to do work)
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진짜 (true/genuine/not fake)
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정말 (true words/speech)
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가짜 (fake/not genuine)
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거짓말 (lie/lies)
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